pw_async2 development instructions and skill guide

Use this skill when writing, reviewing, refactoring, or testing code that uses Pigweed's pw_async2 cooperative asynchronous framework.

1. System topology and the 3-tier execution graph

Structure pw_async2 systems using a strict 3-tier execution graph:

1. Top level: Tasks (posted to dispatcher)

• Inherits from pw::async2::Task or uses CoroTask/FuncTask.
• Registered with Dispatcher; holds task lifecycle state.

1. Middle level: Composite futures and async helper functions

• Pure C++ value objects returned directly on the stack.
• NO FutureCore, NO Wakers, NO providers, NO dynamic allocation.
• Composes subfutures inline, transitively passing Context&.

1. Leaf level: Primitive wakeable futures

• ValueFuture<T>, TimeFuture<Clock>, Channel Receiver/Sender.
• Uses FutureCore / Waker / Provider; interacts with ISRs/timers.

Directives

• Top-level tasks: Use pw::async2::Task only for top-level entry

points (background worker loops, main event loops). Do NOT make mid-level operations Tasks.

• Mid-level logic: Implement mid-level logic as composite futures

returned by factory functions. Store child futures inline as member variables.

• Leaf futures: Use primitive futures (ValueFuture, TimeFuture,

Channel) or FutureCore only when interfacing directly with hardware, timers, or event providers.

Top-down design and the coroutine mental model

Design asynchronous code top-down from the caller's perspective rather than bottom-up from low-level wakers or hardware polling.

The recommended mental model for writing a composite future is:

1. Draft the sequential API as a coroutine (mental or prototype) using

co_await, loops, and early returns.

1. Derive the factory function and manual state machine:

• Coroutine signature & validation -> Public factory function returning the Future by value.
• Variables surviving across co_await -> class member fields.
• co_await suspension points -> state enum and child subfuture members.
• Non-overlapping transient state / futures -> group into std::variant to optimize memory layout.
• Sequential control flow -> while (true) switch (state_) loop in Pend().
• PW_CO_TRY and return values -> Ready() returns.

> !TIP] > For a detailed guide on top-down design, the step-by-step transformation > workflow, and bottom-up pitfalls to avoid, view > references/top_down_design.md.

2. What is a future? (Concept and invariants)

A Future is a stack-allocated state machine representing an asynchronous operation that produces a value_type upon completion.

The Future C++ concept

Futures do NOT derive from a common polymorphic base class. Instead, they satisfy the pw::async2::Future concept defined in pw_async2/future.h. Any concrete type F is a Future if it exposes:

• typename F::value_type: Result type (e.g. pw::Result<int>, pw::Status,

void).

• Poll<value_type> Pend(Context& cx): Advances the operation. Returns

Ready(T) when complete or Pending() when blocked.

• bool is_pendable() const: Returns true if active/pollable (false when

default-constructed / uninitialized or completed).

• bool is_complete() const: Returns true if completed.
• Special member functions: Default-constructible (initializes to an empty,

non-pendable state), destructible, movable.

> !TIP] > > ALWAYS verify custom future types with static_assert: Immediately after > defining any custom future class, add a static assertion to enforce compliance > with pw::async2::Future at compile time: > > cpp > static_assert(pw::async2::Future<MyCustomFuture>); >

Fundamental invariants

1. Empty default state: Default-constructing a future initializes it to an

empty, uninitialized state where is_pendable() and is_complete() return false. Polling an uninitialized future is an error (PW_CRASH).

1. Lazy execution: Creating a future executes no work. Work occurs only when

polled via Pend(Context& cx).

1. Explicit single ownership: The caller owns the Future by value on the

stack or inline inside a parent struct. There is no std::shared_ptr or hidden heap allocation.

1. Zero-cost RAII cancellation: Destructing a future cancels the operation

immediately and synchronously. Leaf futures unlist from providers and drop wakers; composite futures recursively destruct child subfutures inline.

1. Single-use completion: Once Pend() returns Ready(), the operation is

final. Do NOT poll a completed future again.

3. Futures vs. pendable functions

Avoid writing pendable functions—helper methods or standalone functions that accept Context& cx and return Poll<T> directly:

cpp
// AVOID: Pendable helper function
Poll<pw::Result<int>> PendReadSensor(Context& cx,
                                     Sensor& sensor,
                                     int& retries);

Pendable functions operate within pw_async2's informed poll model, but they make the asynchronous contract bespoke and inscrutable:

• Opaque state and ownership: It is impossible to tell from the signature

what state the function maintains, where that state is stored, or who currently owns it. State easily leaks across parent Task member variables or lambda captures, creating brittle, error-prone state management.

• No self-describing lifecycle: A pendable function cannot report whether it

is pendable or complete (is_pendable(), is_complete()), forcing callers to maintain external flags to track execution state.

• No RAII cancellation: A pendable function cannot be cleanly canceled by

dropping a value object. Destructing a task with active pendable sub-operations risks leaving underlying resources or timers in indeterminate states.

• Incompatible with combinators and coroutines: You cannot co_await,

PW_AWAIT, Select, or Join an arbitrary Poll<T> function. All pw_async2 combinators, macros, and coroutines require a concrete type fulfilling the Future concept.

Exceptions (when pendable functions are acceptable)

Pendable functions should be avoided for general application logic and public/module APIs. They are acceptable only for very low-level internal helper functions that are strictly private to a single class or file and consumed from a single caller by design.

In all other cases, wrap mid-level async operations in a concrete Future type returned by value.

4. Implementing composite and leaf futures

A. Leaf futures (external event signals)

Leaf futures interact directly with event providers (hardware interrupts, timers, etc.) and manage waker registration.

> !NOTE] > Prefer pre-built primitives: In most cases, do NOT write a custom leaf > future from scratch. Use existing primitives like ValueFuture<T> (with > ValueProvider or ValueListProvider), Notification, or Channel. > Pre-built primitives handle synchronization, thread safety, and waker > management automatically.

When a custom leaf future is required (e.g. interfacing with a low-level hardware driver):

1. Store a pw::async2::FutureCore member to manage wakers, intrusive list

membership, and state tracking.

1. Movability and intrusive relocation: Leaf futures must be

move-constructible and move-assignable (ButtonFuture(ButtonFuture&&) = default;). FutureCore handles movability automatically: when a future is moved by value (e.g. returned from a factory function or stored in a task member), FutureCore automatically updates its intrusive list pointers in the provider's FutureList and transfers the Waker to the new memory location. Note that FutureCore itself is lock-free; synchronizing access across threads or ISR contexts is the responsibility of the user (e.g. via spinlocks, mutexes, or global locks).

1. Delegate public Pend(cx) to core_.DoPend(*this, cx).
2. Implement a private DoPend(Context& cx) callback friended by FutureCore.
3. Store pending futures in a pw::async2::FutureList inside the provider

class.

For full implementation patterns, see:

• Documentation:

pw_async2/futures.rst (Section: _Implementing a future_)

• Complete Example:

custom_future.cc

B. Composite futures (mid-level operations)

Composite futures encapsulate multi-step asynchronous operations without using FutureCore or registering wakers:

• Do NOT inherit from FutureCore or use Wakers.
• Store child subfutures inline as member variables.
• Pass Context& cx down transitively into subfutures via PW_AWAIT or

subfuture_.Pend(cx).

• Loop state transitions immediately (while (true) switch (state_)) to pend

newly created subfutures within the same Pend(cx) call. Returning Pending() before pending a new subfuture prevents waker registration, causing the task to stall indefinitely.

For step-by-step guidance on transforming a sequential coroutine mental model into a manual composite future, see references/top_down_design.md.

For full implementation patterns, see:

• Documentation:

pw_async2/futures.rst (Section: _Implementing a composite future_)

• Complete Example:

composite_future.cc

5. Async API design rules

1. Direct return of futures

Async functions MUST return Future objects directly by value. Do NOT wrap futures in pw::Result<Future> or std::optional<Future>.

Why:

• Composability: Returning a future directly allows callers to seamlessly

pass the returned future to combinators (Select, Join), macros (PW_AWAIT), or coroutines (co_await). Wrapping the future in a pw::Result or std::optional breaks composition, forcing callers to perform awkward nested unwrapping before polling.

• Fallible operations: If an operation can fail (or fail to produce a

value), move the pw::Result<T>, pw::Status, or std::optional<T> inside the future's result type (value_type), e.g., ReadSensorFuture::value_type is pw::Result<int>.

• Synchronous failures: If an operation fails synchronously during factory

argument validation, return a future that immediately resolves to that error state rather than failing out-of-band.

cpp
// ✅ CORRECT: Returns Future directly; fallibility lives inside value_type
// (pw::Result<int>)
ReadSensorWithRetryFuture ReadSensorWithRetry(Sensor& sensor, ...);

// ❌ WRONG: Wrapping the Future itself breaks composability and co_await
pw::Result<ReadSensorWithRetryFuture> ReadSensorWithRetry(Sensor& sensor);  // ❌
std::optional<ReadSensorWithRetryFuture> TryReadSensor(Sensor& sensor);     // ❌

2. Synchronous argument validation

Validate arguments synchronously in the factory function before future construction. Return an immediately-resolving error future if validation fails:

cpp
inline ReadSensorWithRetryFuture ReadSensorWithRetry(
    MockSensor& sensor,
    SimulatedTimeProvider<SystemClock>& time_provider,
    int max_retries = 3) {
  if (max_retries <= 0) {
    return ReadSensorWithRetryFuture(pw::Status::InvalidArgument());
  }
  return ReadSensorWithRetryFuture(sensor, time_provider, max_retries);
}

3. Enforce factory construction

Make composite future constructors private and friend the factory function to prevent callers from bypassing validation.

4. Strict naming conventions

• Future-returning functions: Name for the operation (Read(), Write()).

NEVER use Async in function names (AsyncRead() ❌) or name after future types (GetReadFuture() ❌).

• Non-blocking immediate operations: Prefix with Try (std::optional<T>

TryRead()).

• Thread-blocking operations: Prefix with Blocking (pw::Result<T>

BlockingRead()).

6. Tasks and lifecycle management

Creating tasks

Subclass pw::async2::Task and implement DoPend(Context& cx):

cpp
class SensorReaderTask : public pw::async2::Task {
 public:
  SensorReaderTask(MockSensor& sensor,
                   SimulatedTimeProvider<SystemClock>& time_provider)
      : sensor_(&sensor), time_provider_(&time_provider) {}

  pw::Result<int> result() const { return result_; }

 private:
  Poll<> DoPend(Context& cx) override {
    // Provision futures on first poll
    if (!read_retry_future_.is_pendable()) {
      read_retry_future_ = ReadSensorWithRetry(*sensor_, *time_provider_, 2);
    }
    PW_AWAIT(auto res, read_retry_future_, cx);
    result_ = res;
    return pw::async2::Ready();
  }

  MockSensor* sensor_ = nullptr;
  SimulatedTimeProvider<SystemClock>* time_provider_ = nullptr;
  ReadSensorWithRetryFuture read_retry_future_;
  pw::Result<int> result_ = pw::Status::Unknown();
};

> !IMPORTANT] > Lazy Future Provisioning: Do NOT construct futures in a Task's > constructor. Constructing futures eagerly in constructors can trigger side > effects (e.g. initiating hardware transactions or timer registrations) before > the task is posted to or polled by a dispatcher, defeating lazy execution > invariants. Always provision subfutures lazily inside DoPend(Context& cx) > when !subfuture_.is_pendable().

Task deregistration requirement (CRITICAL)

Every posted task MUST be explicitly deregistered before destruction:

cpp
SensorReaderTask task(sensor, time_provider);
dispatcher.Post(task);

// ... run dispatcher ...

// MUST call Deregister() or BlockingJoin() before destruction!
task.Deregister();

7. C++20 coroutines (pw::async2::Coro)

> !NOTE] > Prefer manual state machines using composite futures and PW_AWAIT by default. > C++20 coroutines require dynamic allocation for coroutine frames via > CoroContext / pw::Allocator, introducing a opaque allocations whose sizes > vary by toolchain, causing heap fragmentation risks and runtime allocation > failure paths. Handwritten futures provide deterministic inline storage. > > However, always use the coroutine mental model to design the control flow > before writing the manual future (see > references/top_down_design.md). > Use Coro<T> when coroutines are explicitly requested or already established > in the codebase.

If working with coroutines, view references/coroutines.md for detailed patterns, error handling with PW_CO_TRY / PW_CO_TRY_ASSIGN, and memory guidelines.

8. Channels (pw::async2::Channel)

If working with channels for message passing or sync-to-async bridging, view references/channels.md for channel creation (SPSC/MPSC/SPMC/MPMC), Send/Receive futures, and non-blocking Try/Blocking APIs.

9. Testing async code

If writing unit tests for pw_async2 tasks, futures, channels, or time-dependent operations, view references/testing.md for deterministic unit testing patterns with DispatcherForTest and SimulatedTimeProvider.

10. Rules and anti-pattern checklist

• ] Top-down design & memory layout: Draft APIs top-down using the

coroutine mental model before implementing manual composite futures; group disjoint transient subfutures in std::variant to minimize struct size.

• ] Verify Future concept: Always verify custom future types with

static_assert(pw::async2::Future<MyCustomFuture>);.

• ] Prefer manual state machines: Use composite futures and PW_AWAIT by

default to avoid opaque dynamic coroutine frame allocations. Only use C++20 coroutines (Coro<T>) if explicitly requested or already established in the codebase.

• ] Avoid pendable functions: Do not write functions accepting Context&

and returning Poll<T> for general application logic. Construct and return a concrete Future type by value instead (except for low-level internal helpers private to a single caller).

• ] No implicit dynamic allocation: Core futures and tasks must be

stack/inline allocated; channels support both allocator-backed (pw::allocator::Allocator) and static (ChannelStorage) allocation.

• ] No Async naming: Name functions Read(), not AsyncRead().
• ] Direct future return: Return Future<T> directly by value, not

Result<Future>.

• ] Task deregistration: Call task.Deregister() or task.BlockingJoin()

before destroying a posted task.

• ] Lazy future provisioning: Provision subfutures lazily inside

DoPend() (when !future.is_pendable()), never eagerly in constructors.

• ] Completed future invariant: Never call Pend() on a future after it

returns Ready().

• ] State machine loop-through: Loop state transitions in Pend()

immediately (while (true) switch) to ensure newly created subfutures are pended immediately so their wakers get registered.

• ] TimeProvider injection: Inject TimeProvider<Clock>& for time

operations; never use static wall-clock sleeps.

• ] Deterministic tests: Use DispatcherForTest::RunUntilStalled() and

SimulatedTimeProvider::AdvanceUntilNextExpiration().