Support spilling

docker-compose.yml

@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ services:
             # Fallback only — the binary uses jemalloc as its global allocator
             # (tuned via a baked-in malloc_conf). Caps glibc to 2 arenas.
             MALLOC_ARENA_MAX: "2"
+            # Dev only: spill the large property arrays (feature matrix +
+            # address-search index, ~4GB) to disk and memory-map them read-only
+            # instead of holding them in RAM, so a low-memory box can run the full
+            # dataset. Points at the `target` volume (real disk, not host-synced,
+            # not tmpfs). Comment out to keep everything resident (prod behaviour).
+            SPILL_DIR: /app/server-rs/target/spill
             POCKETBASE_URL: http://pocketbase:8090
             POCKETBASE_ADMIN_EMAIL: *pb-email
             POCKETBASE_ADMIN_PASSWORD: *pb-password

server-rs/Cargo.lock

@@ -3887,6 +3887,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "hmac 0.13.0",
  "lasso",
  "libc",
+ "memmap2",
  "metrics",
  "metrics-exporter-prometheus",
  "parking_lot",

server-rs/Cargo.toml

@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ urlencoding = "2"
 url = "2"
 rust_xlsxwriter = "0.94"
 pmtiles = { version = "0.23", features = ["mmap-async-tokio"] }
+# Read-only mmap backing for the large property arrays under the `--spill-dir`
+# dev flag (see data/spill.rs); lets a low-memory dev box page them from disk.
+memmap2 = "0.9"
 rand = "0.10"
 hmac = "0.13"
 sha2 = "0.11"

server-rs/src/data.rs

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ mod places;
 mod poi;
 mod postcodes;
 mod property;
+pub mod spill;
 pub mod travel_time;
 
 /// Apostrophe-like code points that should be elided (not treated as word breaks) when

server-rs/src/data/property/loading.rs

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ use super::address_search::{
 use super::poi_metrics::{PostcodePoiMetrics, NO_POI_METRIC_ROW};
 use super::stats::{column_to_f32_vec, compute_feature_stats, FeatureStats, Histogram};
 use super::{HistoricalPrice, PropertyData, RenovationEvent, TenureEvent};
+use crate::data::spill::SpillVec;
 
 const MISSING_COORDINATE_SAMPLE_LIMIT: usize = 10;
 const COUNTRY_COLUMN_CANDIDATES: &[&str] = &[
@@ -160,11 +161,25 @@ fn validate_no_england_rows_missing_coordinates(
 }
 
 impl PropertyData {
-    pub fn load(properties_path: &Path, postcode_features_path: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<Self> {
-        crate::data::run_polars_io(|| Self::load_inner(properties_path, postcode_features_path))
+    /// Load the property data. When `spill` is `Some(dir)`, the large flat arrays
+    /// (the feature matrix and the address-search index) are written to anonymous
+    /// files in `dir` and memory-mapped read-only instead of held on the heap —
+    /// the `--spill-dir` dev flag, which lets a low-memory box page them from disk.
+    pub fn load(
+        properties_path: &Path,
+        postcode_features_path: &Path,
+        spill: Option<&Path>,
+    ) -> anyhow::Result<Self> {
+        crate::data::run_polars_io(|| {
+            Self::load_inner(properties_path, postcode_features_path, spill)
+        })
     }
 
-    fn load_inner(properties_path: &Path, postcode_features_path: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<Self> {
+    fn load_inner(
+        properties_path: &Path,
+        postcode_features_path: &Path,
+        spill: Option<&Path>,
+    ) -> anyhow::Result<Self> {
         // Load postcode.parquet
         tracing::info!(
             "Loading postcode features from {:?}",
@@ -1011,37 +1026,71 @@ impl PropertyData {
         // Transpose to row-major AND apply spatial permutation in one pass.
         // Combines numeric and enum features into a single feature_data array, quantized to u16.
         tracing::info!("Transposing to row-major layout (spatially sorted, quantized to u16)");
-        let mut feature_data = vec![NAN_U16; row_count * num_features];
-        feature_data
-            .par_chunks_mut(num_features)
-            .enumerate()
-            .for_each(|(new_row, row_slice)| {
-                let old_index = perm[new_row] as usize;
-                // Numeric features: quantize to u16
-                for (feat_idx, col_vec) in numeric_col_major.iter().enumerate() {
-                    let value = col_vec[old_index];
-                    row_slice[feat_idx] = if value.is_finite() {
-                        let range = quant_range[feat_idx];
-                        if range > 0.0 {
-                            let normalized = (value - quant_min[feat_idx]) / range;
-                            (normalized * QUANT_SCALE).round().clamp(0.0, QUANT_SCALE) as u16
-                        } else {
-                            0
+        // Built in place so that under `--spill-dir` the 3GB matrix lands straight
+        // in the mmap-backed file and never also exists on the heap.
+        let feature_data = SpillVec::build_u16(
+            row_count * num_features,
+            NAN_U16,
+            spill,
+            "feature_data",
+            |feature_data| {
+                feature_data
+                    .par_chunks_mut(num_features)
+                    .enumerate()
+                    .for_each(|(new_row, row_slice)| {
+                        let old_index = perm[new_row] as usize;
+                        // Numeric features: quantize to u16
+                        for (feat_idx, col_vec) in numeric_col_major.iter().enumerate() {
+                            let value = col_vec[old_index];
+                            row_slice[feat_idx] = if value.is_finite() {
+                                let range = quant_range[feat_idx];
+                                if range > 0.0 {
+                                    let normalized = (value - quant_min[feat_idx]) / range;
+                                    (normalized * QUANT_SCALE).round().clamp(0.0, QUANT_SCALE)
+                                        as u16
+                                } else {
+                                    0
+                                }
+                            } else {
+                                NAN_U16
+                            };
                         }
-                    } else {
-                        NAN_U16
-                    };
-                }
-                // Enum features: store as u16 directly
-                for (enum_idx, (_, encoded)) in enum_col_major.iter().enumerate() {
-                    let value = encoded[old_index];
-                    row_slice[num_numeric + enum_idx] = if value.is_finite() {
-                        value as u16
-                    } else {
-                        NAN_U16
-                    };
-                }
-            });
+                        // Enum features: store as u16 directly
+                        for (enum_idx, (_, encoded)) in enum_col_major.iter().enumerate() {
+                            let value = encoded[old_index];
+                            row_slice[num_numeric + enum_idx] = if value.is_finite() {
+                                value as u16
+                            } else {
+                                NAN_U16
+                            };
+                        }
+                    });
+            },
+        )?;
+
+        // Spill the remaining large flat arrays (the address-search index) to disk
+        // when configured. The posting-list hashmaps and interners stay on the heap
+        // — they aren't flat arrays, and they're a small fraction of the footprint.
+        let address_buffer =
+            SpillVec::maybe_spill(address_buffer.into_bytes(), spill, "address_buffer")?;
+        let address_offsets = SpillVec::maybe_spill(address_offsets, spill, "address_offsets")?;
+        let address_lengths = SpillVec::maybe_spill(address_lengths, spill, "address_lengths")?;
+        let address_search_token_keys = SpillVec::maybe_spill(
+            address_search_token_keys,
+            spill,
+            "address_search_token_keys",
+        )?;
+        let address_search_token_offsets = SpillVec::maybe_spill(
+            address_search_token_offsets,
+            spill,
+            "address_search_token_offsets",
+        )?;
+        let address_search_token_lengths = SpillVec::maybe_spill(
+            address_search_token_lengths,
+            spill,
+            "address_search_token_lengths",
+        )?;
+        let postcode_keys = SpillVec::maybe_spill(postcode_keys, spill, "postcode_keys")?;
 
         tracing::info!("Data loading complete");
 

server-rs/src/data/property/mod.rs

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ use rustc_hash::FxHashMap;
 use serde::Serialize;
 
 use crate::consts::NAN_U16;
+use crate::data::spill::SpillVec;
 
 #[derive(Serialize, Clone)]
 pub struct RenovationEvent {
@@ -61,7 +62,9 @@ pub struct PropertyData {
     /// Quantized to u16. NaN sentinel = u16::MAX (65535).
     /// Numeric features: encoded via (val - min) / range * 65534.
     /// Enum features: stored directly as u16 cast of the f32 index.
-    pub feature_data: Vec<u16>,
+    /// Heap-resident in prod; mmap-backed under `--spill-dir` (the largest array,
+    /// so the biggest dev-memory win). Derefs to `[u16]`, so reads are unchanged.
+    pub feature_data: SpillVec<u16>,
     /// Per-feature: range / QUANT_SCALE for fast decode.
     dequant_a: Vec<f32>,
     /// Per-feature: minimum value (offset for dequantization).
@@ -72,15 +75,16 @@ pub struct PropertyData {
     pub poi_metrics: PostcodePoiMetrics,
     /// Unquantized last sale price used by the price-history chart.
     last_known_price_raw: Vec<f32>,
-    /// Contiguous buffer holding all address strings end-to-end.
-    address_buffer: String,
+    /// Contiguous buffer holding all address strings end-to-end (valid UTF-8 by
+    /// construction; spillable, so stored as bytes rather than `String`).
+    address_buffer: SpillVec<u8>,
     /// Byte offset into `address_buffer` where each row's address starts.
-    address_offsets: Vec<u32>,
+    address_offsets: SpillVec<u32>,
     /// Length in bytes of each row's address.
-    address_lengths: Vec<u16>,
+    address_lengths: SpillVec<u16>,
     /// Interned postcodes: reader is thread-safe, keys index into it.
     postcode_interner: lasso::RodeoReader,
-    postcode_keys: Vec<lasso::Spur>,
+    postcode_keys: SpillVec<lasso::Spur>,
     /// Rows for each postcode, keyed by the interned postcode key.
     postcode_row_index: FxHashMap<lasso::Spur, Vec<u32>>,
     /// Inverted index from address tokens to property rows.
@@ -91,11 +95,11 @@ pub struct PropertyData {
     /// Resolve-only (no string->key reverse map): scoring only resolves keys.
     address_search_interner: lasso::RodeoResolver,
     /// Flat per-row normalized address-search token keys.
-    address_search_token_keys: Vec<lasso::Spur>,
+    address_search_token_keys: SpillVec<lasso::Spur>,
     /// Offset into `address_search_token_keys` for each row.
-    address_search_token_offsets: Vec<u32>,
+    address_search_token_offsets: SpillVec<u32>,
     /// Number of normalized address-search token keys for each row.
-    address_search_token_lengths: Vec<u16>,
+    address_search_token_lengths: SpillVec<u16>,
     /// For enum features: maps feature index to list of possible string values.
     /// Index in values list corresponds to the u16 value stored in feature_data.
     pub enum_values: rustc_hash::FxHashMap<usize, Vec<String>>,
@@ -123,7 +127,11 @@ impl PropertyData {
     pub fn address(&self, row: usize) -> &str {
         let offset = self.address_offsets[row] as usize;
         let length = self.address_lengths[row] as usize;
-        &self.address_buffer[offset..offset + length]
+        let bytes = &self.address_buffer[offset..offset + length];
+        // SAFETY: `address_buffer` is built by concatenating `&str` slices on UTF-8
+        // char boundaries, so every recorded `[offset, offset + length)` range is
+        // valid UTF-8.
+        unsafe { std::str::from_utf8_unchecked(bytes) }
     }
 
     /// Get the postcode string for a given row.
@@ -133,7 +141,7 @@ impl PropertyData {
 
     /// Get postcode components for field-level borrowing (avoids conflicting borrows with feature_data).
     pub fn postcode_parts(&self) -> (&lasso::RodeoReader, &[lasso::Spur]) {
-        (&self.postcode_interner, &self.postcode_keys)
+        (&self.postcode_interner, self.postcode_keys.as_slice())
     }
 
     /// Property rows for a given postcode string, or empty if unknown.
@@ -229,25 +237,25 @@ impl PropertyData {
             feature_names: Vec::new(),
             num_features: 0,
             num_numeric: 0,
-            feature_data: Vec::new(),
+            feature_data: SpillVec::owned(Vec::new()),
             dequant_a: Vec::new(),
             quant_min: Vec::new(),
             quant_range: Vec::new(),
             feature_stats: Vec::new(),
             poi_metrics: PostcodePoiMetrics::empty(0),
             last_known_price_raw: Vec::new(),
-            address_buffer: String::new(),
-            address_offsets: Vec::new(),
-            address_lengths: Vec::new(),
+            address_buffer: SpillVec::owned(Vec::new()),
+            address_offsets: SpillVec::owned(Vec::new()),
+            address_lengths: SpillVec::owned(Vec::new()),
             postcode_interner: lasso::Rodeo::default().into_reader(),
-            postcode_keys: Vec::new(),
+            postcode_keys: SpillVec::owned(Vec::new()),
             postcode_row_index: FxHashMap::default(),
             address_token_index: FxHashMap::default(),
             address_prefix_index: FxHashMap::default(),
             address_search_interner: lasso::Rodeo::default().into_resolver(),
-            address_search_token_keys: Vec::new(),
-            address_search_token_offsets: Vec::new(),
-            address_search_token_lengths: Vec::new(),
+            address_search_token_keys: SpillVec::owned(Vec::new()),
+            address_search_token_offsets: SpillVec::owned(Vec::new()),
+            address_search_token_lengths: SpillVec::owned(Vec::new()),
             enum_values: rustc_hash::FxHashMap::default(),
             enum_counts: rustc_hash::FxHashMap::default(),
             approx_build_date_bits: Vec::new(),

server-rs/src/main.rs

@@ -281,6 +281,14 @@ struct Cli {
     #[arg(long)]
     dist: Option<PathBuf>,
 
+    /// Dev only: spill the large property arrays (feature matrix + address-search
+    /// index) to anonymous files in this directory and memory-map them read-only,
+    /// instead of holding them on the heap. Trades a little speed for a much
+    /// smaller resident set so a low-memory dev box can run the full dataset; the
+    /// mapped pages are file-backed and reclaimable under pressure. Omit in prod.
+    #[arg(long, env = "SPILL_DIR")]
+    spill_dir: Option<PathBuf>,
+
     /// URL of the screenshot service (e.g. http://screenshot:8002)
     #[arg(long, env = "SCREENSHOT_URL")]
     screenshot_url: String,
@@ -465,7 +473,15 @@ async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         cli.properties.display(),
         cli.postcode_features.display(),
     );
-    let property_data = data::PropertyData::load(&cli.properties, &cli.postcode_features)?;
+    let spill_dir = cli.spill_dir.as_deref();
+    if let Some(dir) = spill_dir {
+        info!(
+            "Spill-to-disk enabled: large property arrays will be memory-mapped from {}",
+            dir.display()
+        );
+    }
+    let property_data =
+        data::PropertyData::load(&cli.properties, &cli.postcode_features, spill_dir)?;
     trim_allocator("property data load");
     info!(
         rows = property_data.lat.len(),

server-rs/src/routes/actual_listings.rs

@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ const KEEP_UNKNOWN_LISTING_FILTER_FEATURES: &[&str] = &[
     "Construction year",
     "Interior height (m)",
     "Current energy rating",
-    "Potential energy rating"
+    "Potential energy rating",
 ];
 const LISTING_BOUNDS_EPSILON_DEGREES: f64 = 0.00001;
 

server-rs/src/routes/ai_filters/matching.rs

@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ pub(super) fn count_matching_rows(
         .collect();
     let has_travel = !travel_data.is_empty();
 
-    let feature_data = &state.data.feature_data;
+    let feature_data: &[u16] = &state.data.feature_data;
     let num_features = state.data.num_features;
     let num_rows = state.data.lat.len();
     let (pc_interner, pc_keys) = state.data.postcode_parts();

server-rs/src/routes/export.rs

@@ -632,7 +632,7 @@ pub async fn get_export(
     let bytes = tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || -> Result<Vec<u8>, String> {
         let t0 = std::time::Instant::now();
         let num_features = state.data.num_features;
-        let feature_data = &state.data.feature_data;
+        let feature_data: &[u16] = &state.data.feature_data;
         let quant = state.data.quant_ref();
         let feature_names = &state.data.feature_names;
         let enum_values = &state.data.enum_values;

server-rs/src/routes/filter_counts.rs

@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ pub async fn get_filter_counts(
     let response = tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || -> Result<FilterCountsResponse, String> {
         let t0 = std::time::Instant::now();
         let num_features = state.data.num_features;
-        let feature_data = &state.data.feature_data;
+        let feature_data: &[u16] = &state.data.feature_data;
 
         // Load travel time data
         let travel_data: Vec<TravelData> = travel_entries

server-rs/src/routes/hexagon_stats.rs

@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ pub(super) fn top_filter_exclusions(
         return Vec::new();
     }
 
-    let feature_data = &data.feature_data;
+    let feature_data: &[u16] = &data.feature_data;
     let num_features = data.num_features;
     let quant = data.quant_ref();
     let poi_quant = data.poi_metrics.quant_ref();
@@ -494,7 +494,7 @@ pub async fn get_hexagon_stats(
             .map_err(|err| format!("Invalid H3 resolution {}: {}", resolution, err))?;
         let need_parent = needs_parent(resolution);
         let num_features = state.data.num_features;
-        let feature_data = &state.data.feature_data;
+        let feature_data: &[u16] = &state.data.feature_data;
         let travel_data = load_travel_data(&state.travel_time_store, &travel_entries)?;
         let has_travel = !travel_entries.is_empty();
 

server-rs/src/routes/hexagons.rs

@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ pub async fn get_hexagons(
             .collect();
 
         let num_features = state.data.num_features;
-        let feature_data = &state.data.feature_data;
+        let feature_data: &[u16] = &state.data.feature_data;
         let quant = state.data.quant_ref();
         let (pc_interner, pc_keys) = state.data.postcode_parts();
         let min_keys = &state.min_keys;

server-rs/src/routes/postcode_properties.rs

@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ pub async fn get_postcode_properties(
     let result = tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || {
         let t0 = std::time::Instant::now();
         let num_features = state.data.num_features;
-        let feature_data = &state.data.feature_data;
+        let feature_data: &[u16] = &state.data.feature_data;
         let feature_names = &state.data.feature_names;
         let feature_name_to_index = &state.feature_name_to_index;
         let enum_values = &state.data.enum_values;

server-rs/src/routes/postcode_stats.rs

@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ pub async fn get_postcode_stats(
     let response = tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || {
         let start_time = std::time::Instant::now();
         let num_features = state.data.num_features;
-        let feature_data = &state.data.feature_data;
+        let feature_data: &[u16] = &state.data.feature_data;
         let travel_data = load_travel_data(&state.travel_time_store, &travel_entries)?;
         let has_travel = !travel_entries.is_empty();
 

server-rs/src/routes/postcodes.rs

@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ pub async fn get_postcodes(
             .collect();
 
         let num_features = state.data.num_features;
-        let feature_data = &state.data.feature_data;
+        let feature_data: &[u16] = &state.data.feature_data;
         let quant = state.data.quant_ref();
         let min_keys = &state.min_keys;
         let max_keys = &state.max_keys;

server-rs/src/routes/properties.rs

@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ pub async fn get_hexagon_properties(
             .map_err(|err| format!("Invalid H3 resolution {}: {}", resolution, err))?;
         let need_parent = needs_parent(resolution);
         let num_features = state.data.num_features;
-        let feature_data = &state.data.feature_data;
+        let feature_data: &[u16] = &state.data.feature_data;
         let feature_names = &state.data.feature_names;
         let feature_name_to_index = &state.feature_name_to_index;
         let enum_values = &state.data.enum_values;

server-rs/src/routes/stats.rs

@@ -482,12 +482,13 @@ pub fn compute_poi_feature_stats(
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
     use crate::consts::NAN_U16;
+    use crate::data::spill::SpillVec;
 
     fn enum_data(values: &[u16]) -> PropertyData {
         let mut data = PropertyData::empty_for_tests();
         data.num_features = 1;
         data.num_numeric = 0; // single enum feature at index 0
-        data.feature_data = values.to_vec();
+        data.feature_data = SpillVec::owned(values.to_vec());
         data.enum_values
             .insert(0, vec!["Yes".to_string(), "No".to_string()]);
         data