Problem

The @commontools/memory and @commontools/runner packages had a circular dependency:

• memory/interface.ts imported JSONValue, SchemaContext, and SchemaPathSelector from @commontools/runner
• runner extensively imports from @commontools/memory/interface

This circular dependency caused:

• Every file in runner to pull in 267 dependencies (34.55MB) during typechecking
• Even simple 50-line utility files took 0.5s to typecheck instead of 0.013s
• Slow language server performance when editing runner files

Solution

Moved two simple type definitions from runner to memory:

1. SchemaContext - wraps two JSONSchema fields
2. SchemaPathSelector - wraps path + optional SchemaContext

These types conceptually belong in memory as they're used in memory's query interface (SchemaSelector).

Changes

• packages/memory/interface.ts: Define SchemaContext and SchemaPathSelector locally, import JSONSchema from @commontools/api instead of runner
• packages/runner/src/builder/types.ts: Import SchemaContext from memory
• packages/runner/src/traverse.ts: Import SchemaContext and SchemaPathSelector from memory

Impact

Performance Improvements

• Simple utility files now compile 30-40x faster (0.013s vs 0.5s)
• Dependency reduction: Simple files went from 267 dependencies (34MB) to 2-5 dependencies (~116KB)
• Total typecheck time: Reduced by 3 seconds for runner package (104s → 101s)

Before vs After

cancel.ts (simple utility):

• Before: 267 dependencies, 34.55MB
• After: 2 dependencies, 116.5KB
• Speedup: 36x faster typecheck

memory/interface.ts:

• Before: Imported from @commontools/runner → circular dependency
• After: Only imports from merkle-reference and @commontools/api → no circle ✅

Testing

All packages typecheck successfully:

deno check --all packages/runner/src/index.ts   # ✅
deno check --all packages/memory/interface.ts   # ✅
deno check --all packages/api/index.ts          # ✅

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by cubic

Broke the circular dependency between @commontools/memory and @commontools/runner by moving SchemaContext and SchemaPathSelector to memory. This cuts typecheck overhead and speeds up runner builds.

• Refactors

  • Define SchemaContext and SchemaPathSelector in memory/interface.ts.
  • Import JSONSchema from @commontools/api in memory; remove runner imports.
  • Update runner builder/types.ts and traverse.ts to import these types from memory.

• Performance

  • Simple runner files compile ~30–40x faster (0.013s vs 0.5s).
  • Dependencies per simple file drop from 267 (~34MB) to 2–5 (~116KB).
  • Runner typecheck time reduced by ~3s (104s → 101s).

^{Written for commit 2a8c720. Summary will update automatically on new commits.}