fix: Use container memory and CPU limits when running in a container

docs/guides/scaling_crawlers.mdx

@@ -47,3 +47,9 @@ The `desired_concurrency` option in the <ApiLink to="class/ConcurrencySettings">
 ## Autoscaled pool
 
 The <ApiLink to="class/AutoscaledPool">`AutoscaledPool`</ApiLink> manages a pool of asynchronous, resource-intensive tasks that run in parallel. It keeps `min_concurrency` tasks running even while the system is overloaded, and starts additional tasks only when there is enough free CPU and memory. To monitor system resources, it leverages the <ApiLink to="class/Snapshotter">`Snapshotter`</ApiLink> and <ApiLink to="class/SystemStatus">`SystemStatus`</ApiLink> classes. If any task raises an exception, the error is propagated, and the pool is stopped. Every crawler uses an <ApiLink to="class/AutoscaledPool">`AutoscaledPool`</ApiLink> under the hood.
+
+## Running under a resource limit
+
+A crawler often gets less than the host machine has. A Docker container, a Kubernetes pod, a systemd slice and a Windows job object can each carry a limit of their own. Crawlee reads the limit that applies to the process and scales against it, with nothing to configure. The memory budget comes from the memory limit, the CPU load is measured against the cores the process may use, and the tightest limit wins when several of them apply. Without a limit, Crawlee falls back to the resources of the host machine.
+
+The budget is `available_memory_ratio` of the limit, 25% by default, and the crawler throttles once it uses `max_used_memory_ratio` of that budget, 90% by default. A container limited to 2 GB therefore throttles at around 460 MB. Both options live in the <ApiLink to="class/Configuration">`Configuration`</ApiLink>, together with `memory_mbytes` for sizing the budget in absolute terms. While the default ratio applies under a limit, Crawlee logs the resulting budget as a warning. Setting either `available_memory_ratio` or `memory_mbytes` silences the warning. Whatever the budget, the crawler also throttles once the memory charged against the limit goes above 97% of it, which includes memory used by other processes under the same limit.

pyproject.toml

@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "colorama>=0.4.0",
     "impit>=0.13.2",
     "more-itertools>=10.2.0",
+    "proclimits>=0.2.0",
     "protego>=0.5.0",
     "psutil>=6.0.0",
     "pydantic-settings>=2.12.0",

src/crawlee/_autoscaling/_types.py

@@ -97,13 +97,13 @@ class MemorySnapshot:
     """Memory usage of the current Python process and its children."""
 
     system_wide_used_size: ByteSize | None
-    """Memory usage of all processes, system-wide."""
+    """Memory usage of all processes, within the scope `system_wide_memory_size` covers."""
 
     max_memory_size: ByteSize
     """The maximum memory that can be used by `AutoscaledPool`."""
 
     system_wide_memory_size: ByteSize | None
-    """Total memory available in the whole system."""
+    """Total memory available to this process, which is the memory limit where one applies."""
 
     max_used_memory_ratio: float
     """The maximum acceptable ratio of `current_size` to `max_memory_size`."""

src/crawlee/_autoscaling/snapshotter.py

@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 from logging import WARNING, getLogger
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, TypeVar, cast
 
+import proclimits
+
 from crawlee import service_locator
 from crawlee._autoscaling._types import ClientSnapshot, CpuSnapshot, EventLoopSnapshot, MemorySnapshot, Ratio, Snapshot
 from crawlee._utils.byte_size import ByteSize
@@ -120,14 +122,29 @@ def from_config(cls, config: Configuration | None = None) -> Snapshotter:
         config = config or service_locator.get_configuration()
 
         # Compute the maximum memory size based on the provided configuration. If `memory_mbytes` is provided,
-        # it uses that value. Otherwise, it calculates the `max_memory_size` as a proportion of the system's
-        # total available memory based on `available_memory_ratio`.
+        # it uses that value. Otherwise, it calculates the `max_memory_size` as a proportion of the memory available
+        # to this process based on `available_memory_ratio`.
         max_memory_size = (
             ByteSize.from_mb(config.memory_mbytes)
             if config.memory_mbytes
             else Ratio(value=config.available_memory_ratio)
         )
 
+        # The default ratio protects the machine from the crawler. Under a limit set outside of Crawlee it stacks on
+        # top of that limit, which is rarely what the user meant.
+        if not config.memory_mbytes and 'available_memory_ratio' not in config.model_fields_set:
+            budget = proclimits.get_memory_budget()
+            if budget is not None:
+                limit = ByteSize(budget.limit)
+                logger_once.log(
+                    f'Setting max memory of this run to {limit * config.available_memory_ratio}, '
+                    f'{config.available_memory_ratio:.0%} of the {limit} memory limit applying to this process. '
+                    'Use the CRAWLEE_MEMORY_MBYTES or CRAWLEE_AVAILABLE_MEMORY_RATIO environment variable to '
+                    'override it.',
+                    key='default_memory_ratio_under_limit',
+                    level=WARNING,
+                )
+
         return cls(
             max_used_cpu_ratio=config.max_used_cpu_ratio,
             max_used_memory_ratio=config.max_used_memory_ratio,

src/crawlee/_utils/system.py

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 from logging import WARNING, getLogger
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Annotated
 
+import proclimits
 import psutil
 from pydantic import BaseModel, ConfigDict, Field, PlainSerializer, PlainValidator
 
@@ -19,6 +20,9 @@
 # psutil re-raises `FileNotFoundError` as is when a `/proc` entry is missing for a process that is still alive.
 _METRIC_ERRORS = (psutil.Error, OSError)
 
+_CPU_SAMPLE_INTERVAL_SECS = 0.1
+"""How long a blocking CPU measurement lasts. A window shorter than 0.01 seconds is refused by the sensor."""
+
 
 class _PssAvailability:
     """Process-wide latch for whether the PSS memory metric exists on this system at all.
@@ -185,35 +189,85 @@ class MemoryInfo(MemoryUsageInfo):
     total_size: Annotated[
         ByteSize, PlainValidator(ByteSize.validate), PlainSerializer(lambda size: size.bytes), Field(alias='totalSize')
     ]
-    """Total memory available in the system."""
+    """Total memory available to this process.
+
+    Under a container limit this is the limit rather than the memory of the host machine.
+    """
 
     system_wide_used_size: Annotated[
         ByteSize,
         PlainValidator(ByteSize.validate),
         PlainSerializer(lambda size: size.bytes),
         Field(alias='systemWideUsedSize'),
     ]
-    """Total memory used by all processes system-wide (including non-crawlee processes)."""
+    """Total memory used within the scope `total_size` covers, including memory used by non-crawlee processes.
+
+    Under a container limit this is the memory charged against that limit.
+    """
+
+
+class _ResourceLimits:
+    """Process-wide latch keeping the limits report to one line per process."""
+
+    is_pending = True
+
+
+def _log_resource_limits() -> None:
+    """Report the limits applying to this process, at most once per process and only where any apply."""
+    # The latch is consumed before the reading, so a sensor that raises fails the first sample only.
+    if not _ResourceLimits.is_pending:
+        return
+
+    _ResourceLimits.is_pending = False
 
+    limits = proclimits.snapshot()
+    cores = limits.cpu_limit
 
-def get_cpu_info() -> CpuInfo:
+    if limits.memory_budget is None and cores is None:
+        return
+
+    memory = str(ByteSize(limits.memory_budget.limit)) if limits.memory_budget else 'unrestricted'
+    cpu = f'{cores:g} core{"" if cores == 1 else "s"}' if cores is not None else 'unrestricted'
+    logger.info(f'Resource limits applying to this process: memory {memory}, CPU {cpu}.')
+
+
+def get_cpu_info(cpu_load: proclimits.CpuLoad | None = None) -> CpuInfo:
     """Retrieve the current CPU usage.
 
-    It utilizes the `psutil` library. Function `psutil.cpu_percent()` returns a float representing the current
-    system-wide CPU utilization as a percentage.
+    Under a container limit the load is measured against the cores this process may use. The sampler measures across
+    the gap between calls, and a call it has no reading for, such as the first, falls back to a short measurement of
+    its own. Without a limit the process competes for the whole machine, and `psutil.cpu_percent()` answers instead.
+
+    Args:
+        cpu_load: The sampler owned by the caller. Two callers sharing one would measure each other's windows.
+            Without one, every call under a limit takes a short measurement of its own.
     """
     logger.debug('Calling get_cpu_info()...')
-    cpu_percent = psutil.cpu_percent(interval=0.1)
-    return CpuInfo(used_ratio=cpu_percent / 100)
+
+    # Read on every sample, since a limit can be resized while the process runs.
+    if proclimits.get_cpu_limit() is None:
+        return CpuInfo(used_ratio=psutil.cpu_percent(interval=_CPU_SAMPLE_INTERVAL_SECS) / 100)
+
+    used_ratio = cpu_load.sample() if cpu_load is not None else None
+
+    if used_ratio is None:
+        used_ratio = proclimits.get_cpu_used_ratio(_CPU_SAMPLE_INTERVAL_SECS)
+
+    if used_ratio is None:
+        used_ratio = psutil.cpu_percent(interval=_CPU_SAMPLE_INTERVAL_SECS) / 100
+
+    return CpuInfo(used_ratio=used_ratio)
 
 
 def get_memory_info() -> MemoryInfo:
     """Retrieve the current memory usage of the process and its children.
 
     It utilizes the `psutil` library. The reported `current_size` is best-effort - processes that cannot be inspected
-    are left out of the sum, and PSS may be substituted by RSS for some or all of the processes.
+    are left out of the sum, and PSS may be substituted by RSS for some or all of the processes. The system-wide
+    figures come from the limit applying to this process whenever one restricts how much memory it may use.
     """
     logger.debug('Calling get_memory_info()...')
+    _log_resource_limits()
     current_process = psutil.Process(os.getpid())
 
     # Retrieve estimated memory usage of the current process. Deliberately not guarded - a process can always read
@@ -236,10 +290,18 @@ def get_memory_info() -> MemoryInfo:
     for child in children:
         current_size_bytes += _get_child_used_memory(child)
 
-    vm = psutil.virtual_memory()
+    budget = proclimits.get_memory_budget()
+
+    if budget is None:
+        vm = psutil.virtual_memory()
+        total_size_bytes, system_wide_used_size_bytes = vm.total, vm.total - vm.available
+    else:
+        # Not clamped to the memory of the machine: a Windows job limits commit, so that would pair a commit charge
+        # with a physical ceiling.
+        total_size_bytes, system_wide_used_size_bytes = budget.limit, budget.used
 
     return MemoryInfo(
-        total_size=ByteSize(vm.total),
+        total_size=ByteSize(total_size_bytes),
         current_size=ByteSize(current_size_bytes),
-        system_wide_used_size=ByteSize(vm.total - vm.available),
+        system_wide_used_size=ByteSize(system_wide_used_size_bytes),
     )

src/crawlee/configuration.py

@@ -186,9 +186,9 @@ class Configuration(BaseSettings):
             le=1.0,
         ),
     ] = 0.25
-    """The maximum proportion of system memory to use. If `memory_mbytes` is not provided, this ratio is used to
-    calculate the maximum memory. This option is utilized by the `Snapshotter` and supports the dynamic system memory
-    scaling."""
+    """The maximum proportion of the memory available to this process to use, which is the memory limit where one
+    applies. If `memory_mbytes` is not provided, this ratio is used to calculate the maximum memory. This option is
+    utilized by the `Snapshotter` and supports the dynamic system memory scaling."""
 
     storage_dir: Annotated[
         str,

src/crawlee/events/_local_event_manager.py

@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 from logging import getLogger
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
 
+import proclimits
+
 from crawlee._utils.docs import docs_group
 from crawlee._utils.recurring_task import RecurringTask
 from crawlee._utils.system import get_cpu_info, get_memory_info
@@ -48,6 +50,9 @@ def __init__(
         self._system_info_interval = system_info_interval
         """Interval between the emitted `SystemInfo` events."""
 
+        self._cpu_load = proclimits.CpuLoad()
+        """CPU sampler of this event manager, measuring across the gap between its emissions."""
+
         self._emit_system_info_event_rec_task = RecurringTask(
             func=self._emit_system_info_event,
             delay=self._system_info_interval,
@@ -76,6 +81,8 @@ async def __aenter__(self) -> Self:
         await super().__aenter__()
 
         if self._active_ref_count == 1:
+            # A reading kept from a previous session would report the average load over the idle gap since then.
+            self._cpu_load = proclimits.CpuLoad()
             self._emit_system_info_event_rec_task.start()
 
         return self
@@ -98,10 +105,10 @@ async def __aexit__(
 
     async def _emit_system_info_event(self) -> None:
         """Emit a system info event with the current CPU and memory usage."""
-        # Both readings block the thread they run in - `get_cpu_info` even samples the CPU utilization over a short
+        # Both readings block the thread they run in - `get_cpu_info` may sample the CPU utilization over a short
         # interval - so run them concurrently instead of one after the other.
         cpu_info, memory_info = await asyncio.gather(
-            asyncio.to_thread(get_cpu_info),
+            asyncio.to_thread(get_cpu_info, self._cpu_load),
             asyncio.to_thread(get_memory_info),
         )
 

tests/unit/_autoscaling/test_snapshotter.py

@@ -4,16 +4,18 @@
 import time
 from bisect import insort
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta, timezone
-from logging import getLogger
+from logging import WARNING, getLogger
 from math import floor
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, cast
 from unittest import mock
-from unittest.mock import MagicMock
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, Mock
 
+import proclimits
 import pytest
 
 from crawlee import service_locator
 from crawlee._autoscaling import Snapshotter
+from crawlee._autoscaling import snapshotter as snapshotter_module
 from crawlee._autoscaling._types import (
     SYSTEM_WIDE_MEMORY_OVERLOAD_THRESHOLD,
     ClientSnapshot,
@@ -22,6 +24,7 @@
 )
 from crawlee._autoscaling.snapshotter import SortedSnapshotList
 from crawlee._utils.byte_size import ByteSize
+from crawlee._utils.log import LoggerOnce
 from crawlee._utils.system import CpuInfo, MemoryInfo, get_memory_info
 from crawlee.configuration import Configuration
 from crawlee.events import LocalEventManager
@@ -445,3 +448,33 @@ async def test_dynamic_memory(
         assert memory_samples[0].is_overloaded
         # Second sample can reflect the increased available memory based on the configuration used to create Snapshotter
         assert memory_samples[1].is_overloaded == (not dynamic_memory)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ('config_options', 'limit_bytes', 'expected_warning'),
+    [
+        pytest.param({}, 512 * 1024**2, True, id='default ratio under a limit'),
+        pytest.param({'available_memory_ratio': 0.25}, 512 * 1024**2, False, id='ratio set explicitly'),
+        pytest.param({'memory_mbytes': 1024}, 512 * 1024**2, False, id='memory_mbytes set'),
+        pytest.param({}, None, False, id='no limit'),
+    ],
+)
+def test_from_config_warns_on_default_ratio_under_limit(
+    *,
+    monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch,
+    caplog: pytest.LogCaptureFixture,
+    config_options: dict[str, Any],
+    limit_bytes: int | None,
+    expected_warning: bool,
+) -> None:
+    """Warns when the default `available_memory_ratio` stacks on top of a memory limit."""
+    budget = None if limit_bytes is None else proclimits.MemoryBudget(limit=limit_bytes, used=0, available=limit_bytes)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(proclimits, 'get_memory_budget', Mock(return_value=budget))
+    monkeypatch.setattr(snapshotter_module, 'logger_once', LoggerOnce(snapshotter_module.logger))
+
+    with caplog.at_level(WARNING, logger=snapshotter_module.logger.name):
+        Snapshotter.from_config(Configuration(**config_options))
+
+    warnings = [record.message for record in caplog.records if 'Setting max memory of this run' in record.message]
+    assert len(warnings) == int(expected_warning)
+    assert all('to 128.00 MB, 25% of the 512.00 MB memory limit' in warning for warning in warnings)