Complete "Pausing computation-heavy widgets" pattern documentation

Add `IntersectionObserver` pattern for pausing expensive operations
(animations, WebGL, polling) when widgets scroll out of view.

- Add `visibilityBasedPause` example to `patterns.tsx` with play/pause
  callbacks and `onteardown` cleanup
- Document pattern in `patterns.md` with link to MDN docs

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Jonathan Hefner 2026-01-19 16:47:46 -06:00
commit 3398ed49b4
2 changed files with 37 additions and 0 deletions

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@ -68,6 +68,12 @@ To persist widget state across conversation reloads (e.g., current page in a PDF
> **Note:** For model-visible state (informing the LLM about what the user is viewing), use {@link app!App.updateModelContext updateModelContext} instead. Widget state persistence is for UI state that should survive page reloads but doesn't need to be seen by the model.
## Pausing computation-heavy widgets when out of view
Widgets with animations, WebGL rendering, or polling can consume significant CPU/GPU even when scrolled out of view. Use [`IntersectionObserver`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Intersection_Observer_API) to pause expensive operations when the widget isn't visible:
{@includeCode ./patterns.tsx#visibilityBasedPause}
## Lowering perceived latency
Use {@link app!App.ontoolinputpartial ontoolinputpartial} to receive streaming tool arguments as they arrive, allowing you to show a loading preview before the complete input is available.

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@ -158,6 +158,36 @@ function persistWidgetState(app: App) {
//#endregion persistData
}
/**
* Example: Pausing computation-heavy widgets when out of view
*/
function visibilityBasedPause(
app: App,
container: HTMLElement,
animation: { play: () => void; pause: () => void },
) {
//#region visibilityBasedPause
// Use IntersectionObserver to pause when widget scrolls out of view
const observer = new IntersectionObserver((entries) => {
entries.forEach((entry) => {
if (entry.isIntersecting) {
animation.play();
} else {
animation.pause();
}
});
});
observer.observe(container);
// Clean up when the host tears down the widget
app.onteardown = async () => {
observer.disconnect();
animation.pause();
return {};
};
//#endregion visibilityBasedPause
}
/**
* Example: Supporting both iframe & MCP Apps in same binary
*/
@ -183,5 +213,6 @@ void hostStylingVanillaJs;
void hostStylingReact;
void persistWidgetStateServer;
void persistWidgetState;
void visibilityBasedPause;
void iframeAndMcpApps;
void migrateFromOpenai;