Clear JSC CodeCache on --hot reload and balance ref_strings refcount

src/js/internal-for-testing.ts

@@ -148,6 +148,8 @@ export const setSyntheticAllocationLimitForTesting: (limit: number) => number =
   1,
 );
 
+export const refStringsCount: () => number = $newRustFunction("virtual_machine_exports.rs", "Bun__refStringsCount", 0);
+
 // Shrink the markdown parser's block-metadata cap (in bytes) so its
 // `TooManyBlocks` error is reachable without 4 GiB of input. The cap can only
 // be lowered, never raised past the real limit. Returns the previous value so

src/jsc/VirtualMachine.rs

@@ -3764,7 +3764,7 @@ impl VirtualMachine {
             specifier,
             source_url: create_if_different(&specifier, source_url),
             allocator: source.cast::<c_void>(),
-            source_code_needs_deref: false,
+            source_code_needs_deref: true,
             ..Default::default()
         }
     }
@@ -3832,15 +3832,22 @@ impl VirtualMachine {
         }
     }
 
-    /// Interns `input_` in the VM's ref-string map and returns the ref-counted entry.
+    /// Interns `input_` in the VM's ref-string map and returns the entry with
+    /// exactly +1 owed to the caller on both fresh-insert and cache-hit paths.
     pub fn ref_counted_string<const DUPE: bool>(
         &mut self,
         input_: &[u8],
         hash_: Option<u32>,
     ) -> *mut crate::ref_string::RefString {
         debug_assert!(!input_.is_empty());
         let mut was_new = false;
-        self.ref_counted_string_with_was_new::<DUPE>(&mut was_new, input_, hash_)
+        let r = self.ref_counted_string_with_was_new::<DUPE>(&mut was_new, input_, hash_);
+        if !was_new {
+            // SAFETY: `r` is live (held in `self.ref_strings`). A fresh entry
+            // already carries +1 from `create_external`; a cache hit does not.
+            unsafe { (*r).ref_() };
+        }
+        r
     }
 
     // Note: `flags` is a runtime arg —

src/jsc/bindings/ZigGlobalObject.cpp

@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@
 #include "EventLoopTask.h"
 #include "NodeModuleModule.h"
 #include <JavaScriptCore/JSCBytecodeCacheVersion.h>
+#include <JavaScriptCore/CodeCache.h>
 #include "JSPerformanceServerTiming.h"
 #include "JSPerformanceResourceTiming.h"
 #include "JSPerformanceTiming.h"
@@ -3536,6 +3537,10 @@ void GlobalObject::reload()
     this->requireMap()->clear(this);
     RETURN_IF_EXCEPTION(scope, );
 
+    // Stale entries (keyed by old source text) pin their SourceProvider; every
+    // module already re-transpiles after clearAll() so re-parsing is marginal.
+    vm.codeCache()->clear();
+
     // If we run the GC every time, we will never get the SourceProvider cache hit.
     // So we run the GC every other time.
     if ((this->reloadCount++ + 1) % 2 == 0) {

src/jsc/virtual_machine_exports.rs

@@ -346,3 +346,10 @@ pub fn Bun__setSyntheticAllocationLimitForTesting(
         .store(limit, core::sync::atomic::Ordering::Relaxed);
     Ok(JSValue::js_number(prev as f64))
 }
+
+/// Live entries in the VM's ref-string cache (native-heap; invisible to heapStats).
+#[crate::host_fn(export = "Bun__refStringsCount")]
+pub fn Bun__refStringsCount(_global: &JSGlobalObject, _frame: &CallFrame) -> JsResult<JSValue> {
+    let count = VirtualMachine::get().ref_strings.count();
+    Ok(JSValue::js_number(f64::from(count)))
+}

src/runtime/api/filesystem_router.rs

@@ -313,18 +313,9 @@ impl FileSystemRouter {
             root_dir_info.abs_path
         };
 
-        // Note: `vm.refCountedString` is an interning cache — on a cache HIT it
-        // returns the existing `*mut RefString` WITHOUT bumping the refcount.
-        // `getScriptSrc`/`getOrigin` use `.leak()` (no ref), so without an
-        // explicit hold N routers sharing one interned RefString → N finalizers
-        // deref a single +1 → UAF on the second deref. Claim an explicit +1 here
-        // so each `FileSystemRouter` owns its hold; `finalize` releases it.
+        // `ref_counted_string` hands back +1; `finalize` releases it.
         let claim = |p: *mut RefString| -> BackRef<RefString> {
-            // `ref_counted_string` returns a live interned `*mut RefString`; wrap as
-            // `BackRef` (owner-outlives-holder: VM intern cache + our +1).
-            let r = BackRef::from(core::ptr::NonNull::new(p).expect("ref_counted_string"));
-            r.ref_();
-            r
+            BackRef::from(core::ptr::NonNull::new(p).expect("ref_counted_string"))
         };
         let fs_router = Box::new(FileSystemRouter {
             origin: if !origin_str.slice().is_empty() {

src/runtime/dispatch_js2native.rs

@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ pub use bun_install_jsc::ini_jsc::ini_testing_parse as ini_ini_ini_testing_ap_is
 pub use bun_jsc::bindgen_test::get_bindgen_test_functions as jsc_bindgen_test_get_bindgen_test_functions;
 pub use bun_jsc::counters::create_counters_object as jsc_counters_create_counters_object;
 pub use bun_jsc::event_loop::get_active_tasks as jsc_event_loop_get_active_tasks;
+pub use bun_jsc::virtual_machine_exports::Bun__refStringsCount as jsc_virtual_machine_exports_bun__ref_strings_count;
 pub use bun_jsc::virtual_machine_exports::Bun__setSyntheticAllocationLimitForTesting as jsc_virtual_machine_exports_bun__set_synthetic_allocation_limit_for_testing;
 // `emit_handle_ipc_message` is implemented in this crate (`ipc_host.rs`)
 // because it dereferences `Subprocess`, a runtime type.

test/cli/hot/hot.test.ts

@@ -772,7 +772,6 @@ ${Buffer.alloc(counter * 2, " ").toString()}throw new Error(${counter});`,
     expect(reloadCounter).toBe(50);
     bundler.kill();
     await runner.exited;
-    // TODO: bun has a memory leak when --hot is used on very large files
   },
   longTimeout,
 );

test/regression/issue/11083.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+// https://github.com/oven-sh/bun/issues/11083
+
+import { spawn } from "bun";
+import { expect, test } from "bun:test";
+import { bunEnv, bunExe, isDebug, tempDir } from "harness";
+import { writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+
+test(
+  "bun --hot should not accumulate stale code blocks or ref-string entries when file content changes on every reload",
+  async () => {
+    using dir = tempDir("hot-11083", {});
+    const root = join(String(dir), "leak-runner.mjs");
+
+    // Small file so debug builds cycle faster than JSC's ~10s CodeCache prune
+    // timer; unique content each iteration so the cache key never repeats.
+    const writeSource = (iter: number) => {
+      writeFileSync(
+        root,
+        `var unused_${iter} = ${iter};
+Bun.gc(true);
+globalThis.__i = (globalThis.__i ?? 0) + 1;
+const s = require("bun:jsc").heapStats();
+const { refStringsCount } = require("bun:internal-for-testing");
+console.error(JSON.stringify({
+  i: globalThis.__i,
+  umpcb: s.objectTypeCounts.UnlinkedModuleProgramCodeBlock || 0,
+  refs: refStringsCount(),
+}));
+`,
+      );
+    };
+
+    let iter = 0;
+    writeSource(++iter);
+
+    await using runner = spawn({
+      cmd: [bunExe(), "--hot", "run", root],
+      env: bunEnv,
+      cwd: String(dir),
+      stdout: "ignore",
+      stderr: "pipe",
+      stdin: "ignore",
+    });
+
+    const target = 50;
+    let maxCodeBlocks = 0;
+    let maxRefStrings = 0;
+    let reached = 0;
+    let buf = "";
+    outer: for await (const chunk of runner.stderr!) {
+      buf += new TextDecoder().decode(chunk);
+      let nl: number;
+      let progressed = false;
+      while ((nl = buf.indexOf("\n")) >= 0) {
+        const line = buf.slice(0, nl);
+        buf = buf.slice(nl + 1);
+        if (!line.startsWith("{")) {
+          if (/Watcher crashed|panic:|oh no:|TypeError:|is not a function/.test(line)) {
+            throw new Error("child --hot died: " + line);
+          }
+          continue;
+        }
+        const { i, umpcb, refs } = JSON.parse(line);
+        reached = i;
+        maxCodeBlocks = Math.max(maxCodeBlocks, umpcb);
+        maxRefStrings = Math.max(maxRefStrings, refs);
+        progressed = true;
+        if (i >= target) {
+          runner.kill();
+          break outer;
+        }
+      }
+      if (progressed) writeSource(++iter);
+    }
+
+    expect(reached).toBe(target);
+    expect(maxCodeBlocks).toBeLessThan(10);
+    expect(maxRefStrings).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(maxRefStrings).toBeLessThan(10);
+  },
+  isDebug ? 60_000 : 20_000,
+);