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@dicej dicej commented Dec 10, 2025

This small patch provides a mechanism for bridging the Go scheduler
with WASIp3's concurrency model.

Note that I'm fairly new to Go and very open to feedback and
alternative approaches. Please consider this as much an RFC as it is
a PR.

Background

Both the js and wasip1 target OSes define a runtime.beforeIdle
function, called by the scheduler if and when no goroutines are
runnable. In the case of js, the Go scheduler yields to the JS event
loop to await any async events it might produce. In the case of
wasip1 (and all other OSes), beforeIdle does nothing since that
platform has neither an event loop nor async events.

However, WASIp3 (due to be released early next year) does support
concurrency and asynchronous I/O [1] in which case it's useful for the
Go scheduler to yield to the host once all goroutines have gone idle,
just like it does for JS.

Motivation

This patch is intended as a baby step towards full GOOS=wasip3
support. Unlike GOOS=wasip1, where blocking I/O operations block
all goroutines, GOOS=wasip3 can support asynchronous I/O operations
which cooperate with the Go scheduler, only blocking the goroutine
doing the call and allowing any others to continue running.
Internally, each such operation may either complete immediately
without blocking or return a waitable handle representing a pending
event. We can associate a channel with that waitable, to be written
to once the host delivers the corresponding event. The calling
goroutine reads from that channel before returning a value.

In order to support the above, each exported function needs to be able
to wait for all goroutines to reach an idle state, collect any
accumulated waitable handles, and return control to the host until one
or more events are ready. runtime.wasiOnIdle provides that capability
by accepting a callback to be run by runtime.beforeIdle.

Once GOOS=wasip3 has been fully implemented, the above can be handled
internally by the compiler and runtime. As a first step, though, I've
created a bindings generator [2] which generates import and export
glue code from the IDL in which the WASIp3 interfaces are defined.
That glue code handles bridging Go's scheduler to the WASIp3 host
event loop. It's able to do this using standard goroutines and
channels, with no special integration with the Go scheduler except
for runtime.wasiOnIdle, hence this patch.

Note that wasiOnIdle is private since it's not intended for general
use; the glue code mentioned above uses go:linkname to access it.
This use of go:linkname is a temporary measure while we experiment
with WASIp3 support outside of the runtime. The eventual goal is to
encapsulate the host<->scheduler interaction entirely within the Go
runtime.

Concurrent imports and exports

WASIp3 is based on the WebAssembly Component Model [3], which includes
an IDL (WebAssembly Interface Types, or WIT) and an ABI for expressing
high-level types, functions, and interfaces which can be used to
represent both traditional OS features (e.g. filesystem and network
access) and high-level features such as HTTP request handlers and
database connections. WIT can also be used to represent custom,
application specific APIs and then build components which either
implement or consume those APIs, analogous to how shared libraries
work on native OSes.

Consequently, GOOS=wasip3 will ideally support creating both
"executable"-style applications with a single func main entrypoint and
also "library"-style components with one or more custom entrypoints
and imports. Fortunately, Go already has go:wasmexport and
go:wasmimport directives to support this. The wit-bindgen-go project
mentioned above builds upon those directives to support exporting and
importing concurrent functions which may suspend and resume as
necessary (e.g. due to I/O) prior to producing a result.
Hypothetically, this support could be integrated into the compiler if
there's interest.

[1] https://github.com/WebAssembly/component-model/blob/main/design/mvp/Concurrency.md
[2] https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wit-bindgen/tree/main/crates/go
[3] https://github.com/WebAssembly/component-model

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Message from Gopher Robot:

Patch Set 1:

(1 comment)


Please don’t reply on this GitHub thread. Visit golang.org/cl/729680.
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Please don’t reply on this GitHub thread. Visit golang.org/cl/729680.
After addressing review feedback, remember to publish your drafts!

@dicej dicej force-pushed the runtime-wasi-on-idle branch from 2a51287 to 250d1b3 Compare December 12, 2025 16:02
@dicej dicej changed the title runtime: add a runtime.wasiOnIdle function runtime: add a runtime.wasiOnIdle function Dec 12, 2025
@dicej dicej force-pushed the runtime-wasi-on-idle branch from 250d1b3 to c7fc6e1 Compare December 12, 2025 16:09
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This PR (HEAD: c7fc6e1) has been imported to Gerrit for code review.

Please visit Gerrit at https://go-review.googlesource.com/c/go/+/729680.

Important tips:

  • Don't comment on this PR. All discussion takes place in Gerrit.
  • You need a Gmail or other Google account to log in to Gerrit.
  • To change your code in response to feedback:
    • Push a new commit to the branch used by your GitHub PR.
    • A new "patch set" will then appear in Gerrit.
    • Respond to each comment by marking as Done in Gerrit if implemented as suggested. You can alternatively write a reply.
    • Critical: you must click the blue Reply button near the top to publish your Gerrit responses.
    • Multiple commits in the PR will be squashed by GerritBot.
  • The title and description of the GitHub PR are used to construct the final commit message.
    • Edit these as needed via the GitHub web interface (not via Gerrit or git).
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@dicej dicej force-pushed the runtime-wasi-on-idle branch 2 times, most recently from 5ba5015 to 4f250f8 Compare December 12, 2025 16:19
This small patch provides a mechanism for bridging the Go scheduler
with WASIp3's concurrency model.

Note that I'm fairly new to Go and very open to feedback and
alternative approaches.  Please consider this as much an RFC as it is
a PR.

Background

Both the js and wasip1 target OSes define a runtime.beforeIdle
function, called by the scheduler if and when no goroutines are
runnable.  In the case of js, the Go scheduler yields to the JS event
loop to await any async events it might produce.  In the case of
wasip1 (and all other OSes), beforeIdle does nothing since that
platform has neither an event loop nor async events.

However, WASIp3 (due to be released early next year) _does_ support
concurrency and asynchronous I/O [1] in which case it's useful for the
Go scheduler to yield to the host once all goroutines have gone idle,
just like it does for JS.

Motivation

This patch is intended as a baby step towards full GOOS=wasip3
support.  Unlike GOOS=wasip1, where blocking I/O operations block
_all_ goroutines, GOOS=wasip3 can support asynchronous I/O operations
which cooperate with the Go scheduler, only blocking the goroutine
doing the call and allowing any others to continue running.
Internally, each such operation may either complete immediately
without blocking or return a waitable handle representing a pending
event.  We can associate a channel with that waitable, to be written
to once the host delivers the corresponding event.  The calling
goroutine reads from that channel before returning a value.

In order to support the above, each exported function needs to be able
to wait for all goroutines to reach an idle state, collect any
accumulated waitable handles, and return control to the host until one
or more events are ready.  runtime.wasiOnIdle provides that capability
by accepting a callback to be run by runtime.beforeIdle.

Once GOOS=wasip3 has been fully implemented, the above can be handled
internally by the compiler and runtime.  As a first step, though, I've
created a bindings generator [2] which generates import and export
glue code from the IDL in which the WASIp3 interfaces are defined.
That glue code handles bridging Go's scheduler to the WASIp3 host
event loop.  It's able to do this using standard goroutines and
channels, with no special integration with the Go scheduler _except_
for runtime.wasiOnIdle, hence this patch.

Note that wasiOnIdle is private since it's not intended for general
use; the glue code mentioned above uses go:linkname to access it.
This use of go:linkname is a temporary measure while we experiment
with WASIp3 support outside of the runtime.  The eventual goal is to
encapsulate the host<->scheduler interaction entirely within the Go
runtime.

Concurrent imports and exports

WASIp3 is based on the WebAssembly Component Model [3], which includes
an IDL (WebAssembly Interface Types, or WIT) and an ABI for expressing
high-level types, functions, and interfaces which can be used to
represent both traditional OS features (e.g. filesystem and network
access) and high-level features such as HTTP request handlers and
database connections.  WIT can also be used to represent custom,
application specific APIs and then build components which either
implement or consume those APIs, analogous to how shared libraries
work on native OSes.

Consequently, GOOS=wasip3 will ideally support creating both
"executable"-style applications with a single func main entrypoint and
also "library"-style components with one or more custom entrypoints
and imports.  Fortunately, Go already has go:wasmexport and
go:wasmimport directives to support this.  The wit-bindgen-go project
mentioned above builds upon those directives to support exporting and
importing _concurrent_ functions which may suspend and resume as
necessary (e.g. due to I/O) prior to producing a result.
Hypothetically, this support could be integrated into the compiler if
there's interest.

[1] https://github.com/WebAssembly/component-model/blob/main/design/mvp/Concurrency.md
[2] https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wit-bindgen/tree/main/crates/go
[3] https://github.com/WebAssembly/component-model
@dicej dicej force-pushed the runtime-wasi-on-idle branch from 4f250f8 to e83d890 Compare December 12, 2025 16:20
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This PR (HEAD: 4f250f8) has been imported to Gerrit for code review.

Please visit Gerrit at https://go-review.googlesource.com/c/go/+/729680.

Important tips:

  • Don't comment on this PR. All discussion takes place in Gerrit.
  • You need a Gmail or other Google account to log in to Gerrit.
  • To change your code in response to feedback:
    • Push a new commit to the branch used by your GitHub PR.
    • A new "patch set" will then appear in Gerrit.
    • Respond to each comment by marking as Done in Gerrit if implemented as suggested. You can alternatively write a reply.
    • Critical: you must click the blue Reply button near the top to publish your Gerrit responses.
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    • Edit these as needed via the GitHub web interface (not via Gerrit or git).
    • You should word wrap the PR description at ~76 characters unless you need longer lines (e.g., for tables or URLs).
  • See the Sending a change via GitHub and Reviews sections of the Contribution Guide as well as the FAQ for details.

@gopherbot
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This PR (HEAD: e83d890) has been imported to Gerrit for code review.

Please visit Gerrit at https://go-review.googlesource.com/c/go/+/729680.

Important tips:

  • Don't comment on this PR. All discussion takes place in Gerrit.
  • You need a Gmail or other Google account to log in to Gerrit.
  • To change your code in response to feedback:
    • Push a new commit to the branch used by your GitHub PR.
    • A new "patch set" will then appear in Gerrit.
    • Respond to each comment by marking as Done in Gerrit if implemented as suggested. You can alternatively write a reply.
    • Critical: you must click the blue Reply button near the top to publish your Gerrit responses.
    • Multiple commits in the PR will be squashed by GerritBot.
  • The title and description of the GitHub PR are used to construct the final commit message.
    • Edit these as needed via the GitHub web interface (not via Gerrit or git).
    • You should word wrap the PR description at ~76 characters unless you need longer lines (e.g., for tables or URLs).
  • See the Sending a change via GitHub and Reviews sections of the Contribution Guide as well as the FAQ for details.

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