Include self correction on empty batch and avoid removing pending runners when cluster is busy

cmd/ghalistener/listener/listener.go

@@ -164,6 +164,11 @@ func (l *Listener) Listen(ctx context.Context, handler Handler) error {
 		}
 
 		if msg == nil {
+			_, err := handler.HandleDesiredRunnerCount(ctx, 0, 0)
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("handling nil message failed: %w", err)
+			}
+
 			continue
 		}
 

cmd/ghalistener/worker/worker.go

@@ -177,12 +177,12 @@ func (w *Worker) HandleDesiredRunnerCount(ctx context.Context, count int, jobsCo
 		"jobsCompleted", jobsCompleted,
 	}
 
-	if w.lastPatch == targetRunnerCount && jobsCompleted == 0 {
-		w.logger.Info("Skipping patch", logValues...)
-		return targetRunnerCount, nil
+	if count == 0 && jobsCompleted == 0 {
+		w.lastPatchID = 0
+	} else {
+		w.lastPatchID++
 	}
 
-	w.lastPatchID++
 	w.lastPatch = targetRunnerCount
 
 	original, err := json.Marshal(

controllers/actions.github.com/autoscalingrunnerset_controller.go

@@ -277,6 +277,7 @@ func (r *AutoscalingRunnerSetReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl
 			// need to scale down to 0
 			err := patch(ctx, r.Client, latestRunnerSet, func(obj *v1alpha1.EphemeralRunnerSet) {
 				obj.Spec.Replicas = 0
+				obj.Spec.PatchID = 0
 			})
 			if err != nil {
 				log.Error(err, "Failed to patch runner set to set desired count to 0")

controllers/actions.github.com/ephemeralrunnerset_controller.go

@@ -197,7 +197,6 @@ func (r *EphemeralRunnerSetReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.R
 				log.Error(err, "failed to cleanup finished ephemeral runners")
 			}
 		}()
-
 		log.Info("Scaling comparison", "current", total, "desired", ephemeralRunnerSet.Spec.Replicas)
 		switch {
 		case total < ephemeralRunnerSet.Spec.Replicas: // Handle scale up
@@ -208,8 +207,16 @@ func (r *EphemeralRunnerSetReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.R
 				return ctrl.Result{}, err
 			}
 
-		case total > ephemeralRunnerSet.Spec.Replicas: // Handle scale down scenario.
+		case ephemeralRunnerSet.Spec.PatchID > 0 && total >= ephemeralRunnerSet.Spec.Replicas: // Handle scale down scenario.
+			// If ephemeral runner did not yet update the phase to succeeded, but the scale down
+			// request is issued, we should ignore the scale down request.
+			// Eventually, the ephemeral runner will be cleaned up on the next patch request, which happens
+			// on the next batch
+		case ephemeralRunnerSet.Spec.PatchID == 0 && total > ephemeralRunnerSet.Spec.Replicas:
 			count := total - ephemeralRunnerSet.Spec.Replicas
+			if count <= 0 {
+				break
+			}
 			log.Info("Deleting ephemeral runners (scale down)", "count", count)
 			if err := r.deleteIdleEphemeralRunners(
 				ctx,
@@ -428,6 +435,9 @@ func (r *EphemeralRunnerSetReconciler) createProxySecret(ctx context.Context, ep
 // When this happens, the next reconcile loop will try to delete the remaining ephemeral runners
 // after we get notified by any of the `v1alpha1.EphemeralRunner.Status` updates.
 func (r *EphemeralRunnerSetReconciler) deleteIdleEphemeralRunners(ctx context.Context, ephemeralRunnerSet *v1alpha1.EphemeralRunnerSet, pendingEphemeralRunners, runningEphemeralRunners []*v1alpha1.EphemeralRunner, count int, log logr.Logger) error {
+	if count <= 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
 	runners := newEphemeralRunnerStepper(pendingEphemeralRunners, runningEphemeralRunners)
 	if runners.len() == 0 {
 		log.Info("No pending or running ephemeral runners running at this time for scale down")