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+# Fleet Resource Optimization & Hygiene Runbook
+
+> **Box is the main surface.** All operator work goes through Box (box.muse-dev.online). The web UI, `box` CLI, and agents share the same API endpoints. No UI-only powers.
+
+**Date:** 2026-10-05 ~17:40 UTC  
+**Scope:** Host `bl` (100.123.153.75), NetVM headless browser fleet, user systemd timers, and resource throttling.
+
+---
+
+## 1. Problem Summary & Root Causes
+
+During operational monitoring, host CPU load average was observed elevated at **4.90–5.83**. Investigation revealed three distinct contributors:
+
+1. **Runaway Orphaned Audio Process:**
+   - `PID 2661799` (`parec -d gui_sink.monitor --format=s16le --rate=48000 --channels=2`) was spinning in state `R` (runnable) at **100% of a CPU core**.
+   - It had accumulated **46,718 minutes (~778 hours)** of continuous CPU time since September 3 after its downstream pipe reader terminated.
+2. **SwiftShader Software WebGL Overhead:**
+   - Headless Chromium instances running without hardware acceleration were invoking SwiftShader (`--use-angle=swiftshader-webgl`) software rasterization loops on background tab animations.
+3. **Timer & Scheduler Duplication:**
+   - 170 individual systemd user timers (`job-auto-work-*.timer`) were active concurrently with the unified scheduler [`job-scheduler.py`](file:///home/super/Projects/NetVM/bin/job-scheduler.py), leading to excessive process spawns and duplicate dispatch checks.
+4. **Lingering Scopes:**
+   - Previous browser watchdog relaunches occasionally killed only the Chromium child process while leaving transient systemd scopes and `netvm-cdp-relay.py` instances orphaned.
+
+---
+
+## 2. Remediations Applied
+
+### A. Process & Scope Hygiene
+- **Terminated Zombie Audio Streamer:**
+  ```bash
+  kill 2661798 2661799
+  ```
+  Immediately recovered ~1.0 off the system load average.
+- **Cleared Orphaned Scopes:**
+  Stopped leftover transient scopes (`netvm-chrome-dev-1791158094`, `netvm-chrome-muse-1791217608`, `netvm-chrome-opm-1791217495`).
+- **Hardened Watchdog Relaunch Logic:**
+  Updated [`bin/chromebox-watchdog.sh`](file:///home/super/Projects/NetVM/bin/chromebox-watchdog.sh) to explicitly stop existing user scopes matching `netvm-chrome-${PROFILE}-*` before starting a new transient unit.
+
+### B. Chromium Headless Throttling & Memory Caps
+Updated [`chrome-box`](file:///home/super/Projects/chrome-box/chrome-box) for both sandboxed and native (`--no-sandbox`) headless execution paths to include:
+- `--disable-software-rasterizer` & `--disable-gpu-compositing` (disables CPU-heavy 3D software rasterization).
+- `--mute-audio` (prevents unnecessary audio stream synthesis).
+- `--disable-dev-shm-usage` (protects `/dev/shm` exhaustion).
+- `--js-flags=--max-old-space-size=768` (bounds V8 heap consumption to 768MB per profile).
+- Background timer and renderer throttling enabled (`--disable-renderer-backgrounding=false`, `--disable-background-timer-throttling=false`, `--disable-backgrounding-occluded-windows=false`).
+
+### C. Timer Consolidation
+- **Decommissioned 170 Redundant Timers:**
+  Archived all `job-auto-work-*.timer` and `.service` units to `~/.config/systemd/user/archive-auto-work-timers/` and disabled them.
+- **Single Source of Truth:**
+  Retained [`job-scheduler.timer`](file:///home/super/.config/systemd/user/job-scheduler.timer) (`job-scheduler.py run` on `*:0/5`), which evaluates cron schedules in [`jobs/*.json`](file:///home/super/Projects/NetVM/jobs/) on a unified schedule. User timers dropped from **190 to 20**.
+
+---
+
+## 3. Verification & Fleet Health
+
+Verification was conducted across all operational layers:
+
+1. **Fleet Status:**
+   ```bash
+   super fleet status
+   ```
+   All 6 nodes (`muse`, `pip`, `646`, `opm`, `def`, `dev`) are **`● ACTIVE`** with sub-10ms CDP roundtrip latencies.
+2. **Periodic Health Checks:**
+   ```bash
+   tail -n 15 /tmp/agent-health.log
+   ```
+   Consecutive runs of `agent-health.service` confirmed 100% OK status across all nodes.
+3. **Scheduler Status:**
+   ```bash
+   python3 bin/job-scheduler.py status
+   ```
+   Unified scheduler runs cleanly every 5 minutes and updates `job-scheduler-state.json`.
+4. **Log Retention:**
+   ```bash
+   bin/retention-run-rotations.sh
+   ```
+   Completed with return code `0`; archives passed gzip integrity and checksum validations.
+5. **System Load:**
+   Load average dropped from **~5.8** to **~2.8–3.2** (~18% utilization across 16 logical cores).