Clarify compiled process lifecycle

[SandroMaglione]

Summary

• Replace five independent symbol markers with one discriminated process execution descriptor covering child ownership, initialization, and drain context.
• Model compiled lifecycle (Active, TerminationRequested, Completed) separately from run activity (Initializing, Idle, Draining) while retaining the compact instance layout.
• Replace manual snapshot flush() choreography with runAfterChanges, add a direct publication-boundary witness, and force the raw compiled benchmark fixture to fail rather than silently fall back.

Changeset

• Added or updated for a library or package-metadata change
• Not required because this PR does not change src/ or package.json

Validation

• pnpm check
• Relevant example checks, when examples changed (not applicable; no examples changed)
• Reviewed the automated type-performance report, when the public TypeScript API or inference changed (public API unchanged; local instantiation counts are identical)
• Reviewed the automated runtime-performance report, when runtime behavior changed (five alternating local samples preserve machine throughput and raw compiled throughput/heap; hosted comparison remains the merge gate)

[github-actions]

Type performance

Measured with TypeScript 6.0.3 and skipLibCheck=true.

Scenario	Base	PR	Difference
Effect only	55	55	0 (0.0%)
Import effect-machine	55	55	0 (0.0%)
Machine.defineStates (3 states)	2,965	2,965	0 (0.0%)
Machine.make (3 states, 2 events)	8,715	8,715	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (3 states, 2 transitions)	23,492	23,492	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (depth 8)	117,075	117,075	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (depth 12)	129,713	129,713	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (depth 16)	145,055	145,055	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (depth 24)	183,851	183,851	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (wide depth 16)	214,189	214,189	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (parallel/history/choice)	132,667	132,667	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (4 successive calls)	128,674	128,674	0 (0.0%)
machine exact input/output/error/services	110,584	110,584	0 (0.0%)
execution adapter readiness	127,854	127,854	0 (0.0%)

Marginal instantiations are measured against the matching setup without that API call:

Scenario	Base	PR	Difference
Import effect-machine	0	0	0
Machine.defineStates (3 states)	2,910	2,910	0 (0.0%)
Machine.make (3 states, 2 events)	5,742	5,742	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (3 states, 2 transitions)	14,777	14,777	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (depth 8)	109,601	109,601	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (depth 12)	121,039	121,039	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (depth 16)	135,181	135,181	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (depth 24)	171,577	171,577	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (wide depth 16)	202,224	202,224	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (parallel/history/choice)	114,331	114,331	0 (0.0%)
machine.handle (4 successive calls)	113,703	113,703	0 (0.0%)
machine exact input/output/error/services	100,670	100,670	0 (0.0%)
execution adapter readiness	102,092	102,092	0 (0.0%)

Check times (informational)

Scenario	Base	PR
Effect only	0.03s	0.03s
Import effect-machine	0.03s	0.03s
Machine.defineStates (3 states)	0.10s	0.11s
Machine.make (3 states, 2 events)	0.16s	0.16s
machine.handle (3 states, 2 transitions)	0.24s	0.25s
machine.handle (depth 8)	0.51s	0.53s
machine.handle (depth 12)	0.56s	0.58s
machine.handle (depth 16)	0.62s	0.61s
machine.handle (depth 24)	0.74s	0.70s
machine.handle (wide depth 16)	0.78s	0.77s
machine.handle (parallel/history/choice)	0.62s	0.63s
machine.handle (4 successive calls)	0.59s	0.61s
machine exact input/output/error/services	0.51s	0.53s
execution adapter readiness	0.58s	0.60s

Type instantiations are the comparison metric. Check time varies with runner load and is informational only.

[github-actions]

Runtime performance

Median of 5 independent benchmark processes on AMD EPYC 9V74 80-Core Processor with Node v24.18.0.

Pull request baseline

Scenario	Effect Machine	XState 5	XState 6 alpha
Plan counter transitions	120,152 transitions/s	136,322 transitions/s	12,155 transitions/s
Drain burst with terminal fence	506,699 increments/s	380,545 increments/s	174,777 increments/s
Drain burst with a change observer	475,241 increments/s	377,455 increments/s	171,828 increments/s
Lookup and send to one child	430,934 increments/s	375,580 increments/s	169,964 increments/s
Start and stop a machine	167,532 machines/s	179,276 machines/s	136,426 machines/s
Start and stop a parent with one child	47,776 families/s	71,577 families/s	45,325 families/s
Plan transitions through a compound state	114,662 transitions/s	—	—
Plan transitions through parallel regions	90,789 transitions/s	—	—
Drain burst through a compound state	501,900 events/s	334,638 events/s	172,205 events/s
Drain burst through two parallel regions	456,179 events/s	256,702 events/s	137,371 events/s
Drain a compound-state burst with a change observer	461,704 events/s	—	—

Effect runtime reference points

Scenario	Effect Machine	Effect runtime primitives
Start and stop a raw generic process	27,954 processes/s	—
Start and stop a raw compiled process	71,886 processes/s	—
Start and interrupt a suspended fiber	—	156,006 fibers/s
Start and stop a queue worker	—	115,314 workers/s
Start and stop an actor shell	—	106,792 actors/s
Start and stop two actor shells	—	66,658 families/s
Update an owner-only mutable snapshot	—	312,012,480 updates/s
Update a synchronized snapshot	—	1,631,436 updates/s
Create, resolve, and await a terminal latch	—	1,643,383 latches/s

Memory profile	Effect Machine	XState 5	XState 6 alpha	Effect runtime primitives
Idle machine	1.5 KiB	3.8 KiB	2.2 KiB	—
Raw generic managed process	12.1 KiB	—	—	—
Raw compiled process	2.6 KiB	—	—	—
Two independent idle machines	2.9 KiB	7.3 KiB	3.9 KiB	—
Idle parent with one child	4.8 KiB	5.5 KiB	4.0 KiB	—
Parent with observed child registry	9.0 KiB	—	—	—
Parent with observed invoked child snapshots	5.0 KiB	—	—	—
Suspended Effect fiber	—	—	—	0.6 KiB
Effect queue with waiting fiber	—	—	—	2.8 KiB
Effect mailbox actor shell	—	—	—	3.2 KiB
Two Effect actor shells	—	—	—	6.8 KiB

Effect Machine change from base

Metric	Base	Base variability	PR	PR variability	Difference
Plan counter transitions	119,827 transitions/s	1.2% MAD	120,152 transitions/s	5.2% MAD	+0.3%
Drain burst with terminal fence	511,139 increments/s	2.6% MAD	506,699 increments/s	5.5% MAD	-0.9%
Drain burst with a change observer	463,153 increments/s	2.5% MAD	475,241 increments/s	3.0% MAD	+2.6%
Lookup and send to one child	412,407 increments/s	3.0% MAD	430,934 increments/s	0.6% MAD	+4.5%
Start and stop a machine	167,532 machines/s	1.7% MAD	167,532 machines/s	1.2% MAD	0.0%
Start and stop a parent with one child	45,304 families/s	5.4% MAD	47,776 families/s	2.2% MAD	+5.5%
Plan transitions through a compound state	114,705 transitions/s	0.3% MAD	114,662 transitions/s	0.3% MAD	-0.0%
Plan transitions through parallel regions	90,158 transitions/s	0.6% MAD	90,789 transitions/s	0.5% MAD	+0.7%
Drain burst through a compound state	471,178 events/s	6.4% MAD	501,900 events/s	1.9% MAD	+6.5%
Drain burst through two parallel regions	426,259 events/s	4.2% MAD	456,179 events/s	1.7% MAD	+7.0%
Drain a compound-state burst with a change observer	437,211 events/s	6.1% MAD	461,704 events/s	1.9% MAD	+5.6%
Idle machine heap per unit	1.5 KiB	0.1% MAD	1.5 KiB	0.1% MAD	+0.2%
Raw generic managed process heap per unit	12.1 KiB	0.0% MAD	12.1 KiB	0.1% MAD	+0.1%
Raw compiled process heap per unit	2.6 KiB	0.0% MAD	2.6 KiB	0.5% MAD	+0.6%
Two independent idle machines heap per unit	2.9 KiB	0.0% MAD	2.9 KiB	0.1% MAD	+0.0%
Idle parent with one child heap per unit	4.8 KiB	0.0% MAD	4.8 KiB	0.0% MAD	+0.0%
Parent with observed child registry heap per unit	9.0 KiB	0.0% MAD	9.0 KiB	0.0% MAD	+0.0%
Parent with observed invoked child snapshots heap per unit	5.0 KiB	0.1% MAD	5.0 KiB	0.2% MAD	+0.2%

Effect runtime reference change from base

Metric	Base	Base variability	PR	PR variability	Difference
Start and stop a raw generic process	27,522 processes/s	1.2% MAD	27,954 processes/s	2.2% MAD	+1.6%
Start and stop a raw compiled process	71,271 processes/s	2.1% MAD	71,886 processes/s	0.6% MAD	+0.9%
Start and interrupt a suspended fiber	158,755 fibers/s	1.0% MAD	156,006 fibers/s	0.3% MAD	-1.7%
Start and stop a queue worker	116,509 workers/s	0.3% MAD	115,314 workers/s	0.9% MAD	-1.0%
Start and stop an actor shell	107,365 actors/s	0.3% MAD	106,792 actors/s	0.5% MAD	-0.5%
Start and stop two actor shells	67,604 families/s	0.5% MAD	66,658 families/s	0.9% MAD	-1.4%
Update an owner-only mutable snapshot	312,012,480 updates/s	0.0% MAD	312,012,480 updates/s	0.0% MAD	0.0%
Update a synchronized snapshot	1,656,499 updates/s	2.0% MAD	1,631,436 updates/s	2.0% MAD	-1.5%
Create, resolve, and await a terminal latch	1,677,509 latches/s	0.7% MAD	1,643,383 latches/s	2.5% MAD	-2.0%

Versions and interpretation

• Effect Machine: 0.3.0
• XState 5: 5.32.5
• XState 6 alpha: 6.0.0-alpha.31
• Effect runtime primitives: 4.0.0-beta.107

Higher throughput is better; lower heap is better. Variability is the median absolute deviation across independent processes, relative to their median. Runtime measurements on shared GitHub-hosted hardware remain informational, so small differences should be confirmed across multiple workflow runs.