Release typespec-ts emitter singleton state after $onEmit

.chronus/changes/ts-emitter-clear-contexts-after-emit-2026-6-30-15-44-0.md

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+changeKind: internal
+packages:
+  - "@azure-tools/typespec-ts"
+---
+
+Proactively release the emitter's process-wide singleton state at the end of `$onEmit` as a hygiene measure. The context manager and the module-level SDK-type collections otherwise keep the most recently emitted program graph reachable until the next emit overwrites them; clearing them after each emit lets that memory be collected sooner when many emits run in one process (test suites, watch mode). This is bounded-to-one-program cleanup and is not a fix for any unbounded leak.

packages/typespec-ts/src/context-manager.ts

@@ -72,6 +72,19 @@ class ContextManager {
   public getContext<K extends ContextKey>(key: K): Contexts[K] | undefined {
     return this.contexts.get(key) as Contexts[K] | undefined;
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Clears all stored contexts.
+   *
+   * The manager is a process-wide singleton, so the values provided during an
+   * emit (the `EmitContext`/`Program`, the TCGC `SdkContext`, the ts-morph
+   * `Project`, etc.) stay reachable from this map until the next emit overwrites
+   * them. Clearing at the end of an emit lets the whole previous program graph
+   * be collected instead of being retained until the following emit.
+   */
+  public clearContexts(): void {
+    this.contexts.clear();
+  }
 }
 
 // Expose the singleton instance of the context manager.
@@ -99,3 +112,13 @@ export function useContext<K extends ContextKey>(key: K): Contexts[K] {
 export function provideContext<K extends ContextKey>(key: K, value: Contexts[K]): void {
   contextManager.setContext(key, value);
 }
+
+/**
+ * Clears all contexts held by the singleton context manager. Call this once an
+ * emit has finished writing its output so the retained program graph (compiler
+ * `EmitContext`/`Program`, TCGC `SdkContext`, ts-morph `Project`, binder, …) can
+ * be garbage collected instead of lingering until the next emit overwrites it.
+ */
+export function clearContexts(): void {
+  contextManager.clearContexts();
+}

packages/typespec-ts/src/framework/hooks/sdk-types.ts

@@ -29,6 +29,20 @@ export const flattenPropertyModelMap: Map<SdkModelPropertyType, SdkModelType> =
  */
 export const pagedModelsKeptPublic = new Set<SdkType>();
 
+/**
+ * Releases the module-level state that accumulates while visiting a package's
+ * types. These collections are cleared at the start of every
+ * {@link visitPackageTypes} call, but because they live at module scope they
+ * otherwise keep the most recently emitted program's SDK types reachable until
+ * the next emit runs. Call this once an emit has fully finished so that state
+ * can be garbage collected.
+ */
+export function resetSdkTypesState(): void {
+  emitQueue.clear();
+  flattenPropertyModelMap.clear();
+  pagedModelsKeptPublic.clear();
+}
+
 export interface SdkTypeContext {
   operations: Map<Type, SdkServiceMethod<SdkHttpOperation>>;
   types: Map<Type, SdkType>;

packages/typespec-ts/src/index.ts

@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import {
   resolvePath,
   type CompilerHost,
 } from "@typespec/compiler";
-import { provideContext, useContext } from "./context-manager.js";
+import { clearContexts, provideContext, useContext } from "./context-manager.js";
 import { buildRootIndex, buildSubClientIndexFile } from "./modular/build-root-index.js";
 import {
   AzureCoreDependencies,
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ import {
 } from "@azure-tools/typespec-client-generator-core";
 import { Project } from "ts-morph";
 import { provideBinder } from "./framework/hooks/binder.js";
-import { provideSdkTypes } from "./framework/hooks/sdk-types.js";
+import { provideSdkTypes, resetSdkTypesState } from "./framework/hooks/sdk-types.js";
 import { loadStaticHelpers } from "./framework/load-static-helpers.js";
 import { ClientModel, ClientOptions } from "./interfaces.js";
 import { EmitterOptions } from "./lib.js";
@@ -188,6 +188,15 @@ export async function $onEmit(context: EmitContext) {
 
   await generateMetadataAndTest(dpgContext);
 
+  // Release the emitter's process-wide singleton state now that this emit has
+  // finished writing output. Without this, the context manager keeps the whole
+  // previous program graph (compiler `EmitContext`/`Program`, TCGC `SdkContext`,
+  // ts-morph `Project`, binder, …) reachable until the next emit overwrites it.
+  // Clearing here lets it be collected between emits, which matters for hosts
+  // that run many emits in one process (test suites, benchmarks, watch mode).
+  clearContexts();
+  resetSdkTypesState();
+
   async function enrichDpgContext() {
     const generationPathDetail: GenerationDirDetail = await calculateGenerationDir();
     dpgContext.generationPathDetail = generationPathDetail;