small optimizations, add comments

README.md

@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@ stty -F /dev/ttyAMA3 -a | grep -o 'hupcl' || echo "-hupcl is set"
 # Audio latency
 if there is hearable audio error with aes67, tune sess.latency.msec in pipewire-aes67.conf
 
+if latency is piling up something may be blocking the event loop in multicast_server.py - the event loop must never block at any time
+
 ---
 
 After completing these steps, your device will be discoverable as `<hostname>.<domain>` (e.g., `box1.auracast.local`) on the local network via mDNS.

src/auracast/server/certs/ca/ca_cert.srl

@@ -1 +1 @@
-5078804E6FBCF893D5537715FD928E46AD576ECA
+5078804E6FBCF893D5537715FD928E46AD576ECB

src/auracast/server/multicast_server.py

@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-import glob
+""" the main server where our multicaster objects live.
+TODO: in the future the multicaster objects should run in their own threads or even make a second server since everything thats blocking the main event loop leads to inceased latency.
+
+"""
 import os
 import logging as log
 import uuid
@@ -39,6 +42,9 @@ pcs: Set[RTCPeerConnection] = set()      # keep refs so they don’t GC early
 
 os.environ["PULSE_LATENCY_MSEC"] = "3"
 
+# In-memory cache to avoid disk I/O on hot paths like /status
+SETTINGS_CACHE: dict = {}
+
 class Offer(BaseModel):
     sdp: str
     type: str
@@ -58,21 +64,37 @@ def get_device_index_by_name(name: str):
     return None
 
 
-def load_stream_settings() -> dict:
-    """Load persisted stream settings if available."""
-    if os.path.exists(STREAM_SETTINGS_FILE):
-        try:
+def _hydrate_settings_cache_from_disk() -> None:
+    """Populate SETTINGS_CACHE once from disk at startup.
+
+    Safe to call multiple times; errors fall back to empty dict.
+    """
+    global SETTINGS_CACHE
+    try:
+        if os.path.exists(STREAM_SETTINGS_FILE):
             with open(STREAM_SETTINGS_FILE, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
-                return json.load(f)
-        except Exception:
-            return {}
-    return {}
+                SETTINGS_CACHE = json.load(f)
+        else:
+            SETTINGS_CACHE = {}
+    except Exception:
+        SETTINGS_CACHE = {}
+
+def load_stream_settings() -> dict:
+    """Return stream settings from in-memory cache.
+
+    The cache is hydrated once at startup and updated by save_stream_settings().
+    No disk I/O occurs here.
+    """
+    global SETTINGS_CACHE
+    return SETTINGS_CACHE
 
 def save_stream_settings(settings: dict):
-    """Save stream settings to disk."""
+    """Update in-memory settings cache and persist to disk."""
+    global SETTINGS_CACHE
+    SETTINGS_CACHE = dict(settings)
     try:
         with open(STREAM_SETTINGS_FILE, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
-            json.dump(settings, f, indent=2)
+            json.dump(SETTINGS_CACHE, f, indent=2)
     except Exception as e:
         log.error('Unable to persist stream settings: %s', e)
 
@@ -276,13 +298,6 @@ async def get_status():
     return status
 
 
-@app.get("/long_block")
-async def long_block():
-    """Test endpoint that simulates a small delay without blocking the event loop."""
-    time.sleep(0.3)
-    return True
-
-
 async def _autostart_from_settings():
     """Background task: auto-start last selected device-based input at server startup.
 
@@ -291,7 +306,6 @@ async def _autostart_from_settings():
     and initializes streaming.
     """
     try:
-
         settings = load_stream_settings() or {}
         audio_mode = settings.get('audio_mode')
         input_device_name = settings.get('input_device')
@@ -361,17 +375,19 @@ async def _autostart_from_settings():
                     bigs=bigs,
                 )
                 # Initialize and start
+                await asyncio.sleep(0.5)
                 await initialize(conf)
                 return
             await asyncio.sleep(2)
     except Exception:
         log.warning("Autostart task failed", exc_info=True)
 
-#TODO: enable and test this
 @app.on_event("startup")  
 async def _startup_autostart_event():
     # Spawn the autostart task without blocking startup
     log.info("Refreshing PipeWire device cache.")
+    # Hydrate settings cache once to avoid disk I/O during /status
+    _hydrate_settings_cache_from_disk()
     refresh_pw_cache()
     asyncio.create_task(_autostart_from_settings())
 
@@ -619,4 +635,4 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
         format='%(module)s.py:%(lineno)d %(levelname)s: %(message)s'
     )
     # Bind to localhost only for security: prevents network access, only frontend on same machine can connect
-    uvicorn.run(app, host="127.0.0.1", port=5000)
+    uvicorn.run(app, host="127.0.0.1", port=5000, access_log=False)

src/scripts/hit_status.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Usage: ./hit_status.sh [COUNT] [SLEEP_SECONDS]
+# Always targets http://127.0.0.1:5000/status
+# Defaults: COUNT=100 SLEEP_SECONDS=0
+# Example: ./hit_status.sh 100 0.05
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+URL="http://127.0.0.1:5000/status"
+COUNT="${1:-100}"
+SLEEP_SECS="${2:-0}"
+
+# Ensure COUNT is an integer
+if ! [[ "$COUNT" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+  echo "COUNT must be an integer, got: $COUNT" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+for i in $(seq 1 "$COUNT"); do
+  echo "[$i/$COUNT] GET $URL"
+  curl -sS "$URL" > /dev/null || echo "Request $i failed"
+  # Sleep if non-zero (supports floats, no bc needed)
+  if [[ "$SLEEP_SECS" != "0" && "$SLEEP_SECS" != "0.0" && "$SLEEP_SECS" != "" ]]; then
+    sleep "$SLEEP_SECS"
+  fi
+done