generate:types hangs after completing (regression in 3.73.0, was fixed in 3.56.0)

[bobbyo]

Description

payload generate:types completes successfully (writes the output file) but the Node.js process never exits. It continues running at ~88% CPU indefinitely until manually killed.

This appears to be a regression of #13744, which was fixed in PR #13564 and released in v3.56.0.

Reproduction

1. Have a Payload 3.73.0 project with @payloadcms/db-postgres and a non-trivial schema (~19 plugins, ~20+ collections)
2. Run payload generate:types
3. The types file is written correctly and completely
4. The process never exits — it stays alive at ~88% CPU

In our case, we observed 4 concurrent generate:types processes (spawned by different build pipelines) all stuck for 40-60+ minutes each, consuming 4 CPU cores on an 8-core server until manually killed.

Evidence it completes successfully

• The output file payload-types.ts (2,984 lines / 70KB) is written correctly
• All types including self-referential relationships (e.g., grantedVia?: (string | null) | Share) are generated properly
• The process just never calls process.exit() afterward

Environment

• Payload: 3.73.0
• DB Adapter: @payloadcms/db-postgres@3.73.0
• Node.js: v20.19.6
• OS: Ubuntu 24.04 (Linux 6.14.0-1017-azure)
• Package manager: pnpm 10.x (monorepo with workspaces)

Expected behavior

payload generate:types should exit with code 0 after writing the types file, as was fixed in #13564.

Related issues

• generate:importmap and generate:types don't have process.exit #13744 — Original report of missing process.exit() in generate:types/generate:importmap
• feat: crons for all bin scripts, new jobs:handle-schedules script, more reliable job system crons #13564 — PR that fixed it in 3.56.0

[bobbyo]

Workaround

Until this is fixed upstream, wrapping the command with a timeout prevents zombie processes from accumulating:

timeout 120 payload generate:types

This lets the type generation complete (typically under 2 minutes) and force-kills the process if it hangs afterward.

[bobbyo]

Update: process.exit(0) IS present in 3.73.0 — the issue is different from #13744

After inspecting the source in node_modules, I can confirm that dist/bin/index.js in 3.73.0 does have process.exit(0) at line 51, after runBinScript returns. The fix from PR #13564 is present.

However, the process still hangs. The generateTypes function at line 117 completes and returns {}, but execution never reaches process.exit(0) at line 51.

The likely cause: config loading (line 85-90) imports the full Payload config which initializes plugins and the database adapter. In our case, that's @payloadcms/db-postgres + 19 plugins. Something in that initialization starts a background process (connection pool, watcher, cron, etc.) that either:

1. Blocks runBinScript from returning, or
2. Causes an unhandled rejection that prevents reaching process.exit(0)

This is not the same bug as #13744 — the exit call exists but is never reached. The generateTypes function itself completes successfully (the types file is written correctly).

Environment

• Payload 3.73.0
• @payloadcms/db-postgres 3.73.0
• 19 plugins loaded via config (form-builder, multi-tenant, nested-docs, redirects, seo, search, plus custom plugins)

Workaround

timeout 120 payload generate:types || true — since the types are written before the hang, this safely terminates the zombie process.