headroom/tests/test_compression_observability.py
chopratejas 44944fb3fe fix(proxy): restore Anthropic compression on token mode (issue #327)
Three bugs combined to drive end-to-end compression on the Anthropic
backend to ~0% in token mode (the default). User report #327 saw a
~9× drop in dashboard savings from one day to the next on Claude
Code traffic; the dashboard headline was technically correct but the
underlying compression genuinely was not running. After this change
the same Claude Code-shape multi-turn conversation goes from
14987 → 14371 tokens at the request boundary on turn 1 and only
recompresses the freshest tool_result on subsequent turns, with the
prior turns frozen byte-identical to preserve the upstream prefix
cache.

Bug 1 — IntelligentContextManager inner ContentRouter has no observer

PR #302 (commit cf979958, 2026-04-28) wired CompressionObserver onto
the outer ContentRouter in proxy/server.py and onto SmartCrusher.
The inner ContentRouter constructed lazily inside
IntelligentContextManager._get_content_router (added Jan 18, 2026
in 57b2de5 alongside the COMPRESS_FIRST strategy) was missed. That
inner router handles the bulk of Claude Code's tool_result-block
compression, so per-strategy counters surfaced by PR #314 in v0.15.0
showed compressions_by_strategy={"text": 6} while
summary.compression.total_tokens_removed=1.3M — math-impossible.

Fix: add observer= parameter to IntelligentContextManager.__init__,
forward it to the inner ContentRouter at intelligent_context.py:525,
and pass observer=self.metrics from proxy/server.py.

Bug 2 — TTL deferral marks every fresh tool_result as stable

should_defer_compression in compression_cache.py returned True on
first-sight (added 2026-04-07 in commit 22dad13 with the intent of
batching first-time compressions near the 5-min cache TTL boundary
to trade many small busts for one). The token-mode walker at
anthropic.py:766-787 walks every message past frozen_message_count,
calls should_defer_compression on each fresh tool_result, gets True,
and advances ttl_frozen += 1 — every iteration. Result:
frozen_message_count grows to len(messages), the pipeline freezes
the entire request, and nothing reaches a real compressor.

The defer-first-sight rationale assumes recurring content within
TTL. Real Claude Code traffic produces unique content per turn, so
"defer until next sight" defers forever. Compressing fresh content
on first sight does not bust any prefix cache because Anthropic has
not cached that byte position yet — it's a cache write either way.

Fix: should_defer_compression returns False on first-sight (record
the timestamp; compress now). Subsequent sightings within TTL still
defer (batch window preserved for genuinely repeating content).
Updated tests in test_compression_cache.py to assert the corrected
semantics and verify _first_seen is recorded on first call.

Bug 3 — cross-tokenizer comparison in token-mode inflation guard

anthropic.py:634 sets original_tokens = tokenizer.count_messages(...)
using the proxy-side EstimatingTokenCounter. The token-mode branch
at line 816 set optimized_tokens = result.tokens_after from
pipeline, which uses the provider-side AnthropicProvider tiktoken
estimator. The two tokenizers disagree by ~25% on the same payload.

The inflation guard at line 901
(if optimized_tokens > original_tokens: revert to originals) treats
those two numbers as comparable. After a real 12% compression the
provider-tokenizer figure was still higher than the proxy-tokenizer
baseline, so the guard fired, optimized_messages was reset to the
original input, transforms_applied was emptied, and tokens_saved
went to 0. The dashboard showed no compression even when the
pipeline successfully compressed.

Fix: recount optimized_tokens with the proxy tokenizer right after
the pipeline returns, so the guard compares apples-to-apples. The
recount cost is a few ms on a 50K-token request and is dwarfed by
upstream call latency.

Verification

* 80 targeted tests across test_compression_cache,
  test_compression_observability, test_proxy_anthropic_cache_stability,
  test_proxy_intelligent_context pass.
* make ci-precheck clean.
* End-to-end real-API run against api.anthropic.com via local proxy:
  - Turn 1 fresh: 14987 → 14371 (4.1%) on a 3-tool-round payload;
    smart_crusher and diff strategies fired with non-zero savings.
  - Turn 2 (turn 1 history + 1 new tool_result): 23161 → 21928 (5.3%);
    only the new tool_result compressed; older turns marked
    router:protected:user_message; Anthropic returned
    cache_creation_input_tokens > 0 confirming the prefix was not
    busted.

Two new regression tests in test_compression_observability lock down
the inner ContentRouter observer wiring so a future copy of Bug 1
fails the suite the day it lands.
2026-04-30 12:59:19 -07:00

401 lines
15 KiB
Python

"""Per-strategy compression observability tests.
These guard the forcing function: when any compressor runs in
production, a `CompressionObserver` notification fires once per real
compression event, and `PrometheusMetrics` accumulates per-strategy
counters that the test suite asserts on directly.
The TOIN→SmartCrusher silent disconnect (caught three weeks late by
manual audit) was invisible because no signal distinguished by
strategy. These tests exist so the next regression of that shape
fails the suite the day it lands instead of waiting on an audit.
The counters live ONLY as in-process state on the metrics instance;
they are deliberately NOT exported through the Prometheus scrape or
OTel surface, because the metric→Supabase pipeline treats each
metric name as a column and we cannot add new columns. CI-level
observability via these tests is enough to catch silent regressions;
production export waits on a non-column-adding pipeline.
Coverage:
1. `ContentRouter.compress(...)` calls observer once per RoutingDecision.
2. `SmartCrusher.apply(...)` calls observer once per crushed message.
3. Both transforms tolerate an observer that raises (compression must
still succeed).
4. `PrometheusMetrics` correctly satisfies the `CompressionObserver`
protocol — `record_compression` increments per-strategy counters
and `tokens_saved_by_strategy` accumulates only positive savings.
5. The Prometheus scrape output (`export()`) does NOT emit any new
metric names — the per-strategy state stays internal.
"""
from __future__ import annotations
from dataclasses import dataclass, field
from typing import Any
import pytest
from headroom.transforms.content_detector import ContentType
from headroom.transforms.content_router import (
CompressionStrategy,
ContentRouter,
ContentRouterConfig,
RouterCompressionResult,
RoutingDecision,
)
from headroom.transforms.observability import CompressionObserver
from headroom.transforms.smart_crusher import SmartCrusher, SmartCrusherConfig
# ─── Test doubles ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@dataclass
class SpyObserver:
"""Captures every `record_compression` call for assertion."""
calls: list[tuple[str, int, int]] = field(default_factory=list)
def record_compression(
self,
strategy: str,
original_tokens: int,
compressed_tokens: int,
) -> None:
self.calls.append((strategy, original_tokens, compressed_tokens))
@dataclass
class ExplodingObserver:
"""Raises on every call. Used to assert observer failures don't
propagate out and break compression."""
raised: int = 0
def record_compression(self, *_a: Any, **_kw: Any) -> None:
self.raised += 1
raise RuntimeError("simulated observer outage")
# ─── Protocol conformance ──────────────────────────────────────────────
def test_spy_satisfies_observer_protocol():
spy = SpyObserver()
# `runtime_checkable` Protocol — isinstance check works.
assert isinstance(spy, CompressionObserver)
def test_prometheus_metrics_satisfies_observer_protocol():
from headroom.proxy.prometheus_metrics import PrometheusMetrics
m = PrometheusMetrics()
assert isinstance(m, CompressionObserver)
# ─── ContentRouter wiring ──────────────────────────────────────────────
def test_content_router_records_observer_call_per_routing_decision():
spy = SpyObserver()
router = ContentRouter(ContentRouterConfig(), observer=spy)
# Forge a routing log directly via the result object — the observer
# call site walks `result.routing_log`, so we assert the contract
# without depending on which compressor would actually fire.
result = RouterCompressionResult(
compressed="x",
original="x",
strategy_used=CompressionStrategy.SMART_CRUSHER,
routing_log=[
RoutingDecision(
content_type=ContentType.JSON_ARRAY,
strategy=CompressionStrategy.SMART_CRUSHER,
original_tokens=200,
compressed_tokens=50,
),
RoutingDecision(
content_type=ContentType.SOURCE_CODE,
strategy=CompressionStrategy.CODE_AWARE,
original_tokens=300,
compressed_tokens=300, # passthrough — still recorded
),
],
)
router._observe(result)
assert spy.calls == [
("smart_crusher", 200, 50),
("code_aware", 300, 300),
]
def test_content_router_with_no_observer_is_silent():
router = ContentRouter(ContentRouterConfig()) # observer defaults None
result = RouterCompressionResult(
compressed="x",
original="x",
strategy_used=CompressionStrategy.PASSTHROUGH,
routing_log=[
RoutingDecision(
content_type=ContentType.PLAIN_TEXT,
strategy=CompressionStrategy.TEXT,
original_tokens=10,
compressed_tokens=5,
)
],
)
# Should not raise.
router._observe(result)
def test_content_router_swallows_observer_failures():
boom = ExplodingObserver()
router = ContentRouter(ContentRouterConfig(), observer=boom)
result = RouterCompressionResult(
compressed="x",
original="x",
strategy_used=CompressionStrategy.TEXT,
routing_log=[
RoutingDecision(
content_type=ContentType.PLAIN_TEXT,
strategy=CompressionStrategy.TEXT,
original_tokens=10,
compressed_tokens=5,
)
],
)
# Must not raise — observability failures are not compression failures.
router._observe(result)
assert boom.raised == 1
# ─── SmartCrusher wiring (legacy direct-pipeline path) ─────────────────
def _bigger_array(n: int = 60) -> str:
import json as _json
items = [{"status": "ok", "tag": "x", "n": i} for i in range(n)]
return _json.dumps(items)
@pytest.fixture
def isolated_toin(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
"""Point TOIN at a tempdir for the duration of the test.
SmartCrusher.apply() feeds the global TOIN learning store via
`record_compression`. Its default storage path is
`~/.headroom/toin.json`, which persists across pytest invocations.
On Python 3.11 CI runs the suite twice (regular + coverage); a
pattern written in run #1 changes which rows the lossy sampler
keeps in run #2 and breaks `test_first_last_items_always_preserved`
in `test_evals.py`.
Isolating the TOIN file per test contains the side effect.
"""
from pathlib import Path
from headroom.telemetry.toin import TOIN_PATH_ENV_VAR, reset_toin
storage = str(Path(tmp_path) / "toin.json")
monkeypatch.setenv(TOIN_PATH_ENV_VAR, storage)
reset_toin()
yield
reset_toin()
def test_smart_crusher_apply_records_observer_per_crushed_message(isolated_toin):
"""End-to-end: SmartCrusher.apply() walks messages, crushes the
big tool_result, fires the observer with strategy='smart_crusher'."""
from headroom.providers.openai import OpenAITokenCounter
from headroom.tokenizer import Tokenizer
spy = SpyObserver()
crusher = SmartCrusher(SmartCrusherConfig(), observer=spy)
tok = Tokenizer(OpenAITokenCounter("gpt-4o-mini"), model="gpt-4o-mini")
messages = [
{"role": "user", "content": "what's in the data?"},
{"role": "tool", "content": _bigger_array(60)},
]
result = crusher.apply(messages, tok)
# If the analyzer chose passthrough this run, the observer wasn't
# fired; that's fine for the wiring test — we only assert it WAS
# fired in the case it crushed.
if "smart_crush:" in ",".join(result.transforms_applied):
assert spy.calls, "smart_crusher crushed but observer wasn't notified"
for strategy, original, compressed in spy.calls:
assert strategy == "smart_crusher"
assert original > 0
assert compressed >= 0
def test_smart_crusher_apply_swallows_observer_failures(isolated_toin):
"""Observer raises → compression still completes, returns valid
TransformResult, count of raises matches the crushed_count."""
from headroom.providers.openai import OpenAITokenCounter
from headroom.tokenizer import Tokenizer
boom = ExplodingObserver()
crusher = SmartCrusher(SmartCrusherConfig(), observer=boom)
tok = Tokenizer(OpenAITokenCounter("gpt-4o-mini"), model="gpt-4o-mini")
messages = [{"role": "tool", "content": _bigger_array(60)}]
result = crusher.apply(messages, tok)
# Either the analyzer didn't crush (boom.raised == 0) or it did
# (boom.raised >= 1) — but in both cases compression returned a
# valid TransformResult. No exception escaped.
assert result.messages is not None
# ─── PrometheusMetrics implementation ──────────────────────────────────
def test_prometheus_metrics_accumulates_per_strategy_counters():
from headroom.proxy.prometheus_metrics import PrometheusMetrics
m = PrometheusMetrics()
m.record_compression("smart_crusher", original_tokens=200, compressed_tokens=50)
m.record_compression("smart_crusher", original_tokens=100, compressed_tokens=40)
m.record_compression("diff", original_tokens=80, compressed_tokens=80) # no savings
m.record_compression("code_aware", original_tokens=50, compressed_tokens=70) # negative savings
assert m.compressions_by_strategy == {
"smart_crusher": 2,
"diff": 1,
"code_aware": 1,
}
# Tokens saved is `max(0, original - compressed)` per strategy.
# smart_crusher: 150 + 60 = 210; diff: 0 (no savings, dict entry omitted);
# code_aware: 0 (negative).
assert m.tokens_saved_by_strategy == {"smart_crusher": 210}
def test_prometheus_export_does_not_leak_per_strategy_metrics():
"""Per-strategy state is tracked in-process only. The Prometheus
scrape output deliberately must NOT emit new metric names — the
metric→Supabase pipeline treats each metric name as a column, and
we cannot add new columns. This test guards that constraint: if a
future change adds the metric to the scrape, this fails and forces
a conscious decision."""
import asyncio
from headroom.proxy.prometheus_metrics import PrometheusMetrics
m = PrometheusMetrics()
m.record_compression("smart_crusher", original_tokens=200, compressed_tokens=50)
m.record_compression("diff", original_tokens=120, compressed_tokens=70)
output = asyncio.run(m.export())
assert "headroom_compressions_total" not in output
assert "headroom_tokens_saved_by_strategy_total" not in output
# ─── End-to-end smoke (router + metrics together) ──────────────────────
def test_router_with_prometheus_observer_increments_counters():
"""Plumbing test: a router wired to a real PrometheusMetrics
instance lights up the per-strategy counters as routing decisions
accumulate. This is the production wiring shape from
`headroom/proxy/server.py`."""
from headroom.proxy.prometheus_metrics import PrometheusMetrics
m = PrometheusMetrics()
router = ContentRouter(ContentRouterConfig(), observer=m)
fake_result = RouterCompressionResult(
compressed="x",
original="x",
strategy_used=CompressionStrategy.MIXED,
routing_log=[
RoutingDecision(
content_type=ContentType.JSON_ARRAY,
strategy=CompressionStrategy.SMART_CRUSHER,
original_tokens=300,
compressed_tokens=80,
),
RoutingDecision(
content_type=ContentType.SOURCE_CODE,
strategy=CompressionStrategy.CODE_AWARE,
original_tokens=200,
compressed_tokens=120,
),
RoutingDecision(
content_type=ContentType.JSON_ARRAY,
strategy=CompressionStrategy.SMART_CRUSHER,
original_tokens=100,
compressed_tokens=40,
),
],
)
router._observe(fake_result)
assert m.compressions_by_strategy == {"smart_crusher": 2, "code_aware": 1}
assert m.tokens_saved_by_strategy == {
"smart_crusher": (300 - 80) + (100 - 40), # 280
"code_aware": (200 - 120), # 80
}
# ─── IntelligentContextManager wiring ──────────────────────────────────
def test_intelligent_context_manager_forwards_observer_to_inner_router():
"""COMPRESS_FIRST path must fire the observer.
Regression guard for the bug introduced in PR #302 (commit
cf979958, 2026-04-28): the observer was wired onto the outer
ContentRouter in `proxy/server.py` but NOT onto the inner
ContentRouter inside `IntelligentContextManager._get_content_router`.
On Anthropic/Claude Code traffic — where most compression happens
inside `_apply_compress_first` walking `tool_result` blocks — that
silently zero'd the per-strategy counters even when 1M+ tokens were
being compressed (see issue #327).
The fix threads `observer=` through the IntelligentContextManager
constructor into the inner router. This test asserts the wiring at
the construction boundary; the observer fires when the inner router
actually compresses content (covered indirectly by the existing
`test_content_router_records_observer_call_per_routing_decision`).
"""
from headroom.config import IntelligentContextConfig
from headroom.transforms.intelligent_context import IntelligentContextManager
spy = SpyObserver()
icm = IntelligentContextManager(
config=IntelligentContextConfig(enabled=True),
observer=spy,
)
# Force the lazy router to materialize.
inner_router = icm._get_content_router()
assert inner_router is not None, (
"IntelligentContextManager could not construct its inner ContentRouter; "
"fixture setup is broken"
)
assert inner_router._observer is spy, (
"Inner ContentRouter is missing the observer reference. "
"IntelligentContextManager must forward `observer=` to "
"ContentRouter(...) at intelligent_context.py:_get_content_router."
)
def test_intelligent_context_manager_observer_defaults_to_none():
"""Default constructor (no observer kwarg) leaves the inner router
unobserved. Lock the default behavior so SDK callers that don't
have a metrics object aren't forced to plumb one through."""
from headroom.config import IntelligentContextConfig
from headroom.transforms.intelligent_context import IntelligentContextManager
icm = IntelligentContextManager(
config=IntelligentContextConfig(enabled=True),
)
assert icm._observer is None
inner_router = icm._get_content_router()
assert inner_router is not None
assert inner_router._observer is None