Keeping scripts small¶

Keep your script's memory use low, and see how much memory it uses.

How it behaves¶

All scripts on your AWTRIX share one block of memory. A script that uses too much usually does not break itself. It breaks other apps: icons are drawn as empty boxes, the next install is refused with 507, or another app stops updating. So every script should use as little as it can.

How much memory scripts share depends on the device. On your clock it is a quarter of the memory that is free at startup, at most 4 MiB. Smaller clocks have as little as 96 KiB. Limits lists the limits. Write the same way on every device: a script cannot tell which board it will be installed on next.

The checklist¶

Work through it from the top. The first items save the most.

1. Filter HTTP answers with find and keep. Never keep a whole response.
2. Use re for one or two values. Use json.load() only for a structure you have to walk.
3. Keep the value, not the response. Store the finished number or short text in a member. Keep the response body in a local variable only.
4. Build nothing in draw(). No joined strings, no {…} or […] literals, no log() with built text. Build them in init(), loop() or a callback.
5. Give every list a maximum size. Sixteen values is enough for any chart on a 52 × 16 display.
6. Write few, longer methods. Three or four methods make a good app. Each extra def costs about 200 bytes, even if it does nothing.
7. Fetch once, share the result. If several apps need the same reading, one app fetches it and the others read it with shared.get().
8. Poll slowly. Fetch only as often as the data changes. Keep at most one request in flight.
9. Keep the number of HTTPS apps low. Prefer MQTT or plain http:// on your own network.
10. Do not call gc.collect() in a running app. Use it only to measure.

Each point is explained below with an example.

1. Filter HTTP answers¶

By default your callback receives the whole response body, up to 8 KB, as one string. The find and keep options make AWTRIX search the response while it arrives. Your callback gets only a small window that starts at the text you searched for:

    http.get(url, / b, st -> self.on_body(b, st),
             {'find': "\"precipitation_probability\":[", 'keep': 128})

Measured with a real Open-Meteo forecast of 8 028 bytes:

The first version holds those 24 268 bytes all day, for sixteen numbers. Tutorial 3: Feed it real data shows how to choose the search text.

2. Use re for one or two values¶

json.load() turns the whole answer into Berry maps, lists and strings. re.search() creates only the match. With the same 434-byte weather answer:

The rule:

• One or two values from an answer: use re. This is most apps.
• Several fields, nested objects or a list of records: use json.load(). Narrow the answer with find first, so you parse a small window and not the whole document.

3. Keep the value, not the response¶

In the callback, pick out what you need, store only that in a member, and let the rest go:

  def on_body(body, status)
    self.in_flight = false
    if body == nil return end
    var m = re.search("\"temp\":([-0-9.]+)", body)   # local, freed when the method returns
    if m == nil return end
    self.temp = num(m[1])                            # only the number is kept
  end

A body, a parsed map or a long list stored in self stays in memory as long as the app is installed. A local variable is freed when the method returns.

4. Build nothing in draw()¶

draw() runs about forty times a second. This line builds a new string every frame:

    text(0, 6, str(self.temp) + "°", 0xFFFFFF)     # 23 bytes, forty times a second

That is about 920 bytes of garbage every second. It is cleaned up, but the cleanup takes time from every frame. The same applies to {…} maps, […] lists and log() lines with built text. Build them once and keep them:

  def init()
    self.fx = {"speed": 0.3, "palette": "Ocean"}   # built once
  end

  def draw()
    effect("Plasma", self.fx)                      # reused every frame
  end

When the text depends on a value, rebuild it only when the value changes:

    var r = round(t, 1)
    if r != self.shown
      self.shown = r
      self.label = str(r) + "°"
      self.x = width() - text_ink_width(self.label)
    end

5. Give every list a maximum size¶

A list you add to in loop() grows forever unless you trim it.

Trim it in place after each push():

    self.hist.push(v)
    if size(self.hist) > 16
      self.hist.remove(0)
    end

Sixteen is a good limit: bar_chart() and line_chart() draw at most sixteen values.

6. Write few, longer methods¶

Every def stays in memory as long as the app is installed.

Many small helper methods are the most common reason why an install is refused on a device that otherwise has room.

7. Fetch once, share the result¶

If three apps need the temperature, only one of them fetches it. In that app, installed as Weather, the callback publishes the finished value:

    shared.set("temp", self.temp)

Every other app reads it:

    var t = shared.get("Weather.temp", 0)

This works for HTTP, MQTT and Modbus readings. Share the finished number or short text, never the raw response. Before you show a shared value, check shared.age() and show a placeholder when the value is missing or too old. Publish only after a successful read.

A background script can do the fetching without taking a turn on the display. The meter example shows one reader that feeds two display apps.

Modules are for shared code, not shared data. A fetch inside a module still runs once for every app that calls it. If only one app needs the data, keep it in that app.

8. Poll slowly¶

• Keep at most one request in flight per app. Tutorial 3: Feed it real data shows the in_flight flag.
• Fetch only as often as the data changes. Weather every 5 to 15 minutes is enough.
• Make the interval a # @config … number setting, so the user can slow it down.
• Give apps different intervals, so their requests do not all start at the same moment.

9. Keep the number of HTTPS apps low¶

An https:// connection needs a large amount of memory for a short time. When apps that work alone start to fail together, this is usually the reason.

Cheaper sources:

• MQTT – the value arrives small and ready to use. No connection setup, no response body, no polling.
• Plain http:// on your own network – no encryption, so much less memory.

10. Do not call gc.collect() in a running app¶

AWTRIX cleans up memory by itself. Calling gc.collect() in draw() or loop() only costs time. Use it only in a measuring script (see below).

See how much memory a script uses¶

After an install¶

Every install writes one line to the device log. Open Log in the web UI, or read GET /api/v1/logs:

[script:Rain] vm heap +5040 bytes (shared 21940)

• The first number is what this app added: 5 040 bytes.
• shared is the total of all scripts on the device: 21 940 bytes.

Compare the total with scriptHeapBudgetBytes from Device state. When the total reaches that limit, new installs are refused.

Install, use the app for a while, then look at the total again. A total that keeps growing points to a list or member that is never trimmed.

The Dashboard shows Free RAM for the whole device.

For one piece of code¶

gc.allocated() returns the memory all scripts use right now, in bytes. To measure one step, clean up, read, run the step, clean up again, read again:

# @headless true

import gc
import json

class Probe
  def setup()
    var body = "{\"temp\":21.5,\"hum\":52}"

    gc.collect()
    var before = gc.allocated()
    var data = json.load(body)
    gc.collect()
    var after = gc.allocated()

    log("tree costs " + str(after - before) + " bytes")
  end
end

return Probe()

# @headless true makes it a background script: it runs, but does not take a turn on the display, so it needs no draw(). import gc goes below the # @… header lines and above the class. Save the script and read the result in Log. Delete it when you are done.

Always call gc.collect() before both readings. Without it, the numbers change from run to run.

When an install is refused¶

A 507 with not enough memory to compile or heap too fragmented to compile means the script was not installed. Try these steps in this order:

1. Restart AWTRIX and save the script again. This often fixes it without any change.
2. Delete a script you do not use. Its memory is free at once.
3. Make the script smaller, with fewer and longer methods (checklist item 6).

Saving changes to a script that is already installed needs less free memory than a new install. So you can often still edit an existing script when new installs are refused.

Not enough memory to compile has the details.

Example: before and after¶

The same app, fetching the same forecast, written twice.

Wasteful:

  def on_body(body, status)
    self.body = body                    # keep the response, might need it later
    self.data = json.load(body)         # parse the whole thing
  end

  def draw()
    clear()
    var hourly = self.data.find("hourly")
    var p = hourly.find("precipitation_probability")
    var w = width() / size(p)
    for i : 0 .. size(p) - 1
      var bar = p[i] * height() / 100
      rect_fill(i * w, height() - bar, w, bar, 0x0088FF)
    end
    text(0, 6, "Rain " + str(p[0]) + "%", 0xFFFFFF)
  end

Small, the app from tutorial 3:

  def on_body(body, status)
    self.in_flight = false
    if body == nil return end
    var m = re.matchall("[0-9]+", body)     # body is a 128-byte window
    if m == nil || size(m) < 16 return end
    for i : 0 .. 15
      self.hours[i] = num(m[i], 0)          # written in place, no new list
    end
    self.ready = true
  end

  def draw()
    clear()
    var h = height()
    var w = width() / size(self.hours)
    line(0, h - 1, width() - 1, h - 1, 0x101820)
    for i : 0 .. size(self.hours) - 1
      var v = self.hours[i]
      var bar = v * h / 100
      if bar > 0
        rect_fill(i * w, h - bar, w, bar, self.tint)
      end
    end
  end

Four changes made the difference:

1. find and keep on the request: the body is 128 bytes instead of 8 028.
2. re.matchall() instead of json.load().
3. The values go into a list that already exists.
4. draw() only reads members. It builds nothing.

Related¶

• Tutorial 3: Feed it real data – find, keep and the callback in a full app
• Scripting guide – the full API
• Limits – every limit in one table