fix(app): advance logic timers by wall-clock time

Logic timers advanced by io.DeltaTime, which update() clamps to 0.25 s
so animations don't jump after a pause. That matched real time only
while the main loop rendered continuously: with frames seconds apart, a
timer fed the clamped delta runs up to 8x slow. Affected: the refresh
scheduler, the seed-migration poll, the chat fast scan, the encryption
check, the loading and shutdown timers, the lock-screen countdowns, the
Settings debug gate and the mining benchmark.

- App::logicDeltaTime(): steady-clock seconds since the previous
  update(), capped at 6 s so a sleep/resume fires each timer once
  instead of replaying the gap. Visual interpolation keeps the clamped
  io.DeltaTime.
- The refresh timers tick before the RPC results are drained, so a
  hold that a callback arms (the connect-retry backoff) starts fresh
  instead of being charged the gap before it existed.
- The shutdown timer is measured from shutdown_start_time_:
  beginShutdown runs from SDL event handling, so an accumulated delta
  would count the idle gap before the close request.
- The lock-screen error and lockout countdowns subtract only the time
  since they were armed: a failed unlock arms them from an RPC result,
  which can land on the frame that ends an idle gap.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/app.cpp

@@ -746,10 +746,19 @@ void App::update()
 {
     PERF_SCOPE("Update.Total");
     ImGuiIO& io = ImGui::GetIO();
-    // Clamp the frame delta: after a long pause (window minimized, or the machine slept) NewFrame reports
+    // Clamp the frame delta for visual interpolation: after a long pause (window minimized, an idle
-    // a huge DeltaTime that would fire every refresh/animation timer at once. Every timer reads
+    // stretch, or the machine slept) NewFrame reports a large DeltaTime that would make animations jump.
-    // io.DeltaTime, so one clamp here bounds them all (also caps the real-clock delta fed while minimized).
     if (io.DeltaTime > 0.25f) io.DeltaTime = 0.25f;
+    // Logic timers use real elapsed time instead (see logicDeltaTime()), capped so a sleep/resume fires
+    // each timer at most once rather than replaying the whole gap.
+    {
+        const auto now = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
+        logic_dt_ = (last_update_time_ == std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point{})
+            ? 0.0f
+            : std::min(std::chrono::duration<float>(now - last_update_time_).count(), kMaxLogicDeltaSeconds);
+        if (logic_dt_ < 0.0f) logic_dt_ = 0.0f;
+        last_update_time_ = now;
+    }
 
     // Full UI screenshot sweep: demo state is injected once and must stay frozen. Skip every live
     // op (refresh/connect/pumps) so a real daemon can't clobber it — on Windows a running node's
@@ -768,6 +777,11 @@ void App::update()
         last_interaction_ = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
     }
 
+    // Advance the refresh timers by the real time since the last update BEFORE the RPC results are
+    // applied, so a hold one of those callbacks arms now (e.g. the connect-retry backoff) starts fresh
+    // instead of being charged the idle gap that elapsed before it existed.
+    network_refresh_.tick(logic_dt_);
+
     // Drain completed RPC results back onto the main thread
     if (worker_) {
         worker_->drainResults();
@@ -901,7 +915,7 @@ void App::update()
     pumpWalletRestore();
     // While confirming the sweep, poll the tx confirmations + legacy balance every ~5s.
     if (show_seed_migration_ && seed_migration_step_ == SeedMigrationStep::Confirming) {
-        seed_migration_poll_timer_ -= ImGui::GetIO().DeltaTime;
+        seed_migration_poll_timer_ -= logic_dt_;
         if (seed_migration_poll_timer_ <= 0.0f) {
             seed_migration_poll_timer_ = 5.0f;
             pollSweepStatus();
@@ -923,7 +937,6 @@ void App::update()
     }
 
     using RefreshTimer = services::NetworkRefreshService::Timer;
-    network_refresh_.tick(io.DeltaTime);
 
     // Wipe a secret (seed/private key) from the clipboard once its auto-clear delay elapses.
     pumpSecretClipboardClear();
@@ -1368,7 +1381,7 @@ void App::update()
             // (slower, 10–15s) Transactions cadence — so incoming messages surface in a few seconds. The
             // normal harvest only re-scans on a new block. Self-gated (no-op without a chat identity /
             // connection / on lite); the in-flight guard keeps overlapping RPCs from stacking.
-            chat_fast_scan_accum_ += ImGui::GetIO().DeltaTime;
+            chat_fast_scan_accum_ += logic_dt_;
             const float chatPoll = settings_ ? settings_->getChatPollRateSec() : 2.5f;  // user-configurable
             if (chat_fast_scan_accum_ >= chatPoll) {
                 chat_fast_scan_accum_ = 0.0f;
@@ -1993,7 +2006,7 @@ void App::render()
     } else if (pageNeedsWalletData && (!daemonReady || (state_.connected && !state_.encryption_state_known))) {
         // Track how long we've been waiting for encryption state
         if (state_.connected && !state_.encryption_state_known) {
-            encryption_check_timer_ += ImGui::GetIO().DeltaTime;
+            encryption_check_timer_ += logic_dt_;
             if (encryption_check_timer_ >= 15.0f) {
                 DEBUG_LOGF("[App] Encryption state check timed out after 15s — assuming unencrypted\n");
                 state_.encryption_state_known = true;
@@ -6424,7 +6437,9 @@ void App::renderShutdownScreen()
         float v = ui::schema::UI().drawElement("components.shutdown", key).size;
         return v >= 0 ? v : fb;
     };
-    shutdown_timer_ += ImGui::GetIO().DeltaTime;
+    // Elapsed since beginShutdown, from the wall clock: beginShutdown runs from SDL event handling, so an
+    // accumulated delta would count the idle gap before the close request as shutdown time.
+    shutdown_timer_ = std::chrono::duration<float>(std::chrono::steady_clock::now() - shutdown_start_time_).count();
 
     const std::string curShut = shutdown_status_.get();   // one consistent snapshot per frame (M-05)
     // After a few seconds, offer to close the wallet and leave the node running: stopping can take as long
@@ -6746,7 +6761,7 @@ void App::renderLoadingOverlay(float contentH)
         return v >= 0 ? v : fb;
     };
 
-    loading_timer_ += ImGui::GetIO().DeltaTime;
+    loading_timer_ += logic_dt_;
 
     ImDrawList* dl = ImGui::GetWindowDrawList();
     ImVec2 wp = ImGui::GetWindowPos();

src/app.h

@@ -114,6 +114,17 @@ public:
      */
     void update();
 
+    /**
+     * @brief Wall-clock seconds since the previous update(), capped at kMaxLogicDeltaSeconds.
+     *
+     * Logic timers (refresh scheduler, poll intervals, countdowns) advance by this. Visual
+     * interpolation keeps io.DeltaTime, which update() clamps to 0.25 s so animations don't jump. The
+     * main loop idles between frames (one frame per 2 s wake when nothing is happening), so a timer
+     * fed the clamped delta would run up to 8x slow.
+     */
+    float logicDeltaTime() const { return logic_dt_; }
+    static constexpr float kMaxLogicDeltaSeconds = 6.0f;
+
     /**
      * @brief Pre-frame tasks that must run BEFORE ImGui::NewFrame().
      *
@@ -1521,6 +1532,7 @@ private:
     float lock_error_timer_ = 0.0f;
     int lock_attempts_ = 0;
     float lock_lockout_timer_ = 0.0f;
+    std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point lock_timer_armed_at_{};  // when lock_error/lockout timers were last armed
     bool lock_unlock_in_progress_ = false;
 
     // Encrypt wallet dialog state
@@ -1562,6 +1574,10 @@ private:
     // Auto-lock on idle
     std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point last_interaction_ = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
 
+    // Wall-clock delta for logic timers (see logicDeltaTime()).
+    std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point last_update_time_{};
+    float logic_dt_ = 0.0f;
+
     // Mine-when-idle: auto-start/stop mining based on system idle state
     bool idle_mining_active_ = false;  // true when mining was auto-started by idle detection
     bool idle_scaled_to_idle_ = false; // true when threads have been scaled up for idle

src/app_security.cpp

@@ -472,6 +472,7 @@ void App::applyUnlockFailure(const std::string& errorMessage) {
     lock_attempts_++;
     lock_error_msg_ = errorMessage;
     lock_error_timer_ = 3.0f;
+    lock_timer_armed_at_ = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
     memset(lock_passphrase_buf_, 0, sizeof(lock_passphrase_buf_));
     const float baseDelay = ui::schema::UI().drawElement("security", "lockout-base-delay").sizeOr(2.0f);
     const int maxAttempts = (int)ui::schema::UI().drawElement("security", "max-attempts-before-lockout").sizeOr(5.0f);
@@ -963,9 +964,14 @@ void App::renderLockScreen() {
         cy += ts.y + 20.0f * dp;
     }
 
+    // Count down only the time since the timers were armed: a failed unlock arms them from an RPC result,
+    // which can land on a frame that ends an idle gap the countdown would otherwise lose at once.
+    const float lockDt = std::min(logic_dt_, std::chrono::duration<float>(
+        std::chrono::steady_clock::now() - lock_timer_armed_at_).count());
+
     // Lockout timer
     if (lock_lockout_timer_ > 0.0f) {
-        lock_lockout_timer_ -= ImGui::GetIO().DeltaTime;
+        lock_lockout_timer_ -= lockDt;
         if (lock_lockout_timer_ < 0) lock_lockout_timer_ = 0;
 
         char msg[128];
@@ -1072,7 +1078,7 @@ void App::renderLockScreen() {
 
     // Error message
     if (!lock_error_msg_.empty() && lock_error_timer_ > 0) {
-        lock_error_timer_ -= ImGui::GetIO().DeltaTime;
+        lock_error_timer_ -= lockDt;
         ImVec2 es = captionFont->CalcTextSizeA(captionFont->LegacySize, FLT_MAX, 0, lock_error_msg_.c_str());
         dl->AddText(captionFont, captionFont->LegacySize,
                     ImVec2(cardX + (cardW - es.x) * 0.5f, cy), ui::material::Error(),
@@ -1151,6 +1157,7 @@ void App::renderLockScreen() {
                                 lock_error_msg_ = TR("pin_not_set");
                                 lock_use_pin_ = false;
                                 lock_error_timer_ = 3.0f;
+                                lock_timer_armed_at_ = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
                             } else {
                                 applyUnlockFailure(TR("incorrect_pin"));
                             }

src/ui/pages/settings_page.cpp

@@ -2865,7 +2865,7 @@ void RenderSettingsPage(App* app) {
         if (s_settingsState.debug_gate_open) {
             auto& st = s_settingsState;
             if (st.debug_gate_err_timer > 0.0f) {
-                st.debug_gate_err_timer -= ImGui::GetIO().DeltaTime;
+                st.debug_gate_err_timer -= app->logicDeltaTime();
                 if (st.debug_gate_err_timer <= 0.0f) st.debug_gate_err.clear();
             }
             const bool needAuth = app->debugGateRequiresAuth();

src/ui/windows/mining_tab.cpp

@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ static void RenderMiningTabContent(App* app)
     // ================================================================
     if (s_benchmark.active()) {
         auto benchmarkUpdate = AdvanceThreadBenchmark(
-            s_benchmark, ImGui::GetIO().DeltaTime, state.pool_mining.hashrate_10s);
+            s_benchmark, app->logicDeltaTime(), state.pool_mining.hashrate_10s);
         if (benchmarkUpdate.stopPoolMining) {
             app->stopPoolMining();
         }