Fix bash command polling to use async sleep in async context #1662

simonrosenberg · 2026-01-09T11:35:24Z

Summary

The bash command polling loop was using time.sleep(0.1) which blocks the event loop in async contexts. This caused the polling to stop prematurely after only 2 attempts, leading to agent loops hanging indefinitely with 20-minute idle timeouts.

Root Cause

The _execute_command_generator method in RemoteWorkspaceMixin used synchronous time.sleep(0.1) between polling attempts. In async contexts (when using AsyncRemoteWorkspace), this blocked the event loop, causing issues with the HTTP client and preventing proper polling continuation.

Solution

Modified the generator to yield sleep requests instead of calling time.sleep() directly. The _execute methods in both sync and async workspace implementations now handle these sleep requests appropriately:

Sync (RemoteWorkspace): Uses time.sleep() for sleep requests
Async (AsyncRemoteWorkspace): Uses await asyncio.sleep() for sleep requests

This ensures the polling loop continues correctly in both sync and async contexts without blocking the event loop.

Changes

openhands-sdk/openhands/sdk/workspace/remote/remote_workspace_mixin.py:
- Modified _execute_command_generator to yield {"_sleep": duration} requests instead of calling time.sleep() directly
- Added POLL_INTERVAL_SECONDS constant for polling interval configuration
openhands-sdk/openhands/sdk/workspace/remote/base.py:
- Updated _execute method to handle sleep requests with time.sleep()
openhands-sdk/openhands/sdk/workspace/remote/async_remote_workspace.py:
- Updated _execute method to handle sleep requests with await asyncio.sleep()

Testing

Updated existing polling loop tests to reflect new generator behavior
Added new test test_async_execute_handles_sleep_requests to verify async sleep handling
All 78 workspace tests pass

@simonrosenberg can click here to continue refining the PR

Agent Server images for this PR

• GHCR package: https://github.com/OpenHands/agent-sdk/pkgs/container/agent-server

Variants & Base Images

Variant	Architectures	Base Image	Docs / Tags
java	amd64, arm64	`eclipse-temurin:17-jdk`	Link
python	amd64, arm64	`nikolaik/python-nodejs:python3.12-nodejs22`	Link
golang	amd64, arm64	`golang:1.21-bookworm`	Link

Pull (multi-arch manifest)

# Each variant is a multi-arch manifest supporting both amd64 and arm64
docker pull ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-python

Run

docker run -it --rm \
  -p 8000:8000 \
  --name agent-server-657cb46-python \
  ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-python

All tags pushed for this build

ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-golang-amd64
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-golang_tag_1.21-bookworm-amd64
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-golang-arm64
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-golang_tag_1.21-bookworm-arm64
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-java-amd64
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-eclipse-temurin_tag_17-jdk-amd64
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-java-arm64
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-eclipse-temurin_tag_17-jdk-arm64
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-python-amd64
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-nikolaik_s_python-nodejs_tag_python3.12-nodejs22-amd64
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-python-arm64
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-nikolaik_s_python-nodejs_tag_python3.12-nodejs22-arm64
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-golang
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-java
ghcr.io/openhands/agent-server:657cb46-python

About Multi-Architecture Support

Each variant tag (e.g., 657cb46-python) is a multi-arch manifest supporting both amd64 and arm64
Docker automatically pulls the correct architecture for your platform
Individual architecture tags (e.g., 657cb46-python-amd64) are also available if needed

The bash command polling loop was using time.sleep(0.1) which blocks the event loop in async contexts. This caused the polling to stop prematurely after only 2 attempts, leading to agent loops hanging indefinitely. Changes: - Modified _execute_command_generator to yield sleep requests instead of calling time.sleep() directly - Updated sync _execute method in RemoteWorkspace to handle sleep requests with time.sleep() - Updated async _execute method in AsyncRemoteWorkspace to handle sleep requests with asyncio.sleep() - Added test for async sleep handling - Updated existing polling tests to reflect new generator behavior Fixes #1633 Co-authored-by: openhands <[email protected]>

github-actions · 2026-01-09T11:37:28Z

Coverage Report •

File	Stmts	Miss	Cover	Missing
openhands-sdk/openhands/sdk/workspace/remote
async_remote_workspace.py	68	12	82%	26–31, 141–143, 157–159
base.py	69	12	82%	41–46, 156–158, 172–174
remote_workspace_mixin.py	109	9	91%	298, 304–307, 325, 331–333
TOTAL	14986	4418	70%

simonrosenberg · 2026-01-09T11:46:55Z

@OpenHands
read the issue linked to the PR and the PR diff
Pay very close attention to the logic - are there any flaws? Is the code clean or could we find a simpler more elegant solution?
/codereview-roasted

openhands-ai · 2026-01-09T11:47:04Z

I'm on it! simonrosenberg can track my progress at all-hands.dev

openhands-ai · 2026-01-09T11:49:15Z

Code Review Summary for PR #1662

🟡 Taste Rating: Acceptable - Works but could be cleaner

The PR correctly fixes the bug (Issue #1633) where bash command polling stopped after 2 attempts due to time.sleep() blocking the event loop in async contexts.

Critical Feedback

Main Issue: Magic String Protocol

The solution uses {"_sleep": POLL_INTERVAL_SECONDS} to signal sleep requests - this is in-band signaling with a magic key that mixes two fundamentally different message types in the same channel.

Recommended Improvement:

from dataclasses import dataclass

@dataclass(frozen=True)
class SleepRequest:
    duration: float

# In generator:
yield SleepRequest(POLL_INTERVAL_SECONDS)

# In executor:
if isinstance(request, SleepRequest):
    await asyncio.sleep(request.duration)
    request = generator.send(None)
else:
    response = await self.client.request(**request)
    request = generator.send(response)

This approach is:

Type-safe (no magic strings)
Self-documenting
Prevents potential key conflicts
Makes the protocol explicit rather than implicit

Verdict

✅ Worth merging - The fix solves the real problem and doesn't break anything. The tests properly cover the new behavior.

However, I'd recommend refactoring to use a proper SleepRequest type instead of the magic _sleep key for cleaner, more maintainable code.

Key Insight: The solution works but introduces an implicit protocol (magic _sleep key) where an explicit one (typed SleepRequest class) would be cleaner and prevent future bugs. "Good taste" would be making the two message types distinguishable by type, not by inspecting dict keys.

View full conversation

neubig

I looked at this but would probably want to defer to an expert on that one.

neubig · 2026-01-09T13:29:35Z

openhands-sdk/openhands/sdk/workspace/remote/async_remote_workspace.py

        return client

-    async def _execute(self, generator: Generator[dict[str, Any], httpx.Response, Any]):
+    async def _execute(self, generator: Generator[dict[str, Any], Any, Any]):


In general Any is not great, should this be httpx.Response | None?

neubig · 2026-01-09T13:31:52Z

openhands-sdk/openhands/sdk/workspace/remote/base.py

        return client

-    def _execute(self, generator: Generator[dict[str, Any], httpx.Response, Any]):
+    def _execute(self, generator: Generator[dict[str, Any], Any, Any]):


simonrosenberg · 2026-01-09T13:42:20Z

switching back to draft because swebench failed

openhands-ai bot mentioned this pull request Jan 9, 2026

Bug: Bash command polling stops after 2 attempts, causing agent loop to hang #1633

Open

simonrosenberg requested a review from tofarr January 9, 2026 11:37

neubig reviewed Jan 9, 2026

View reviewed changes

simonrosenberg marked this pull request as draft January 9, 2026 13:40

simonrosenberg requested a review from enyst January 9, 2026 14:35

simonrosenberg and others added 2 commits January 9, 2026 18:51

Merge branch 'main' into openhands/fix-bash-polling-async-sleep

59fae88

Merge branch 'main' into openhands/fix-bash-polling-async-sleep

000833f

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Summary

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Code Review Summary for PR #1662

🟡 Taste Rating: Acceptable - Works but could be cleaner

Critical Feedback

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