infra: use flock gateway lock

.npmrc

@@ -1 +1 @@
-allow-build-scripts=@whiskeysockets/baileys,sharp,esbuild,protobufjs
+allow-build-scripts=@whiskeysockets/baileys,sharp,esbuild,protobufjs,fs-ext

docs/gateway-lock.md

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+---
+summary: "Gateway lock strategy using POSIX flock and PID file"
+read_when:
+  - Running or debugging the gateway process
+  - Investigating single-instance enforcement
+---
+# Gateway lock
+
+Last updated: 2025-12-10
+
+## Why
+- Ensure only one gateway instance runs per host.
+- Survive crashes/SIGKILL without leaving a blocking stale lock.
+- Keep the PID visible for observability and manual debugging.
+
+## Mechanism
+- Uses a single lock file (default `${os.tmpdir()}/clawdis-gateway.lock`, e.g. `/var/folders/.../clawdis-gateway.lock` on macOS) opened once per process.
+- An exclusive, non-blocking POSIX `flock` is taken on the file descriptor. The kernel releases the lock automatically on any process exit, including crashes and SIGKILL.
+- The PID is written into the same file after locking; the lock (not file existence) is the source of truth.
+- On graceful shutdown, we best-effort unlock, close, and unlink the file to reduce crumbs, but correctness does not rely on cleanup.
+
+## Error surface
+- If another instance holds the lock, startup throws `GatewayLockError("another gateway instance is already running")`.
+- Unexpected `flock` failures surface as `GatewayLockError("failed to acquire gateway lock: …")`.
+
+## Operational notes
+- The lock file may remain on disk after abnormal exits; this is expected and harmless because the kernel lock is gone.
+- If you need to inspect, `cat /tmp/clawdis-gateway.lock` shows the last PID. Do not delete the file while a process is running—you would only remove the convenience marker, not the lock itself.

package.json

@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@
     "detect-libc": "^2.1.2",
     "dotenv": "^17.2.3",
     "express": "^5.2.1",
+    "fs-ext": "^2.1.1",
     "grammy": "^1.38.4",
     "json5": "^2.2.3",
     "qrcode-terminal": "^0.12.0",
@@ -59,6 +60,7 @@
     "@mariozechner/mini-lit": "0.2.1",
     "@types/body-parser": "^1.19.6",
     "@types/express": "^5.0.6",
+    "@types/fs-ext": "^2.0.3",
     "@types/node": "^24.10.2",
     "@types/qrcode-terminal": "^0.12.2",
     "@types/ws": "^8.18.1",

src/gateway/server.ts

@@ -667,7 +667,9 @@ export async function startGatewayServer(port = 18789): Promise<GatewayServer> {
             if (cached && now - cached.ts < HEALTH_REFRESH_INTERVAL_MS) {
               respond(true, cached, undefined, { cached: true });
               void refreshHealthSnapshot({ probe: true }).catch((err) =>
-                logError(`background health refresh failed: ${formatError(err)}`),
+                logError(
+                  `background health refresh failed: ${formatError(err)}`,
+                ),
               );
               break;
             }

src/infra/gateway-lock.ts

@@ -1,100 +1,78 @@
 import fs from "node:fs";
-import net from "node:net";
 import os from "node:os";
 import path from "node:path";
 
+import { flockSync } from "fs-ext";
+
 const DEFAULT_LOCK_PATH = path.join(os.tmpdir(), "clawdis-gateway.lock");
 
 export class GatewayLockError extends Error {}
 
 type ReleaseFn = () => Promise<void>;
 
+const SIGNALS: NodeJS.Signals[] = ["SIGINT", "SIGTERM", "SIGHUP"];
+
 /**
- * Acquire an exclusive single-instance lock for the gateway using a Unix domain socket.
+ * Acquire an exclusive gateway lock using POSIX flock and write the PID into the same file.
  *
- * Why a socket? If the process crashes or is SIGKILLed, the socket file remains but
+ * Kernel locks are released automatically when the process exits or is SIGKILLed, so the
- * the next start will detect ECONNREFUSED when connecting and clean the stale path
+ * lock cannot become stale. A best-effort unlink on shutdown keeps the path clean, but
- * before retrying. This keeps the lock self-healing without manual pidfile cleanup.
+ * correctness relies solely on the kernel lock.
  */
 export async function acquireGatewayLock(
   lockPath = DEFAULT_LOCK_PATH,
 ): Promise<ReleaseFn> {
-  // Fast path: try to listen on the lock path.
+  fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(lockPath), { recursive: true });
-  const attemptListen = (): Promise<net.Server> =>
-    new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
-      const server = net.createServer();
 
-      server.once("error", async (err: NodeJS.ErrnoException) => {
+  const fd = fs.openSync(lockPath, "w+");
-        if (err.code !== "EADDRINUSE") {
-          reject(new GatewayLockError(`lock listen failed: ${err.message}`));
-          return;
-        }
-
-        // Something is already bound. Try to connect to see if it is alive.
-        const client = net.connect({ path: lockPath });
-
-        client.once("connect", () => {
-          client.destroy();
-          reject(
-            new GatewayLockError("another gateway instance is already running"),
-          );
-        });
-
-        client.once("error", (connErr: NodeJS.ErrnoException) => {
-          // Nothing is listening -> stale socket file. Remove and retry once.
-          if (connErr.code === "ECONNREFUSED" || connErr.code === "ENOENT") {
   try {
-              fs.rmSync(lockPath, { force: true });
+    flockSync(fd, "exnb");
-            } catch (rmErr) {
+  } catch (err) {
-              reject(
+    fs.closeSync(fd);
-                new GatewayLockError(
+    const code = (err as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code;
-                  `failed to clean stale lock at ${lockPath}: ${String(rmErr)}`,
+    if (code === "EWOULDBLOCK" || code === "EAGAIN") {
-                ),
+      throw new GatewayLockError("another gateway instance is already running");
-              );
-              return;
     }
-            attemptListen().then(resolve, reject);
+    throw new GatewayLockError(
-            return;
+      `failed to acquire gateway lock: ${(err as Error).message}`,
+    );
   }
 
-          reject(
+  fs.ftruncateSync(fd, 0);
-            new GatewayLockError(
+  fs.writeSync(fd, `${process.pid}\n`, 0, "utf8");
-              `failed to connect to existing lock (${lockPath}): ${connErr.message}`,
+  fs.fsyncSync(fd);
-            ),
-          );
-        });
-      });
-
-      server.listen(lockPath, () => resolve(server));
-    });
-
-  const server = await attemptListen();
 
   let released = false;
   const release = async (): Promise<void> => {
     if (released) return;
     released = true;
-    await new Promise<void>((resolve) => server.close(() => resolve()));
+    try {
+      flockSync(fd, "un");
+    } catch {
+      /* ignore unlock errors */
+    }
+    try {
+      fs.closeSync(fd);
+    } catch {
+      /* ignore close errors */
+    }
     try {
       fs.rmSync(lockPath, { force: true });
     } catch {
-      /* ignore */
+      /* ignore unlink errors */
     }
   };
 
-  const cleanupSignals: NodeJS.Signals[] = ["SIGINT", "SIGTERM", "SIGHUP"];
+  const handleSignal = () => {
-  const handleSignal = async () => {
+    void release();
-    await release();
     process.exit(0);
   };
 
-  for (const sig of cleanupSignals) {
+  for (const sig of SIGNALS) {
-    process.once(sig, () => {
+    process.once(sig, handleSignal);
-      void handleSignal();
-    });
   }
+
   process.once("exit", () => {
-    // Exit handler must be sync-safe; release is async but close+rm are fast.
     void release();
   });