---
id: wiki-2026-0508-v8-engine-heap-management
title: V8 Engine Heap Management
category: 10_Wiki/Topics
status: verified
canonical_id: self
aliases: [V8 Heap, V8 Memory Layout, V8 Sandbox]
duplicate_of: none
source_trust_level: A
confidence_score: 0.9
verification_status: applied
tags: [v8, javascript, memory, runtime, gc]
raw_sources: []
last_reinforced: 2026-05-10
github_commit: pending
tech_stack:
  language: C++/JavaScript
  framework: V8
---

# V8 Engine Heap Management

## 매 한 줄
> **"매 generational heap + sandbox + pointer compression"**. V8 매 Young/Old Gen 의 분리 + Orinoco GC + 매 4GB sandbox 의 OOB exploit 의 mitigate. 2026 매 V8 12.x — 매 Maglev tier + Sparkplug + sandbox-by-default + Node.js 22 LTS.

## 매 핵심

### 매 Heap 구조
- **Young Generation** — 매 short-lived: Nursery (To/From semi-space) + Intermediate.
- **Old Generation** — 매 long-lived: Old Pointer Space + Old Data Space.
- **Large Object Space** — 매 >256KB allocations.
- **Code Space** — 매 JIT-compiled machine code.
- **Map Space** — 매 hidden classes (V8 Maps).
- **Read-Only Space** — 매 immutable VM-level data.

### 매 GC 알고리즘
- Scavenger (Young): Cheney's copying — 매 minor GC, 매 ms 단위.
- Major GC (Old): Mark-Sweep-Compact + concurrent/parallel/incremental.
- Orinoco — main-thread pause 의 minimize.

### 매 V8 Sandbox (Memory Cage)
- 매 V8 heap 의 4GB virtual region 의 confine.
- 매 internal pointer 의 sandbox-relative 32-bit offset.
- 매 OOB write exploit 의 host process corrupt X.
- 매 V8 11.4+ default — 매 `--sandbox` flag.

### 매 Pointer Compression
- 매 64-bit isolate 의 32-bit offset 사용 (4GB heap).
- 매 메모리 의 ~40% 절감.
- Cage base register + offset = full pointer.

### 매 Hidden Classes (Maps)
- 매 object shape descriptor.
- 매 inline cache (IC) 의 fast property access.
- 매 shape transition 의 monomorphic 유지 의 핵심.

### 매 응용
1. Node.js memory tuning — `--max-old-space-size`.
2. Memory leak debugging — heap snapshot.
3. JIT optimization — monomorphic code path.
4. Embedded V8 — Deno, Cloudflare Workers, Electron.

## 💻 패턴

### Heap size tuning
```bash
# 4GB old generation
node --max-old-space-size=4096 server.js

# 256MB young generation (semi-space)
node --max-semi-space-size=128 worker.js
```

### Heap snapshot — memory leak detection
```javascript
import { writeHeapSnapshot } from "node:v8";

setInterval(() => {
  const path = writeHeapSnapshot(`./heap-${Date.now()}.heapsnapshot`);
  console.log("Heap snapshot:", path);
}, 60_000);
```

### `process.memoryUsage`
```javascript
const m = process.memoryUsage();
console.log({
  rss: (m.rss / 1024 / 1024).toFixed(1) + " MB",
  heapUsed: (m.heapUsed / 1024 / 1024).toFixed(1) + " MB",
  heapTotal: (m.heapTotal / 1024 / 1024).toFixed(1) + " MB",
  external: (m.external / 1024 / 1024).toFixed(1) + " MB",
});
```

### V8 stats — getHeapStatistics
```javascript
import { getHeapStatistics, getHeapSpaceStatistics } from "node:v8";

console.log(getHeapStatistics());
// total_heap_size, used_heap_size, heap_size_limit, ...

for (const space of getHeapSpaceStatistics()) {
  console.log(space.space_name, space.space_used_size);
}
```

### Monomorphic vs polymorphic — IC friendly
```javascript
// GOOD — same shape every call → monomorphic IC
function area({ w, h }) { return w * h; }
area({ w: 1, h: 2 });
area({ w: 3, h: 4 });

// BAD — varied shapes → megamorphic, IC miss
area({ w: 1, h: 2, label: "a" });
area({ w: 3, h: 4, color: "red" });
```

### Hidden class stability
```javascript
// BAD — late property addition forces shape transition
const u = {};
u.id = 1;
u.name = "x";

// GOOD — initialize all properties at construction
const u2 = { id: 1, name: "x" };
```

### `--prof` + `--prof-process`
```bash
node --prof app.js
# Generates isolate-*.log
node --prof-process isolate-*.log > prof.txt
```

### WeakRef — manual lifecycle
```javascript
const cache = new Map();
function get(key) {
  const ref = cache.get(key);
  const val = ref?.deref();
  if (val) return val;
  const fresh = expensive(key);
  cache.set(key, new WeakRef(fresh));
  return fresh;
}
```

## 매 결정 기준
| 상황 | Approach |
|---|---|
| Default Node.js | 매 V8 default — 충분. |
| Memory-heavy worker | `--max-old-space-size=8192`. |
| Latency-sensitive | 매 short-lived alloc 의 Young Gen 유지 — small heap. |
| Memory leak suspect | `writeHeapSnapshot` + Chrome DevTools. |
| Hot loop | Monomorphic shape — 매 동일 hidden class. |
| Embedded V8 | Sandbox enable + isolate per tenant. |

**기본값**: 매 V8 default GC + sandbox enabled + monomorphic code + heap snapshot 의 production 의 leak 의 trigger 시.

## 🔗 Graph
- 변형: [[V8 가비지 컬렉션(Garbage Collection)]] · [[V8 메모리 케이지(V8 Memory Cage)]] · [[To Space와 From Space]]
- 응용: [[Node.js Performance]] · [[Cloudflare Workers]]
- Adjacent: [[Garbage Collection]] · [[Hidden Class]]

## 🤖 LLM 활용
**언제**: Node.js 의 production tuning, memory leak diagnosis, JIT optimization, V8 embedding.
**언제 X**: 매 SpiderMonkey/JavaScriptCore 의 generic 적용 X — 매 V8-specific.

## ❌ 안티패턴
- **매 late property addition**: hidden class transition — IC miss.
- **매 too-small `--max-old-space-size`**: OOM crash.
- **매 too-large heap**: GC pause 의 증가.
- **매 closure 의 long-lived ref 유지**: 매 leak.
- **매 megamorphic call site**: deopt → slow path.
- **매 sandbox disable (`--no-sandbox`)**: 매 production 의 X.

## 🧪 검증 / 중복
- Verified (V8 blog, "Trash Talk" 시리즈; Orinoco design doc; V8 Sandbox RFC).
- 신뢰도 A.

## 🕓 Changelog
| 날짜 | 변경 |
|---|---|
| 2026-05-08 | Phase 1 |
| 2026-05-10 | Manual cleanup — V8 heap 구조 + sandbox + GC + IC 패턴 정리 |
