Pimp My IDE / Garage Dispatch
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September 26, 2026 | coding agents / process cleanup / workstation health

Your agent left the engine running.

A finished chat does not prove that its dev server, build worker, encoder, or tool server stopped with it.

The take. Process cleanup needs attribution and an identity check. A high memory number is a reason to inspect. It is not permission to kill.
Build a tow card

Long sessions have a physical afterlife.

A new Show HN project called Leftovers groups processes by app and coding-agent session on macOS. It measures process footprint as RAM plus compressed and swapped memory. The project also reports duplicate tool servers and likely leaks.[1]

The useful idea is larger than one app. Agent work now spans long session catalogs, remote hosts, and Dev Containers. VS Code 1.139 describes an agent host that can keep a session available across windows. It also extends Dev Container sessions to projects on SSH, Tunnel, and WSL hosts.[2] The visible chat and the process tree can have different lifetimes.

Session closed is a user-interface state. Process stopped is an operating-system fact.

A cleanup candidate needs four facts.

  1. Owner. Confirm the operating-system user. Protect root, system, and other users' processes.
  2. Origin. Tie the process to a session, terminal, parent process, port, or working directory.
  3. Impact. Record age, idle time, CPU, memory footprint, open port, and whether the work is still serving anyone.
  4. Identity. Recheck that the process ID still belongs to the same start time before sending a signal.

Leftovers encodes this caution. Its published rules protect system processes before classification, check process identity by start time, request a normal quit first, and force termination only after a delay.[1]

Detached work is valid when the lifecycle is explicit.

Node.js documents that a detached child can continue after its parent exits. Whether it stays alive also depends on its standard input and output configuration and whether the parent keeps a reference to it.[3] A surviving process can be intentional. The defect is missing ownership, stop behavior, and a receipt.

Make every long-lived development process answer four questions. Who owns it? Which project started it? How do we inspect it? How do we stop it without guessing?

Clean with a report before a button.

Start with read-only inventory. Group related helpers. Mark protected processes. Then review candidates one by one. A bulk cleanup action should remain behind confirmation and should refuse protected targets.

The tow card below does not inspect this computer. It prepares the fields needed for a real decision. Attach command output before changing the status from candidate to stopped.

Interactive makeover / process lifecycle handoff

Process tow yard

Traditional purpose replaced: sort a process list by memory and kill the loudest row. Better version: lock owner, origin, impact, and identity to one candidate, then print an evidence request.

Set the inspection locks

Each switch records a requirement. Selecting it does not prove the requirement passed.

Candidate requirements
Requirements open0 / 4 selected
Owner
Origin
Impact
Identity
Next requirementOwner
Decision statusDo not signal

Candidate not identified.

Select the owner requirement, then attach evidence to the receipt.

Print the tow card

Replace every required field with live output. The completed checklist means the template structure is ready.

Sources read, not vibes

Open the source log
  1. Leftovers repository and README, read September 26, 2026. Process footprint definition, session grouping, published leak rules, protected categories, process identity check, normal-quit-first behavior, CLI modes, and macOS scope.
  2. Visual Studio Code 1.139 release notes, released September 23, 2026. Agent host process, cross-window sessions, large session catalogs, and remote Dev Container sessions.
  3. Node.js child process documentation, options.detached, current documentation read September 26, 2026. Detached child lifetime, process groups, standard input and output conditions, and reference behavior.
  4. Hacker News discussion 49861159, September 26, 2026. Discovery route for the Leftovers release. No comments were available when read.

Source boundary. Leftovers is a new macOS project whose thresholds and behavior are documented by its author. Pimp My IDE did not run it or reproduce the 59 GB example in its README. VS Code and Node.js document lifecycle conditions, but neither verifies this project's classifications. The tow yard is a platform-neutral review template, not a process monitor.