Fix garbage collection issue with Infinity setting #1135

KyleAMathews · 2026-01-15T01:41:10Z

Summary

Fixes a bug where setting gcTime: Infinity to disable garbage collection actually caused immediate GC instead of never collecting, due to JavaScript's setTimeout coercing Infinity to 0 via ToInt32.

Root Cause

When users configure gcTime: Infinity expecting their collection to never be garbage collected, JavaScript's setTimeout silently converts the delay:

setTimeout(fn, Infinity)  // Actually executes as setTimeout(fn, 0)

This happens because the HTML spec requires the delay to be clamped to a 32-bit signed integer, and ToInt32(Infinity) === 0. The result: collections were immediately cleaned up the moment subscribers dropped to zero—the exact opposite of the intended behavior.

Approach

Added an explicit check for non-finite values alongside the existing gcTime === 0 check:

if (gcTime === 0 || !Number.isFinite(gcTime)) {
  return  // Don't start GC timer
}

Using Number.isFinite() handles Infinity, -Infinity, and NaN in a single check, making the code robust against any edge cases.

Key Invariants

gcTime: 0 → GC disabled (existing behavior, unchanged)
gcTime: Infinity → GC disabled (now works correctly)
gcTime: <positive number> → GC after specified milliseconds (unchanged)

Non-goals

Didn't change the default gcTime value (5 minutes)
Didn't add warnings for unusual gcTime values—the API contract is clear

Trade-offs

Alternative considered: Could have special-cased only Infinity, but !Number.isFinite() is more defensive against NaN or negative infinity edge cases that would also misbehave with setTimeout.

Verification

pnpm test packages/db/tests/collection-lifecycle.test.ts

The new test case specifically validates that gcTime: Infinity prevents any timer from being scheduled.

Files Changed

File	Change
`packages/db/src/collection/lifecycle.ts`	Added `!Number.isFinite(gcTime)` check in `startGCTimer()`
`packages/db/tests/collection-lifecycle.test.ts`	Added test case for `gcTime: Infinity` behavior

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

When gcTime was set to Infinity, setTimeout(fn, Infinity) would coerce Infinity to 0 via JavaScript's ToInt32 conversion, causing immediate garbage collection instead of disabling it. This fix treats Infinity (and any non-finite values) the same as 0, effectively disabling automatic garbage collection when the user intends for data to never be collected. Fixes issue where collections in Electron apps would unexpectedly lose data when navigating back and forth with gcTime set to Infinity.

changeset-bot · 2026-01-15T01:41:14Z

🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: 4c988df

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 12 packages

Name	Type
@tanstack/db	Patch
@tanstack/angular-db	Patch
@tanstack/electric-db-collection	Patch
@tanstack/offline-transactions	Patch
@tanstack/powersync-db-collection	Patch
@tanstack/query-db-collection	Patch
@tanstack/react-db	Patch
@tanstack/rxdb-db-collection	Patch
@tanstack/solid-db	Patch
@tanstack/svelte-db	Patch
@tanstack/trailbase-db-collection	Patch
@tanstack/vue-db	Patch

Not sure what this means? Click here to learn what changesets are.

Click here if you're a maintainer who wants to add another changeset to this PR

pkg-pr-new · 2026-01-15T01:42:52Z

More templates

@tanstack/angular-db

npm i https://pkg.pr.new/@tanstack/angular-db@1135

@tanstack/db

npm i https://pkg.pr.new/@tanstack/db@1135

@tanstack/db-ivm

npm i https://pkg.pr.new/@tanstack/db-ivm@1135

@tanstack/electric-db-collection

npm i https://pkg.pr.new/@tanstack/electric-db-collection@1135

@tanstack/offline-transactions

npm i https://pkg.pr.new/@tanstack/offline-transactions@1135

@tanstack/powersync-db-collection

npm i https://pkg.pr.new/@tanstack/powersync-db-collection@1135

@tanstack/query-db-collection

npm i https://pkg.pr.new/@tanstack/query-db-collection@1135

@tanstack/react-db

npm i https://pkg.pr.new/@tanstack/react-db@1135

@tanstack/rxdb-db-collection

npm i https://pkg.pr.new/@tanstack/rxdb-db-collection@1135

@tanstack/solid-db

npm i https://pkg.pr.new/@tanstack/solid-db@1135

@tanstack/svelte-db

npm i https://pkg.pr.new/@tanstack/svelte-db@1135

@tanstack/trailbase-db-collection

npm i https://pkg.pr.new/@tanstack/trailbase-db-collection@1135

@tanstack/vue-db

npm i https://pkg.pr.new/@tanstack/vue-db@1135

commit: 4c988df

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

github-actions · 2026-01-15T01:45:34Z

Size Change: +14 B (+0.02%)

Total Size: 90.6 kB

Filename	Size	Change
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/lifecycle.js`	1.68 kB	+14 B (+0.84%)

ℹ️ View Unchanged

Filename	Size
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/change-events.js`	1.39 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/changes.js`	1.19 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/events.js`	388 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/index.js`	3.32 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/indexes.js`	1.1 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/mutations.js`	2.34 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/state.js`	3.46 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/subscription.js`	3.62 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/collection/sync.js`	2.38 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/deferred.js`	207 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/errors.js`	4.49 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/event-emitter.js`	748 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/index.js`	2.69 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/indexes/auto-index.js`	742 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/indexes/base-index.js`	766 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/indexes/btree-index.js`	1.93 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/indexes/lazy-index.js`	1.1 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/indexes/reverse-index.js`	513 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/local-only.js`	837 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/local-storage.js`	2.1 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/optimistic-action.js`	359 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/paced-mutations.js`	496 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/proxy.js`	3.75 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/builder/functions.js`	733 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/builder/index.js`	4.08 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/builder/ref-proxy.js`	1.05 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/evaluators.js`	1.42 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/expressions.js`	430 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/group-by.js`	1.87 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/index.js`	1.96 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/joins.js`	2 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/order-by.js`	1.45 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/compiler/select.js`	1.06 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/expression-helpers.js`	1.43 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/ir.js`	673 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/live-query-collection.js`	360 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/live/collection-config-builder.js`	5.4 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/live/collection-registry.js`	264 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/live/collection-subscriber.js`	1.93 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/live/internal.js`	145 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/optimizer.js`	2.56 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/predicate-utils.js`	2.97 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/query/subset-dedupe.js`	921 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/scheduler.js`	1.3 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/SortedMap.js`	1.3 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/strategies/debounceStrategy.js`	247 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/strategies/queueStrategy.js`	428 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/strategies/throttleStrategy.js`	246 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/transactions.js`	2.9 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils.js`	924 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils/browser-polyfills.js`	304 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils/btree.js`	5.61 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils/comparison.js`	852 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils/cursor.js`	457 B
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils/index-optimization.js`	1.51 kB
`./packages/db/dist/esm/utils/type-guards.js`	157 B

_{compressed-size-action::db-package-size}

github-actions · 2026-01-15T01:46:09Z

Size Change: 0 B

Total Size: 3.47 kB

ℹ️ View Unchanged

Filename	Size
`./packages/react-db/dist/esm/index.js`	225 B
`./packages/react-db/dist/esm/useLiveInfiniteQuery.js`	1.17 kB
`./packages/react-db/dist/esm/useLiveQuery.js`	1.12 kB
`./packages/react-db/dist/esm/useLiveSuspenseQuery.js`	559 B
`./packages/react-db/dist/esm/usePacedMutations.js`	401 B

_{compressed-size-action::react-db-package-size}

chore: add changeset for gcTime Infinity fix

4c988df

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <[email protected]>

KyleAMathews added this to TanStack DB 1.0.0 release Jan 15, 2026

KyleAMathews moved this to Ready for review in TanStack DB 1.0.0 release Jan 15, 2026

Provide feedback

Saved searches

Use saved searches to filter your results more quickly

Uh oh!

Fix garbage collection issue with Infinity setting #1135

Fix garbage collection issue with Infinity setting #1135

Uh oh!

KyleAMathews commented Jan 15, 2026 •

edited

Loading

Uh oh!

changeset-bot bot commented Jan 15, 2026 •

edited

Loading

Uh oh!

pkg-pr-new bot commented Jan 15, 2026 •

edited

Loading

Uh oh!

github-actions bot commented Jan 15, 2026

Uh oh!

github-actions bot commented Jan 15, 2026

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

3 participants

Fix garbage collection issue with Infinity setting #1135

Are you sure you want to change the base?

Fix garbage collection issue with Infinity setting #1135

Uh oh!

Conversation

KyleAMathews commented Jan 15, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Summary

Root Cause

Approach

Key Invariants

Non-goals

Trade-offs

Verification

Files Changed

Uh oh!

changeset-bot bot commented Jan 15, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

🦋 Changeset detected

Uh oh!

pkg-pr-new bot commented Jan 15, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

github-actions bot commented Jan 15, 2026

Uh oh!

github-actions bot commented Jan 15, 2026

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

3 participants

KyleAMathews commented Jan 15, 2026 •

edited

Loading

changeset-bot bot commented Jan 15, 2026 •

edited

Loading

pkg-pr-new bot commented Jan 15, 2026 •

edited

Loading