Memory Leak: OtaVersion instances wrapped with ref() are never garbage collected when overwritten

[childrentime]

Bug Description

Title

Memory Leak: OtaVersion instances wrapped with ref() are never garbage collected when overwritten

Bug Description

Summary

When using Valtio's ref() function to wrap objects, repeatedly calling onVersionInfo() to create new OtaVersion instances causes a severe memory leak. Old instances are never garbage collected, even after being overwritten.

Steps to Reproduce

1. In App.tsx, the useEffect hook calls initVersionInfo() 10,000 times in a loop
2. Each call creates a new OtaVersion instance wrapped with ref()
3. The new instance overwrites deviceStore.otaVersion, but the old instance is not released
4. Click the "test" button on the page to call unstable_getInternalStates()
5. Observe that Valtio's internal state holds references to all 10,000 OtaVersion objects

Problematic Code

**App.tsx (lines 13-17):**
useEffect(() => {
  for(let i = 0; i < 10000; i++) {
    initVersionInfo();
  }
}, []);
**Device.ts (lines 31-43):**
onVersionInfo(): void {
  // Simulate OTA module data
  const otaModules = ['module-a', 'module-b', 'module-c'];

  // Use ref() to wrap so OtaVersion instance won't be proxied by Valtio
  this.otaVersion = ref(
    new OtaVersion({
      state: otaModules[0],
      sn: this.id,
      modelName: this.originModelName,
    })
  );

  this.status = 'online';
}

Root Cause

The ref() function marks objects as non-proxyable, and Valtio maintains internal references to these objects. When this.otaVersion is overwritten with a new value, the old ref()-wrapped object remains held by Valtio's internal state, preventing garbage collection.

Expected Behavior

When this.otaVersion is overwritten with a new instance, the old OtaVersion instance should be eligible for garbage collection.

Actual Behavior

All OtaVersion instances wrapped with ref() are retained in Valtio's internal state and are never released, causing a memory leak.

Impact

• In production environments, frequently calling onVersionInfo() to update version information causes continuous memory growth
• Long-running applications may crash due to memory exhaustion
• Each overwritten ref() object remains in memory indefinitely

Environment

• Valtio version: latest

Reproduction Link

https://valtio-demo-ten.vercel.app/ https://github.com/childrentime/valtio-demo