fix: reduce idle runner polling by default

Raise the default idle fetch backoff ceiling to reduce steady-state FetchTask traffic from idle runner fleets while keeping the value configurable for installations that need faster idle polling.

Fixes: https://gitea.com/gitea/runner/issues/762

Co-Authored-By: GPT-5 Codex <codex@openai.com>

Dockerfile

@@ -17,14 +17,14 @@ RUN make clean && make build
 ### DIND VARIANT
 #
 #
-FROM docker:29.6.0-dind AS dind
+FROM docker:29.6.1-dind AS dind
 
 ARG VERSION=dev
 
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.source="https://gitea.com/gitea/runner"
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.version="${VERSION}"
 
-RUN apk add --no-cache s6 bash git tzdata
+RUN apk add --no-cache s6 bash git tzdata nftables
 
 COPY --from=builder /opt/src/runner/gitea-runner /usr/local/bin/gitea-runner
 COPY scripts/run.sh /usr/local/bin/run.sh
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ ENTRYPOINT ["s6-svscan","/etc/s6"]
 ### DIND-ROOTLESS VARIANT
 #
 #
-FROM docker:29.6.0-dind-rootless AS dind-rootless
+FROM docker:29.6.1-dind-rootless AS dind-rootless
 
 ARG VERSION=dev
 
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ LABEL org.opencontainers.image.source="https://gitea.com/gitea/runner"
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.version="${VERSION}"
 
 USER root
-RUN apk add --no-cache s6 bash git tzdata
+RUN apk add --no-cache s6 bash git tzdata nftables
 
 COPY --from=builder /opt/src/runner/gitea-runner /usr/local/bin/gitea-runner
 COPY scripts/run.sh /usr/local/bin/run.sh

act/runner/action_composite.go

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"regexp"
+	"slices"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -85,6 +86,19 @@ func newCompositeRunContext(ctx context.Context, parent *RunContext, step action
 	return compositerc
 }
 
+// appendUniqueMasks appends the masks from src to dst, skipping any mask that
+// is already present in dst. This prevents the parent RunContext's Masks slice
+// from growing exponentially when composite actions are nested or repeated,
+// since each composite RunContext is seeded with its parent's masks.
+func appendUniqueMasks(dst, src []string) []string {
+	for _, m := range src {
+		if !slices.Contains(dst, m) {
+			dst = append(dst, m)
+		}
+	}
+	return dst
+}
+
 func execAsComposite(step actionStep) common.Executor {
 	rc := step.getRunContext()
 	action := step.getActionModel()
@@ -110,7 +124,11 @@ func execAsComposite(step actionStep) common.Executor {
 			}, eval.Interpolate(ctx, output.Value))
 		}
 
-		rc.Masks = append(rc.Masks, compositeRC.Masks...)
+		// compositeRC.Masks is seeded with rc.Masks (see newCompositeRunContext)
+		// and may have additional masks appended while the composite action runs.
+		// Only append masks that are not already present, otherwise nested or
+		// repeated composite actions grow rc.Masks exponentially.
+		rc.Masks = appendUniqueMasks(rc.Masks, compositeRC.Masks)
 		rc.ExtraPath = compositeRC.ExtraPath
 		// compositeRC.Env is dirty, contains INPUT_ and merged step env, only rely on compositeRC.GlobalEnv
 		mergeIntoMap := mergeIntoMapCaseSensitive

act/runner/action_composite_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+// Copyright 2026 The Gitea Authors. All rights reserved.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+
+package runner
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+func TestAppendUniqueMasks(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name string
+		dst  []string
+		src  []string
+		want []string
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "appends new masks",
+			dst:  []string{"a"},
+			src:  []string{"b", "c"},
+			want: []string{"a", "b", "c"},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "skips masks already present",
+			dst:  []string{"a", "b"},
+			src:  []string{"a", "b"},
+			want: []string{"a", "b"},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "deduplicates within src",
+			dst:  []string{"a"},
+			src:  []string{"b", "b", "a"},
+			want: []string{"a", "b"},
+		},
+		{
+			name: "empty src leaves dst unchanged",
+			dst:  []string{"a"},
+			src:  nil,
+			want: []string{"a"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			assert.Equal(t, tt.want, appendUniqueMasks(tt.dst, tt.src))
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// TestAppendUniqueMasksNoExponentialGrowth reproduces the exponential growth of
+// the parent's Masks slice observed with nested/repeated composite actions. A
+// composite RunContext is seeded with its parent's masks and the whole seeded
+// slice was previously appended back into the parent, doubling its length on
+// every composite action.
+func TestAppendUniqueMasksNoExponentialGrowth(t *testing.T) {
+	parentMasks := []string{"secret"}
+
+	for range 20 {
+		// compositeRC.Masks starts as a copy of the parent's masks (it is
+		// seeded with parent.Masks in newCompositeRunContext).
+		compositeMasks := make([]string, len(parentMasks))
+		copy(compositeMasks, parentMasks)
+
+		parentMasks = appendUniqueMasks(parentMasks, compositeMasks)
+	}
+
+	assert.Equal(t, []string{"secret"}, parentMasks)
+}

go.mod

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/containerd/errdefs v1.0.0
 	github.com/creack/pty v1.1.24
 	github.com/distribution/reference v0.6.0
-	github.com/docker/cli v29.6.0+incompatible
+	github.com/docker/cli v29.6.1+incompatible
 	github.com/docker/go-connections v0.7.0
 	github.com/go-git/go-billy/v5 v5.9.0
 	github.com/go-git/go-git/v5 v5.19.1

go.sum

@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ github.com/docker/cli v29.5.3+incompatible h1:nbEFfz774vBwQ5KRYv7c/AghjReqnGISvr
 github.com/docker/cli v29.5.3+incompatible/go.mod h1:JLrzqnKDaYBop7H2jaqPtU4hHvMKP+vjCwu2uszcLI8=
 github.com/docker/cli v29.6.0+incompatible h1:nw9himxMMZ7eIeherJNlKQq+acnlzGgHd+4uf10QRSc=
 github.com/docker/cli v29.6.0+incompatible/go.mod h1:JLrzqnKDaYBop7H2jaqPtU4hHvMKP+vjCwu2uszcLI8=
+github.com/docker/cli v29.6.1+incompatible h1:oO7F4nn3Ovr/5TlfTUWFbMwBSS/B7Xs6Epv26gBrUP8=
+github.com/docker/cli v29.6.1+incompatible/go.mod h1:JLrzqnKDaYBop7H2jaqPtU4hHvMKP+vjCwu2uszcLI8=
 github.com/docker/docker-credential-helpers v0.9.6 h1:cT2PbRPSlnMmNTfT2TDMXRyQ1KMWHG7xoTLBcn1ZNv0=
 github.com/docker/docker-credential-helpers v0.9.6/go.mod h1:v1S+hepowrQXITkEfw6o4+BMbGot02wiKpzWhGUZK6c=
 github.com/docker/go-connections v0.7.0 h1:6SsRfJddP22WMrCkj19x9WKjEDTB+ahsdiGYf0mN39c=

internal/pkg/config/config.example.yaml

@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ runner:
   # The maximum interval for fetching the job from the Gitea instance.
   # The runner uses exponential backoff when idle, increasing the interval up to this maximum.
   # Set to 0 or same as fetch_interval to disable backoff.
-  fetch_interval_max: 5s
+  fetch_interval_max: 1m
   # While idle, remove stale bind-workdir task directories and orphaned host-mode
   # scratch directories (left behind when a host cleanup delete stalls) older than
   # this duration. Setting either workdir_cleanup_age or idle_cleanup_interval to 0

internal/pkg/config/config.go

@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ func LoadDefault(file string) (*Config, error) {
 		cfg.Runner.FetchInterval = 2 * time.Second
 	}
 	if cfg.Runner.FetchIntervalMax <= 0 {
-		cfg.Runner.FetchIntervalMax = 5 * time.Second
+		cfg.Runner.FetchIntervalMax = time.Minute
 	}
 	if cfg.Runner.WorkdirCleanupAge == 0 && !definedRunnerKeys["workdir_cleanup_age"] {
 		cfg.Runner.WorkdirCleanupAge = 24 * time.Hour

internal/pkg/config/config_test.go

@@ -48,6 +48,12 @@ func TestLoadDefault_DefaultsWorkdirCleanupAge(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, 10*time.Minute, cfg.Runner.IdleCleanupInterval)
 }
 
+func TestLoadDefault_DefaultsIdleFetchBackoffMax(t *testing.T) {
+	cfg, err := LoadDefault("")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, time.Minute, cfg.Runner.FetchIntervalMax)
+}
+
 func TestLoadDefault_UsesConfiguredWorkdirCleanupAge(t *testing.T) {
 	dir := t.TempDir()
 	path := filepath.Join(dir, "config.yaml")