Limits Test Framework

The limits test stresses Materialize with large numbers of objects, complex queries, and large ingestions. It catches regressions via fixpoint panics, stack overflows, CI timeouts (O(N^M) with N~1000), and OOM panics (2GB memory limit).

Where It Lives

• Main file: test/limits/mzcompose.py
• All Generator subclasses live in that single file
• Auto-discovery: Subclasses of Generator are found automatically via all_subclasses(Generator) from materialize.util - no registration needed

Generator Base Class

class Generator:
    COUNT: int = 1000      # Number of objects to create (override per test)
    VERSION: str = "1.0.0" # Bump when test logic changes
    MAX_COUNT: int | None = None  # Upper limit for --find-limit mode

    @classmethod
    def body(cls) -> None:
        """Override this. Print testdrive commands to stdout."""
        raise NotImplementedError

    # Convenience iterators
    @classmethod
    def all(cls) -> range:       # range(1, COUNT+1)
    @classmethod
    def no_first(cls) -> range:  # range(2, COUNT+1) - skip first
    @classmethod
    def no_last(cls) -> range:   # range(1, COUNT) - skip last

    @classmethod
    def store_explain_and_run(cls, query: str) -> str | None:
        """Records EXPLAIN query for timing and prints `> {query}`."""

header() is inherited - it resets the public schema and grants privileges. footer() prints a blank line. generate() calls header() → body() → footer(). mzsystem is a built-in testdrive connection, so $ postgres-execute connection=mzsystem works in body() without any registration.

How to Add a New Limits Test

1. Add a new class in test/limits/mzcompose.py that extends Generator.
2. Implement the body() classmethod. It must print() testdrive commands.
3. Optionally override COUNT and MAX_COUNT, only if it's causing issues in CI.

Minimal Template

class MyNewFeature(Generator):
    COUNT = min(Generator.COUNT, 100)  # Lower if operation is slow
    MAX_COUNT = 800  # Optional: cap for --find-limit mode

    @classmethod
    def body(cls) -> None:
        # Bump system limits if needed
        print("$ postgres-execute connection=mz_system")
        print(f"ALTER SYSTEM SET max_tables = {cls.COUNT * 10};")
        print("$ postgres-execute connection=mz_system")
        print(f"ALTER SYSTEM SET max_objects_per_schema = {cls.COUNT * 10};")

        # Create objects
        for i in cls.all():
            print(f"> CREATE TABLE t{i} (f1 INTEGER);")
            print(f"> INSERT INTO t{i} VALUES ({i});")

        # Query and verify
        for i in cls.all():
            cls.store_explain_and_run(f"SELECT * FROM t{i}")
            print(f"{i}")

You can run it locally with bin/mzcompose --find limits down && bin/mzcompose --find limits run main --scenario=MyNewFeature, add --find-limit for the Release Qualification mode.