diff --git a/changelog.d/10254-tiny-parse-nursery-cap.md b/changelog.d/10254-tiny-parse-nursery-cap.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cc543e285e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/10254-tiny-parse-nursery-cap.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- **perf(gc): a loop of small `JSON.parse` calls no longer grows the young generation to 48 MB before collecting (#10254).** The tiny-parse guard (#9831) forces a collection at a parse boundary only when total arena in-use reaches its 48 MB floor, and nothing else arms the nursery safepoint for a loop that allocates only inside the parser. The parse boundary now also collects when the young generation reaches its scavenge cap. A minor lowers that quantity to its survivors, so the new arm cannot re-fire until the cap has been refilled. On the quiet bench mini, `small_record:parse` peak RSS fell from 80 to 32 MiB (Node 59) and `object_1k:parse` from 65 to 32 MiB (Node 61), with CPU unchanged. No other row of the 50-row JSON matrix moved beyond noise, and every gated gc-ratchet counter is identical to main.
diff --git a/crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/policy.rs b/crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/policy.rs
index 6a772c0b14..f5121cb397 100644
--- a/crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/policy.rs
+++ b/crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/policy.rs
@@ -437,6 +437,24 @@ pub(super) fn tiny_parse_pressure_due_with(
         && in_use >= base.saturating_add(tiny_parse_pressure_headroom_bytes(step))
 }
 
+/// Should a tiny-parse boundary collect under the generational collector?
+///
+/// The priced in-use guard ([`tiny_parse_pressure_due`]) answers "has the
+/// arena grown enough to be worth a collection", on total in-use, which a
+/// collection cannot lower below the live set (#9831). It never asked the
+/// generational question: is the young generation at its scavenge cap? A loop
+/// of tiny `JSON.parse` calls allocates only under the parser's suppression
+/// window and at bounded inline-object births, so nothing else arms the
+/// nursery safepoint for it, and the young generation grew to the guard's
+/// 48 MB floor before its first minor: `small_record:parse` peaked at 80 MiB
+/// against Node's 59 with 0–9 ‰ of each collection surviving. The nursery cap
+/// is safe to consult where the absolute in-use guard was not: a minor lowers
+/// the quantity it tests to the survivors, so it cannot fire again until the
+/// cap has been refilled.
+pub(super) fn tiny_parse_generational_collection_due(in_use: usize, in_use_trigger: usize) -> bool {
+    tiny_parse_pressure_due(in_use, in_use_trigger) || young_scavenge_cap_due()
+}
+
 /// The live [`tiny_parse_pressure_due_with`]: current base and step.
 pub(super) fn tiny_parse_pressure_due(in_use: usize, in_use_trigger: usize) -> bool {
     #[cfg(test)]
@@ -1525,7 +1543,12 @@ fn gc_bump_malloc_trigger_inner(collect_now: bool) {
         // The guard now also requires the arena to have grown past the
         // productivity-priced headroom since the last collection ended.
         let in_use = crate::arena::arena_in_use_bytes();
-        if !tiny_parse_pressure_due(in_use, tiny_parse_in_use_trigger_for_mode()) {
+        let due = if use_gen_gc {
+            tiny_parse_generational_collection_due(in_use, tiny_parse_in_use_trigger_for_mode())
+        } else {
+            tiny_parse_pressure_due(in_use, tiny_parse_in_use_trigger_for_mode())
+        };
+        if !due {
             return;
         }
         if use_gen_gc {
@@ -1581,7 +1604,12 @@ fn gc_collect_pending_suppressed_parse_slow() {
     // boundary collection from stacking a second minor on top of it. A request
     // nothing has satisfied is still due and still collects.
     let in_use = crate::arena::arena_in_use_bytes();
-    if !tiny_parse_pressure_due(in_use, tiny_parse_in_use_trigger_for_mode()) {
+    let due = if gen_gc_enabled() {
+        tiny_parse_generational_collection_due(in_use, tiny_parse_in_use_trigger_for_mode())
+    } else {
+        tiny_parse_pressure_due(in_use, tiny_parse_in_use_trigger_for_mode())
+    };
+    if !due {
         return;
     }
     diag_tiny_parse_forced_collection("parse_boundary", in_use);
@@ -1609,8 +1637,8 @@ pub fn gc_schedule_parse_boundary_collection_if_pressure() {
         return;
     }
     // #9831: priced the same way as the post-parse guard above — see
-    // `tiny_parse_pressure_due_with`.
-    if !tiny_parse_pressure_due(
+    // `tiny_parse_pressure_due_with` — plus the young generation's own cap.
+    if !tiny_parse_generational_collection_due(
         crate::arena::arena_in_use_bytes(),
         gc_tiny_parse_in_use_trigger_dyn_bytes(),
     ) {
diff --git a/crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/tests/tiny_parse_pressure.rs b/crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/tests/tiny_parse_pressure.rs
index 12ea368ffb..e6eedd9dbf 100644
--- a/crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/tests/tiny_parse_pressure.rs
+++ b/crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/tests/tiny_parse_pressure.rs
@@ -232,3 +232,43 @@ fn a_finished_collection_moves_the_base_to_the_post_collection_reading() {
         "the base must be the post-collection `arena_in_use_bytes()` reading"
     );
 }
+
+/// The nursery cap schedules a tiny-parse boundary collection on its own, well
+/// below the priced in-use guard, and only while the cap is actually due.
+#[test]
+fn a_due_nursery_cap_schedules_the_boundary_collection_below_the_in_use_guard() {
+    use super::super::policy::{
+        gc_schedule_parse_boundary_collection_if_pressure, ScavengeNurseryCapTestGuard,
+        GC_SUPPRESSED_TINY_PARSE_COLLECTION_PENDING,
+    };
+    use super::support::*;
+    let _isolation = GcTestIsolationGuard::new();
+    let _pacing = crate::gc::policy::force_moving_gc_pacing();
+    let pending = || GC_SUPPRESSED_TINY_PARSE_COLLECTION_PENDING.with(std::cell::Cell::get);
+    GC_SUPPRESSED_TINY_PARSE_COLLECTION_PENDING.with(|p| p.set(false));
+    let filler = [b'j'; 64];
+    crate::string::js_string_from_bytes(filler.as_ptr(), filler.len() as u32);
+    let in_use = crate::arena::arena_in_use_bytes();
+    assert!(
+        !tiny_parse_pressure_due(in_use, 48 * MB),
+        "fixture: the priced in-use guard must not be due, or this proves nothing"
+    );
+
+    {
+        let _cap = ScavengeNurseryCapTestGuard::due_at_bytes(usize::MAX);
+        gc_schedule_parse_boundary_collection_if_pressure();
+        assert!(
+            !pending(),
+            "neither the guard nor the cap is due: nothing scheduled"
+        );
+    }
+    {
+        let _cap = ScavengeNurseryCapTestGuard::due_at_bytes(1);
+        gc_schedule_parse_boundary_collection_if_pressure();
+        assert!(
+            pending(),
+            "a due nursery cap schedules the boundary collection"
+        );
+    }
+    GC_SUPPRESSED_TINY_PARSE_COLLECTION_PENDING.with(|p| p.set(false));
+}
diff --git a/scripts/gc_runtime_root_holders.json b/scripts/gc_runtime_root_holders.json
index 533ae24984..0983d26735 100644
--- a/scripts/gc_runtime_root_holders.json
+++ b/scripts/gc_runtime_root_holders.json
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@
       "file": "crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/census.rs",
       "name": "PASS1_MARKED",
       "verdict": "non_moving_snapshot",
-      "why": "Real GC header addresses, deliberately untraced so the diagnostic does not keep its observed objects alive. Populated only at the end of mark propagation of a synchronous full cycle; consumed at sweep entry in the same run_to_completion invocation. The intervening full-cycle phases do not relocate or run JS callbacks. The Vec is used for membership comparisons and dropped with the census before sweep. Budgeted and minor cycles skip both boundaries. Pin re-audited 2026-09-05 after #9760 touched `gc/mod.rs`: that change is `mod heap_stats;` plus a `pub(crate) use` re-export and alters no mark/sweep control flow. `heap_stats()` is reached only from `js_bun_jsc_heap_stats` (the JS-facing `bun:jsc.heapStats()`), i.e. from mutator code, never inside a cycle, and its own module contract forbids allocation or collection during its walk. The mark-complete → sweep-entry window is unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-05 (train125) after #9769 and #9771 touched pinned files. #9769 adds one `reg_scanner!` registration to `gc/mod.rs`; #9771 adds a feature-gated `alloc_census_init()` there and a feature-gated Rust-heap dump inside `take_census`. `alloc-census` is not in the default feature set, and decisively: `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` does `PASS1_MARKED.with(|p| p.borrow_mut().take())` BEFORE calling `take_census`, so the snapshot has already left the thread-local by the time #9771's code runs — it cannot affect the window. Neither change alters mark/sweep control flow. Re-audited 2026-09-06 after #9831 touched `gc/policy.rs`. Its hunks are (a) the tiny-parse pressure guard's pricing (`tiny_parse_pressure_headroom_bytes`, `tiny_parse_pressure_due*`, a `Cell<usize>` byte-count base) consulted from JSON.parse's mutator-side boundaries (`gc_bump_malloc_trigger`, `gc_collect_pending_suppressed_parse`, `gc_schedule_parse_boundary_collection_if_pressure`), none of which is reachable from inside a cycle, and (b) one extra `Cell` store in `note_collection_finished_arena_occupancy`, which runs from `publish_reclaim_outcome` in the Publish subphase — after `step_sweep` has already consumed the snapshot. Mark/sweep control flow between `census_pass1_if_armed` and `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` is untouched. Re-audited 2026-09-05 (train126) after #9755 restructured `gc/cycle.rs`. Its hunks are all root-scan machinery (`RootScanSubphase`, `RootScanCycleState`, the mutable-scanner iteration state), which runs BEFORE mark propagation completes; `gc/mod.rs` gains only a `mod young_log;` declaration. The bracketing is unchanged — `census_pass1_if_armed` is still inside `step_mark_propagation` and `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` inside `step_sweep` — and a synchronous full mark-sweep still moves nothing between them. Re-pinned 2026-09-05 for the #9740 hot-TLS conversion of this file: the sole change is `thread_local!` → `crate::perry_thread_local!`, a macro-name swap with identical declaration syntax and `.with()` call sites. No control flow, no phase boundary, and no storage semantics change. Re-audited 2026-09-06 (train128) after #9794's GC diagnostics touched `gc/mod.rs` and `gc/policy.rs`: both gain diagnostic module declarations and counters only — no mark/sweep control flow, and the census bracketing in `step_mark_propagation` / `step_sweep` is unchanged. Re-audited for #9794's GC diagnostics: `gc/mod.rs` gains `mod diag_sites;` / `mod survival_diag;`, a re-export, a `diag_sites::full_started(...)` call at TRIGGER time (before mark propagation begins), and exit-time reporting. Nothing executes between mark-complete and sweep-entry, so the window is unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-06 for the retained array-growth verifier fix: the cycle.rs change passes the existing non-copying evacuation verifier an explicit all-forwarded policy. That call remains in minor finalization, outside the synchronous full-cycle census window; its root and heap reads do not allocate GC objects, move objects, or invoke JS callbacks. The mark-complete and sweep-entry boundaries are unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-05 after #9830 touched `gc/policy.rs`. That change is (a) six `thread_local! {` blocks rewritten as `crate::perry_thread_local! {` and (b) one `#[cfg(test)]` accessor listing the trigger path's hot-slot indices. The macro keeps the same storage, the same `.with()` at every read and write, and the same destructor registration (the teardown guard exists exactly when `needs_drop` holds, which is what `std::thread_local!` already decided); no value, predicate or branch in the file changes, so no mark or sweep control flow does. The one new behaviour is on a declaration's FIRST read: `HotKey::resolve_and_cache` takes a mutex and allocates a key through the GLOBAL allocator. Even if a first read landed inside this window it would be sound — the window's contract is that nothing relocates and no JS callback runs, and a mimalloc allocation does neither. `census_pass1_if_armed` is still inside `step_mark_propagation` and `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` inside `step_sweep`; the bracketing is untouched. Re-audited 2026-09-06 (train132) after #9860 and #9845 touched `gc/mod.rs`. Both hunks are re-export lists and nothing else: #9860 adds `idle_reclaim_elapsed_starts` / `IDLE_RECLAIM_REARM_MS`, and #9845 adds `owner_is_dead_copied_minor_from_space_of_type`. No mark or sweep control flow changes. #9845's substantive work sits in `gc/oldgen.rs` and `gc/copying.rs`, neither pinned: the copying-minor arm (`finalize_dead_copied_minor_from_space_regexps`) runs on a MINOR, which skips both census boundaries; the full-cycle arm (`collect_dead_registered_regexps_post_trace`, from `with_dead_collection_finalize`) walks the RegExp registry building a Vec of addresses — no GC allocation, no JS callback, so it cannot relocate the snapshot's subjects — and it is reached from the sweep body, i.e. AFTER `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` has already `take()`n the snapshot out of the thread-local. The mark-complete -> sweep-entry window is unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-07 for #9965 after 1ec9e0e8a touched `gc/cycle.rs` and `gc/mod.rs`: `gc/mod.rs:216-217` only declares and imports the failure-attribution module, while `gc/cycle.rs:1414-1417` reads the trigger and diagnostic counters immediately before evacuation verification inside `atomic_finalize_minor_prelude`. Full cycles bypass `MinorPrelude` at `gc/cycle.rs:1192-1196`; evacuation remains guarded by the minor-only context at `gc/cycle.rs:1330-1372`. The snapshot store remains at `gc/cycle.rs:963-964` after synchronous full marking, and its take remains at `gc/cycle.rs:1454-1457` before sweep. No new write, relocation, collection, or JS callback was added to that full-cycle interval, so the PASS1_MARKED window is unaffected. Re-audited 2026-09-07 for the regex census rows: all new work is in `take_census` after `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` has taken PASS1_MARKED out of TLS; neither boundary nor the intervening cycle control flow changed. Re-audited 2026-09-08 (train144) after #9976 and #9977 touched pinned files. `gc/mod.rs` gains exactly three lines: `mod copying_phase;` and `mod regex_census;` (declarations) and one `reg_scanner!(regex::site_test::scan_roots_mut)` registration. A scanner registration adds a root SOURCE for the mutable-root walks; it does not move either census boundary and runs nowhere between them. `gc/census.rs` widens `side_tables()` to `pub(super)`, extends it with regex rows and adds a test module — all census REPORTING, which runs from the diagnostic dump, not inside a cycle. Mark/sweep control flow between `census_pass1_if_armed` and `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` is untouched. Re-audited 2026-09-08 for #9849 JSON construction deferral. `gc/mod.rs` adds the `json_defer` module/re-export and a trusted-header layout helper used only by already-validated JSON emitters; neither changes or runs in collector phase control flow. `gc/policy.rs` adds JSON completion scheduling, construction-grace checks, and safepoint deferral predicates. These are called from mutator-side JSON allocation/output boundaries and ordinary safepoint entry; they do not alter `step_mark_propagation`, `step_sweep`, or invoke callbacks or relocation between the census boundaries. The mark-complete to sweep-entry window is unchanged. The follow-up adds a cfg(test)-only one-shot boolean for deterministic explicit-pressure fixtures; it is absent from production builds and cannot affect the census window. The first predicate read consumes it, so post-parse accounting exercises normal pricing. Re-audited 2026-09-09 for bounded tiny-JSON completion polling. The policy.rs changes split the mutator-side pending-parse check into an inlined empty fast path plus an outlined debt-service path, and amortize the mutator-side arena-pressure read across 64 bounded parse completions. Neither function is reachable from step_mark_propagation or step_sweep; neither census boundary nor the synchronous full-cycle interval between them changes. Re-audited 2026-09-09 for lazy JSON record batches: policy.rs only widens gc_budgeted_cycle_active visibility from pub(super) to pub(crate). Its body remains a read-only Cell<bool> query. The new caller is lazy_get materialization in the mutator; run_to_completion, step_mark_propagation, census snapshot consumption at step_sweep, and the synchronous non-moving window are unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-09 for completed JSON-output debt: the added gc_service_json_output_sweep function calls the existing trigger check from a rooted mutator boundary and reports whether its malloc-count request remains due. It is not called from any census or collector phase; the synchronous mark-complete to sweep-entry window is unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-09 for the JSON byte-debt carry: the same mutator-only service helper now distinguishes requests satisfied before its call from those satisfied by its trigger check. The added enum contains no payload, both count reads are scalar, and no census boundary or collector phase changed. Re-audited 2026-09-11 for #10055: gc/mod.rs only registers the weak UTF-16 index scanner during gc_init. It neither marks strings nor allocates GC objects or runs JS; offset vectors use the Rust allocator. The mark-complete to sweep-entry census window and cycle control flow are unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-11 for #10054: gc/mod.rs adds only the trim-cache mutable-root scanner registration in gc_init. Its scanner visits two existing string slots without allocating or invoking JS. Root scanning still precedes mark completion, and neither census boundary nor the synchronous mark-complete to sweep-entry window changes. Re-audited 2026-09-11 for #10060: the census array classifier now reads the logical element start and bounds its scan by the remaining capacity. The helper only reads the existing GC/header words and performs pointer arithmetic; it cannot allocate, collect, or call JS. This classifier runs in take_census after PASS1_MARKED has been taken out of TLS. Neither census boundary nor the mark-complete to sweep-entry control flow changed. Re-audited for #8512: gc/mod.rs only enables the existing PTY mutable-root scanner on Windows; it changes no mark/sweep phase or census boundary. The scanner visits NaN-boxed slots without running JS callbacks. Re-audited 2026-09-12 for the single regular-expression engine: `gc/mod.rs` changes `mod prefetch;` to `pub(crate) mod prefetch;` so the RegExp owner-table walks can prefetch headers, a visibility change with no new call in collector control flow; `gc/census.rs` changes only its `#[cfg(test)]` `regex_census_tests` module, dropping assertions for the previous engine's cache rows. Neither boundary (`census_pass1_if_armed` in `step_mark_propagation`, `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` in `step_sweep`) nor the synchronous mark-complete to sweep-entry interval changes. Re-audited 2026-09-13 after the #10169 fix touched `gc/mod.rs` and `gc/policy.rs`. `gc/mod.rs` gains only `pub(crate) use` re-exports (`policy::note_young_leaf_born_old`, `policy::young_generation_holds_a_nursery`, `promote_in_place::{young_generation_measured_dying, young_generation_measured_retained}`, and cfg(test) survival seeders). `gc/policy.rs` gains a `Cell<bool>` thread-local (`GC_YOUNG_LEAF_BORN_OLD`, no pointer), its setter, a pure predicate over `copying_from_space_in_use_bytes` vs the base nursery cap, and a consumed-once branch at the top of `gc_budgeted_due_trigger` that may answer `YoungScavengeCap` ahead of `OldReclaim`. That branch decides WHICH collection a safepoint starts (a minor instead of a full); it runs before any cycle begins and never inside one, so the mark-complete → sweep-entry window of a synchronous full — where PASS1_MARKED is populated and consumed within one `run_to_completion` — is unchanged, and neither hunk adds an allocation, a JS callback, or a relocation to it. Re-audited 2026-09-13 for the heap generation (#10164 cross-call search positions): `gc/mod.rs` only declares `pub(crate) mod heap_generation;`. `gc/cycle.rs` wraps the `Sweep` and `Reclaim` arms of `GcCycleState::step` in a `HeapChange` scope and opens one inside `atomic_finalize_minor_prelude`'s evacuation branch (with a nested one around old-page defrag). Opening and closing a scope only increments two thread-local integer cells (`HEAP_GENERATION`, `OPEN_HEAP_CHANGES`); a first thread-local read may allocate a key through the global allocator, which neither relocates nor runs JS. The `Sweep` scope opens immediately before `step_sweep`, i.e. before `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` takes PASS1_MARKED out of TLS, and adds no relocation, collection or JS callback to the synchronous mark-complete to sweep-entry window; the minor-prelude scope is unreachable from a full cycle, which bypasses `MinorPrelude`. Neither boundary nor the intervening control flow changed. Re-audited 2026-09-13 for #10182 block-granular reclamation, which touched `gc/cycle.rs`. Two hunks: (a) in the `RememberedSetRebuild` subphase of AtomicFinalize — INSIDE the window — the require-marked old-to-young rebuild is now constructed with `OldToYoungRememberedRebuildState::new_skipping`, whose cursor never enters blocks the census recorded as holding no reached, pinned or pre-marked object (`BlockCensus::unmarked_blocks`); computing that list reads `arena_block_snapshots()` and allocates one `Vec<bool>` through the global allocator. It visits a subset of the same objects the rebuild already walked (every skipped object would have been rejected as unmarked), and it neither allocates a GC object, relocates anything, nor runs a JS callback. (b) In `step_sweep`, `IncrementalSweepState::with_block_skip` runs after `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` has already taken PASS1_MARKED out of TLS. Neither boundary moved and the synchronous mark-complete to sweep-entry interval gains no relocation, collection or callback.",
+      "why": "Real GC header addresses, deliberately untraced so the diagnostic does not keep its observed objects alive. Populated only at the end of mark propagation of a synchronous full cycle; consumed at sweep entry in the same run_to_completion invocation. The intervening full-cycle phases do not relocate or run JS callbacks. The Vec is used for membership comparisons and dropped with the census before sweep. Budgeted and minor cycles skip both boundaries. Pin re-audited 2026-09-05 after #9760 touched `gc/mod.rs`: that change is `mod heap_stats;` plus a `pub(crate) use` re-export and alters no mark/sweep control flow. `heap_stats()` is reached only from `js_bun_jsc_heap_stats` (the JS-facing `bun:jsc.heapStats()`), i.e. from mutator code, never inside a cycle, and its own module contract forbids allocation or collection during its walk. The mark-complete → sweep-entry window is unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-05 (train125) after #9769 and #9771 touched pinned files. #9769 adds one `reg_scanner!` registration to `gc/mod.rs`; #9771 adds a feature-gated `alloc_census_init()` there and a feature-gated Rust-heap dump inside `take_census`. `alloc-census` is not in the default feature set, and decisively: `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` does `PASS1_MARKED.with(|p| p.borrow_mut().take())` BEFORE calling `take_census`, so the snapshot has already left the thread-local by the time #9771's code runs — it cannot affect the window. Neither change alters mark/sweep control flow. Re-audited 2026-09-06 after #9831 touched `gc/policy.rs`. Its hunks are (a) the tiny-parse pressure guard's pricing (`tiny_parse_pressure_headroom_bytes`, `tiny_parse_pressure_due*`, a `Cell<usize>` byte-count base) consulted from JSON.parse's mutator-side boundaries (`gc_bump_malloc_trigger`, `gc_collect_pending_suppressed_parse`, `gc_schedule_parse_boundary_collection_if_pressure`), none of which is reachable from inside a cycle, and (b) one extra `Cell` store in `note_collection_finished_arena_occupancy`, which runs from `publish_reclaim_outcome` in the Publish subphase — after `step_sweep` has already consumed the snapshot. Mark/sweep control flow between `census_pass1_if_armed` and `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` is untouched. Re-audited 2026-09-05 (train126) after #9755 restructured `gc/cycle.rs`. Its hunks are all root-scan machinery (`RootScanSubphase`, `RootScanCycleState`, the mutable-scanner iteration state), which runs BEFORE mark propagation completes; `gc/mod.rs` gains only a `mod young_log;` declaration. The bracketing is unchanged — `census_pass1_if_armed` is still inside `step_mark_propagation` and `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` inside `step_sweep` — and a synchronous full mark-sweep still moves nothing between them. Re-pinned 2026-09-05 for the #9740 hot-TLS conversion of this file: the sole change is `thread_local!` → `crate::perry_thread_local!`, a macro-name swap with identical declaration syntax and `.with()` call sites. No control flow, no phase boundary, and no storage semantics change. Re-audited 2026-09-06 (train128) after #9794's GC diagnostics touched `gc/mod.rs` and `gc/policy.rs`: both gain diagnostic module declarations and counters only — no mark/sweep control flow, and the census bracketing in `step_mark_propagation` / `step_sweep` is unchanged. Re-audited for #9794's GC diagnostics: `gc/mod.rs` gains `mod diag_sites;` / `mod survival_diag;`, a re-export, a `diag_sites::full_started(...)` call at TRIGGER time (before mark propagation begins), and exit-time reporting. Nothing executes between mark-complete and sweep-entry, so the window is unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-06 for the retained array-growth verifier fix: the cycle.rs change passes the existing non-copying evacuation verifier an explicit all-forwarded policy. That call remains in minor finalization, outside the synchronous full-cycle census window; its root and heap reads do not allocate GC objects, move objects, or invoke JS callbacks. The mark-complete and sweep-entry boundaries are unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-05 after #9830 touched `gc/policy.rs`. That change is (a) six `thread_local! {` blocks rewritten as `crate::perry_thread_local! {` and (b) one `#[cfg(test)]` accessor listing the trigger path's hot-slot indices. The macro keeps the same storage, the same `.with()` at every read and write, and the same destructor registration (the teardown guard exists exactly when `needs_drop` holds, which is what `std::thread_local!` already decided); no value, predicate or branch in the file changes, so no mark or sweep control flow does. The one new behaviour is on a declaration's FIRST read: `HotKey::resolve_and_cache` takes a mutex and allocates a key through the GLOBAL allocator. Even if a first read landed inside this window it would be sound — the window's contract is that nothing relocates and no JS callback runs, and a mimalloc allocation does neither. `census_pass1_if_armed` is still inside `step_mark_propagation` and `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` inside `step_sweep`; the bracketing is untouched. Re-audited 2026-09-06 (train132) after #9860 and #9845 touched `gc/mod.rs`. Both hunks are re-export lists and nothing else: #9860 adds `idle_reclaim_elapsed_starts` / `IDLE_RECLAIM_REARM_MS`, and #9845 adds `owner_is_dead_copied_minor_from_space_of_type`. No mark or sweep control flow changes. #9845's substantive work sits in `gc/oldgen.rs` and `gc/copying.rs`, neither pinned: the copying-minor arm (`finalize_dead_copied_minor_from_space_regexps`) runs on a MINOR, which skips both census boundaries; the full-cycle arm (`collect_dead_registered_regexps_post_trace`, from `with_dead_collection_finalize`) walks the RegExp registry building a Vec of addresses — no GC allocation, no JS callback, so it cannot relocate the snapshot's subjects — and it is reached from the sweep body, i.e. AFTER `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` has already `take()`n the snapshot out of the thread-local. The mark-complete -> sweep-entry window is unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-07 for #9965 after 1ec9e0e8a touched `gc/cycle.rs` and `gc/mod.rs`: `gc/mod.rs:216-217` only declares and imports the failure-attribution module, while `gc/cycle.rs:1414-1417` reads the trigger and diagnostic counters immediately before evacuation verification inside `atomic_finalize_minor_prelude`. Full cycles bypass `MinorPrelude` at `gc/cycle.rs:1192-1196`; evacuation remains guarded by the minor-only context at `gc/cycle.rs:1330-1372`. The snapshot store remains at `gc/cycle.rs:963-964` after synchronous full marking, and its take remains at `gc/cycle.rs:1454-1457` before sweep. No new write, relocation, collection, or JS callback was added to that full-cycle interval, so the PASS1_MARKED window is unaffected. Re-audited 2026-09-07 for the regex census rows: all new work is in `take_census` after `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` has taken PASS1_MARKED out of TLS; neither boundary nor the intervening cycle control flow changed. Re-audited 2026-09-08 (train144) after #9976 and #9977 touched pinned files. `gc/mod.rs` gains exactly three lines: `mod copying_phase;` and `mod regex_census;` (declarations) and one `reg_scanner!(regex::site_test::scan_roots_mut)` registration. A scanner registration adds a root SOURCE for the mutable-root walks; it does not move either census boundary and runs nowhere between them. `gc/census.rs` widens `side_tables()` to `pub(super)`, extends it with regex rows and adds a test module — all census REPORTING, which runs from the diagnostic dump, not inside a cycle. Mark/sweep control flow between `census_pass1_if_armed` and `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` is untouched. Re-audited 2026-09-08 for #9849 JSON construction deferral. `gc/mod.rs` adds the `json_defer` module/re-export and a trusted-header layout helper used only by already-validated JSON emitters; neither changes or runs in collector phase control flow. `gc/policy.rs` adds JSON completion scheduling, construction-grace checks, and safepoint deferral predicates. These are called from mutator-side JSON allocation/output boundaries and ordinary safepoint entry; they do not alter `step_mark_propagation`, `step_sweep`, or invoke callbacks or relocation between the census boundaries. The mark-complete to sweep-entry window is unchanged. The follow-up adds a cfg(test)-only one-shot boolean for deterministic explicit-pressure fixtures; it is absent from production builds and cannot affect the census window. The first predicate read consumes it, so post-parse accounting exercises normal pricing. Re-audited 2026-09-09 for bounded tiny-JSON completion polling. The policy.rs changes split the mutator-side pending-parse check into an inlined empty fast path plus an outlined debt-service path, and amortize the mutator-side arena-pressure read across 64 bounded parse completions. Neither function is reachable from step_mark_propagation or step_sweep; neither census boundary nor the synchronous full-cycle interval between them changes. Re-audited 2026-09-09 for lazy JSON record batches: policy.rs only widens gc_budgeted_cycle_active visibility from pub(super) to pub(crate). Its body remains a read-only Cell<bool> query. The new caller is lazy_get materialization in the mutator; run_to_completion, step_mark_propagation, census snapshot consumption at step_sweep, and the synchronous non-moving window are unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-09 for completed JSON-output debt: the added gc_service_json_output_sweep function calls the existing trigger check from a rooted mutator boundary and reports whether its malloc-count request remains due. It is not called from any census or collector phase; the synchronous mark-complete to sweep-entry window is unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-09 for the JSON byte-debt carry: the same mutator-only service helper now distinguishes requests satisfied before its call from those satisfied by its trigger check. The added enum contains no payload, both count reads are scalar, and no census boundary or collector phase changed. Re-audited 2026-09-11 for #10055: gc/mod.rs only registers the weak UTF-16 index scanner during gc_init. It neither marks strings nor allocates GC objects or runs JS; offset vectors use the Rust allocator. The mark-complete to sweep-entry census window and cycle control flow are unchanged. Re-audited 2026-09-11 for #10054: gc/mod.rs adds only the trim-cache mutable-root scanner registration in gc_init. Its scanner visits two existing string slots without allocating or invoking JS. Root scanning still precedes mark completion, and neither census boundary nor the synchronous mark-complete to sweep-entry window changes. Re-audited 2026-09-11 for #10060: the census array classifier now reads the logical element start and bounds its scan by the remaining capacity. The helper only reads the existing GC/header words and performs pointer arithmetic; it cannot allocate, collect, or call JS. This classifier runs in take_census after PASS1_MARKED has been taken out of TLS. Neither census boundary nor the mark-complete to sweep-entry control flow changed. Re-audited for #8512: gc/mod.rs only enables the existing PTY mutable-root scanner on Windows; it changes no mark/sweep phase or census boundary. The scanner visits NaN-boxed slots without running JS callbacks. Re-audited 2026-09-12 for the single regular-expression engine: `gc/mod.rs` changes `mod prefetch;` to `pub(crate) mod prefetch;` so the RegExp owner-table walks can prefetch headers, a visibility change with no new call in collector control flow; `gc/census.rs` changes only its `#[cfg(test)]` `regex_census_tests` module, dropping assertions for the previous engine's cache rows. Neither boundary (`census_pass1_if_armed` in `step_mark_propagation`, `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` in `step_sweep`) nor the synchronous mark-complete to sweep-entry interval changes. Re-audited 2026-09-13 after the #10169 fix touched `gc/mod.rs` and `gc/policy.rs`. `gc/mod.rs` gains only `pub(crate) use` re-exports (`policy::note_young_leaf_born_old`, `policy::young_generation_holds_a_nursery`, `promote_in_place::{young_generation_measured_dying, young_generation_measured_retained}`, and cfg(test) survival seeders). `gc/policy.rs` gains a `Cell<bool>` thread-local (`GC_YOUNG_LEAF_BORN_OLD`, no pointer), its setter, a pure predicate over `copying_from_space_in_use_bytes` vs the base nursery cap, and a consumed-once branch at the top of `gc_budgeted_due_trigger` that may answer `YoungScavengeCap` ahead of `OldReclaim`. That branch decides WHICH collection a safepoint starts (a minor instead of a full); it runs before any cycle begins and never inside one, so the mark-complete → sweep-entry window of a synchronous full — where PASS1_MARKED is populated and consumed within one `run_to_completion` — is unchanged, and neither hunk adds an allocation, a JS callback, or a relocation to it. Re-audited 2026-09-13 for the heap generation (#10164 cross-call search positions): `gc/mod.rs` only declares `pub(crate) mod heap_generation;`. `gc/cycle.rs` wraps the `Sweep` and `Reclaim` arms of `GcCycleState::step` in a `HeapChange` scope and opens one inside `atomic_finalize_minor_prelude`'s evacuation branch (with a nested one around old-page defrag). Opening and closing a scope only increments two thread-local integer cells (`HEAP_GENERATION`, `OPEN_HEAP_CHANGES`); a first thread-local read may allocate a key through the global allocator, which neither relocates nor runs JS. The `Sweep` scope opens immediately before `step_sweep`, i.e. before `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` takes PASS1_MARKED out of TLS, and adds no relocation, collection or JS callback to the synchronous mark-complete to sweep-entry window; the minor-prelude scope is unreachable from a full cycle, which bypasses `MinorPrelude`. Neither boundary nor the intervening control flow changed. Re-audited 2026-09-13 for #10182 block-granular reclamation, which touched `gc/cycle.rs`. Two hunks: (a) in the `RememberedSetRebuild` subphase of AtomicFinalize — INSIDE the window — the require-marked old-to-young rebuild is now constructed with `OldToYoungRememberedRebuildState::new_skipping`, whose cursor never enters blocks the census recorded as holding no reached, pinned or pre-marked object (`BlockCensus::unmarked_blocks`); computing that list reads `arena_block_snapshots()` and allocates one `Vec<bool>` through the global allocator. It visits a subset of the same objects the rebuild already walked (every skipped object would have been rejected as unmarked), and it neither allocates a GC object, relocates anything, nor runs a JS callback. (b) In `step_sweep`, `IncrementalSweepState::with_block_skip` runs after `census_take_if_armed_at_full_sweep_start` has already taken PASS1_MARKED out of TLS. Neither boundary moved and the synchronous mark-complete to sweep-entry interval gains no relocation, collection or callback. Re-audited 2026-09-14 for the tiny-parse nursery-cap boundary, which touched `gc/policy.rs`. It adds `tiny_parse_generational_collection_due`, a pure predicate (the existing `tiny_parse_pressure_due` OR the existing `young_scavenge_cap_due` read), and calls it instead of `tiny_parse_pressure_due` from `gc_bump_malloc_trigger_inner` and `gc_collect_pending_suppressed_parse_slow` (generational branch only) and from `gc_schedule_parse_boundary_collection_if_pressure`. All three are JSON.parse mutator-side boundaries, none reachable from `step_mark_propagation` or `step_sweep`; the predicate reads counters and allocates nothing. Neither census boundary nor the synchronous mark-complete to sweep-entry interval changed.",
       "window": {
         "start": {
           "file": "crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/census.rs",
@@ -325,7 +325,7 @@
           "crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/census.rs": "3f9e6be47b4454022b70ff2357bbdf3a80ef6a84c4986e58763acbdcce9142c1",
           "crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/cycle.rs": "fdef083301463ad8cec8142ca86cc4354e289c67e97bbc6caea2e8d16d4bf089",
           "crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/mod.rs": "90339683735e4d662628cd98279a1972d523c3f2ebc358130ed3bdb0c6fc2d3f",
-          "crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/policy.rs": "aea89274a017156efea3516b4f49124f48a66527a08195b662cfbf61672ac042",
+          "crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/policy.rs": "35aba1fe1db09d08ec7e5fc091f04196ccf370edb77413d81c50cdbbdc91bcae",
           "crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/progress.rs": "a5ad3971bbe4047229ca57325234780daa85921dbc778e1c08dff4ad07ccfb96"
         }
       }