digidem · gmaclennan · Aug 22, 2026 · Aug 22, 2026
@@ -5,6 +5,13 @@ name: BrowserStack device smoke
 # arm64 device (Espresso) and a physical iPhone (XCUITest). Checks the device
 # loader's dlopen path and 16 KB-page hardware.
 #
+# The iOS leg runs once per flavor (`ios_flavors`). A simulator is a macOS
+# process and does not share the address-space limits a real iOS process is
+# subject to, so a flavor that only ever runs on the simulator is untested
+# against the constraint most likely to stop it booting — which is how a lite
+# build that aborts during Isolate init on every physical device shipped in
+# 24.19.0-1. Simulator green is not evidence about device behaviour.
+#
 # Reuses the libnode/xcframework a green Build run (build.yml) already
 # produced for the target commit — nothing is compiled here except the tiny
 # testnode app, addon, and test bundles.
@@ -21,6 +28,10 @@ on:
         description: "BrowserStack iOS devices (CSV)"
         required: false
         default: "iPhone 15-17"
+      ios_flavors:
+        description: 'iOS flavors to smoke (JSON array, e.g. ["full","lite"])'
+        required: false
+        default: '["full","lite"]'
       platform:
         description: "Which platform legs to run"
         required: false
@@ -44,6 +55,14 @@ on:
         type: string
         required: false
         default: both
+      # JSON array, mirroring ios-simulator-tests.yml's `flavors`. Both by
+      # default: this workflow is release-gated, so there is no PR-cost case
+      # for trimming it, and the flavor a release ships is exactly the one
+      # that has to be proven on hardware.
+      ios_flavors:
+        type: string
+        required: false
+        default: '["full","lite"]'
     secrets:
       BROWSERSTACK_USER:
         required: true
@@ -142,12 +161,21 @@ jobs:
   ios-device-smoke:
     # Exclusion, not inclusion — see android-device-smoke.
     if: inputs.platform != 'android'
+    # fail-fast off: which flavors boot on hardware is the signal, so let both
+    # report rather than cancelling the survivor.
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        flavor: ${{ fromJSON(inputs.ios_flavors || '["full","lite"]') }}
     # macos-15 (Xcode 16.x), NOT macos-26: an XCUITest runner built by Xcode 26
     # references XCTest symbols (e.g. XCTCommandLineToolHelper) that don't
     # exist in the on-device XCTest of BrowserStack's iOS 15-18 fleet — dyld
     # aborts the runner before any test executes.
     runs-on: macos-15
     timeout-minutes: 60
+    env:
+      NODEJS_MOBILE_FLAVOR: ${{ matrix.flavor }}
+      FLAVOR_SUFFIX: ${{ matrix.flavor == 'lite' && '-lite' || '' }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v7
         with:
@@ -157,7 +185,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Fetch NodeMobile.xcframework from the Build run
         uses: ./.github/actions/fetch-build-artifact
         with:
-          name: nodejs-mobile-ios
+          name: nodejs-mobile-ios${{ env.FLAVOR_SUFFIX }}
           dest: nm-ios
           build_run_id: ${{ inputs.build_run_id }}
           token: ${{ github.token }}
@@ -167,6 +195,8 @@ jobs:
           mkdir -p out_ios
           rm -rf out_ios/NodeMobile.xcframework
           cp -R nm-ios/NodeMobile.xcframework out_ios/NodeMobile.xcframework
+          test -d out_ios/NodeMobile.xcframework \
+            || { echo "::error::NodeMobile.xcframework missing from nodejs-mobile-ios${FLAVOR_SUFFIX}"; ls -R nm-ios || true; exit 1; }
 
       - name: Build crc-native addon (ios-arm64 device)
         run: |
@@ -219,7 +249,9 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           DEVICES="$DEVICES_INPUT"
           [ -n "$DEVICES" ] || DEVICES="$DEFAULT_IOS_DEVICES"
+          # Flavor in the build tag: both legs upload to the same BrowserStack
+          # project, and an untagged pair is indistinguishable in the dashboard.
           ./tools/mobile-test/browserstack/run-bs-build.sh xcuitest \
             tools/mobile-test/ios/testnode/testnode.ipa \
             tools/mobile-test/ios/testnode/testnodeUITests.zip \
-            "$DEVICES" nodejs-mobile "sha-${{ github.sha }}"
+            "$DEVICES" nodejs-mobile "sha-${{ github.sha }}-${{ matrix.flavor }}"
@@ -50,9 +50,9 @@ Releasing is a button, a review, and (optionally) an approval:
 5. Publish tags **`vX.Y.Z-R`** on a materialized full-source commit (the
    release stays browsable as a complete tree) and creates the GitHub
    **prerelease** with four zips: `nodejs-mobile-{android,ios}{,-lite}-X.Y.Z-R.zip`.
-   Promote (untick "prerelease") when satisfied — the `full` flavor has
-   already passed real devices by construction; `lite` is
-   emulator/simulator-tested only.
+   Promote (untick "prerelease") when satisfied — both iOS flavors have
+   passed a real device by construction, as has Android `full`; Android
+   `lite` is still emulator-tested only.
 
 A failed gate means no tag and no release; fix on `recipe` and the next
 push retries automatically (the version is still untagged — the trigger is

@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ it through `tools/test.py`.
 | `build.yml` → `smoke-{android,ios}` (+ the NAPI symbol assert in `combine-android`) | ubuntu+KVM / macos | PR · push `recipe` | **boot smoke**: the exact shipping artifact boots and runs JS; NAPI symbols in `.dynsym` |
 | `build.yml` → `curated-tests-android` / `curated-tests-ios` | ubuntu+KVM / macos | PR · push `recipe` · releases | **curated device tests**: the curated subset + crc-native addon load on an x86_64 emulator and arm64 simulator |
 | `full-device-suite.yml` (also `build.yml` → `full-suite-android` / `full-suite-ios` on releases and on PRs that bump `upstream-base.txt`) | ubuntu+KVM / macos | nightly 03:00 UTC · dispatch · releases · upstream-bump PRs | **full device suite**: the whole non-`.status`-skipped `test/parallel` + `test/sequential` suite on both platforms, 4 round-robin shards each (`test.py --run=n,4`). The curated gate covers what someone chose; this covers everything else, so a test upstream adds tomorrow is picked up without anyone noticing it exists. On a PR that moves the pinned tag it also gates `ci-required` (via `full-suite-gate`): an upgrade carries whatever tests upstream added, and an allow-list gate cannot see them |
-| `build.yml` → `real-device-smoke-android` / `real-device-smoke-ios` | ubuntu / macos-15 + BrowserStack | releases (untagged version of record; required to publish) · dispatch | **real-device smoke**: boot + crc-native addon load on physical devices — Android arm64 (Pixel 9, 16 KB pages) via Espresso and iPhone via XCUITest. Needs `BROWSERSTACK_USER`/`BROWSERSTACK_PW` secrets. |
+| `build.yml` → `real-device-smoke-android` / `real-device-smoke-ios` | ubuntu / macos-15 + BrowserStack | releases (untagged version of record; required to publish) · dispatch | **real-device smoke**: boot + crc-native addon load on physical devices — Android arm64 (Pixel 9, 16 KB pages) via Espresso and iPhone via XCUITest. The iOS leg runs **once per flavor** (`ios_flavors`, both by default): a simulator is a macOS process and is not subject to the address-space limits a real iOS process is, so simulator-only coverage cannot tell you a flavor boots on hardware. Android is still full-only. Needs `BROWSERSTACK_USER`/`BROWSERSTACK_PW` secrets. |
 
 Every job first **materializes** the source tree from the recipe branch
 (`.github/actions/materialize` runs `scripts/prepare.sh` and verifies the
@@ -102,7 +102,11 @@ it; don't merge through a red one without knowing why it's red. They are
 blocking on the release chain, where `publish` `needs:` them.
 
 The real-device smoke stays release-only: GitHub Actions minutes are free for
-this project, BrowserStack device minutes are not.
+this project, BrowserStack device minutes are not. Within that budget the iOS
+leg still runs per flavor rather than for `full` alone — the flavor a consumer
+ships is the one that has to be proven on hardware, and 24.19.0-1 shipped an
+iOS `lite` build that aborted during `Isolate` init on every physical device
+while every simulator leg stayed green.
 
 ### The curated gate and the full suite