Operate and tune Crostini Mem Watchdog for low-memory development sessions. Use for status triage, log interpretation, and safe threshold tuning.
Use this skill when working in constrained Crostini environments where VS Code, Chrome/Playwright, and extension host memory spikes can trigger OOM.
SwapFree values on Crostini.systemctl --user only — never sudo systemctl.memWatchdog.*) so the extension writes config and restarts service safely.Status snapshot
/memwatchdog status~/.copilot/skills/mem-watchdog-ops/watchdog-snapshot.shRecent actions / diagnosis
/memwatchdog logsACTION(SIGTERM):ACTION(SIGKILL):RECOVERY(SIGTERM):Apply tuning profile
/memwatchdog tune balanced — general dev use (warn 3.4 GB, emerg 3.8 GB)/memwatchdog tune conservative — earlier intervention (warn 3.0 GB, emerg 3.4 GB)/memwatchdog tune playwright — more headroom for automation (warn 3.8 GB, emerg 4.2 GB)Manual protective action
/memwatchdog act kill chrome/memwatchdog act restart serviceWhen recommending profile changes, explain expected trade-off between stability and interruption frequency.
| Condition | Action |
|---|---|
MemAvailable ≤ 15% | SIGKILL Chrome/Playwright |
MemAvailable ≤ 25% | SIGTERM Chrome/Playwright (deferred if Playwright active) |
| PSI full avg10 > 25% | SIGTERM Chrome (deferred if Playwright active) |
| VS Code RSS ≥ 3.8 GB | SIGKILL Chrome (always — even during Playwright sessions); if none → kill_vscode_main() |
| VS Code RSS ≥ 3.4 GB | SIGTERM Chrome (deferred if Playwright active); if none → kill helper (Shared Process, File Watcher, Network Service); if none → cgroup throttle/reclaim |
| RSS velocity spike | Kill lowest-value helper — never a language server or Extension Host at normal severity |
| Chrome PIDs > 3 | SIGKILL oldest excess (skipped when Playwright is active) |
The daemon detects active Playwright sessions via pgrep -f 'node.*playwright'.
When Playwright is active:
CHROME-EXCESS cap enforcement is skipped — Playwright legitimately spawns 5-10 Chrome PIDsBefore launching Playwright automation:
/memwatchdog status/memwatchdog tune playwrightIf the watchdog kills Playwright Chrome during automation: