Patch Playground to reduce worker count on low-memory machines

[sejas]

Related issues

• Fixes STU-1369

How AI was used in this PR

Planned with Opus 4.6 and created the code, patch, and PR fully automated. Tweaked a bit the testing instructions. Reviewed and tested the PR.

Proposed Changes

• Patch @wp-playground/cli to dynamically set worker count based on available memory
• When total RAM (totalmem) is less than 8GB, use 3 workers instead of the hardcoded 6
• Reduces memory pressure on Windows and other memory-constrained environments
• Patches both the ESM and CJS bundles

Testing Instructions

• Run nvm use && npm i
• Observe the patches are applied correctly, with no errors.
• Start the app with npm start
• Create a new site and verify it boots correctly
• Check node_modules/@wp-playground/cli/run-cli-Cv4FHhj_.js line 1284 contains q.freemem() < 8 * 1024 ** 3 ? 3 : 6
• Check node_modules/@wp-playground/cli/run-cli-NCnYfPz7.cjs line 47 contains G.freemem()<8*1024**3?3:6
• Run npm install and verify the patch applies without errors

Pre-merge Checklist

• Have you checked for TypeScript, React or other console errors? (Tests pass, no errors)

[fredrikekelund]

When free RAM is less than 8GB, use 3 workers instead of the hardcoded 6

This rule would make more sense if the total available system memory was 8GB. Given that a site process uses ~1.6 GB, this seems like a too harsh limit right now.

There's also the fact that this will make some sites slower than others with no clear explanation as to why…

I'm not immediately sure about the best solution here, but looking at os.totalmem() instead of os.freemem() seems like one place we could start

[sejas]

What if we limit the number of workers based on OS? Windows -> 3 , else -> 6.
My Mac used the SWAP for the sites that were beyond the physical RAM, and as a user I didn't notice the difference.

[sejas]

That would make consistent the performance of each site for both platforms.

[sejas]

With 3 workers, Parallels (8GB RAM) can run 6 sites in parallel (from 3 without the patch).

[sejas]

@fredrikekelund, I think your suggestion is the best approach. Let's use totalmem: 31ea19f

[epeicher]

Thanks @sejas for the fix! I can confirm that this improves the performance on Windows, and it allows to create more than 3 sites, I have tested with 5. Also, I agree with using a fix number better than a dynamic so 👍 to 31ea19f.

[sejas]

Closing in favor of #2704 and #2702.

With the new Playground version, Windows does a better job managing swap and doesn’t fail immediately when allocating memory for a new site.