Fixing a Node.js event-listener memory leak and lessons for AI system endurance

Short summary

A Node.js API gateway suffered a gradual memory leak from request-scoped event listeners not being cleaned up on early-exit auth paths, causing Kubernetes OOM kills. The fix involved scoping emitters per request, enforcing teardown in finally blocks, adding leak-aware CI tests, and operational safeguards. The author extends lessons to AI system endurance: drift, adversarial inputs, and orchestration resource leaks require similar structural guarantees.

• •Memory leak caused by unremoved event listeners on early-exit paths in Node.js gateway
• •Fix: scoped emitters per request, try/finally teardown, leak-aware CI tests, runtime metrics
• •Extended to AI endurance: behavioral drift, adversarial inputs, and orchestration leaks need distinct playbooks

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