Activity Menu Performance Fix

The problem

The activity systray (the clock in the top bar) calls res.users.systray_get_activities on every page load. Standard Odoo 16:

1. search() all of the current user's scheduled activities into memory;

2. builds a dictionary keyed by each activity's record;

3. filters the records the user may see with record not in allowed_records — an O(n²) membership test on a recordset.

For most users this is instant. But a common failure mode on aged databases is an automated action or server action that has quietly created activities on records that never close — piling hundreds of thousands of activities onto a single user. On a real production database one user had 514,789 activities on Manufacturing Orders. For that user the activity menu materialised the whole set in Python on every page load, took 600+ seconds, pinned a worker process and returned a 504 timeout — degrading the whole instance.

Upgrading Odoo is not a fix you can schedule around a live timeout, and it does not address the accumulated data. This module fixes the algorithm in place.

What this module does

It overrides res.users.systray_get_activities to count the badges with one grouped SQL query per model instead of loading the activity table into Python:

• COUNT(*) FILTER (...) computes the overdue / today / planned buckets in a single indexed aggregate;

• each model's record rules are compiled to SQL (via _apply_ir_rules) and pushed into the WHERE clause, so the badge counts only the activities on records the user is actually allowed to read;

• a model-level check_access_rights gate skips models the user cannot read.

The returned data structure is identical to standard Odoo — same keys, same per-model dictionaries, including the actions entry the systray JavaScript expects — so the menu renders exactly as before, just instantly.

Why the numbers stay identical

This is a performance change, not a behaviour change:

• Same permissions. Record rules and model access are applied in SQL exactly as the standard membership test applied them. A user who cannot read a model still sees zero for it; records hidden by a record rule (for example the multi-company rule) are not counted.

• Same buckets. Overdue / today / planned are computed from date_deadline against the user's today, the same classification the standard menu uses.

• Same shape. The result is the same list of per-model dictionaries with the same keys.

The bundled automated tests assert this directly: exact per-bucket counts on a mixed dataset, correct filtering through the standard multi-company record rule, and no entry for models with no activities.

Installation

1. Copy bambooforge_activity_perf into your addons path.

2. Update the apps list and install BambooForge Activity Menu Performance.

3. There is nothing to configure. The override is active immediately.

Dependencies: mail (standard). No Enterprise modules are needed. There is no schema change and no new stored column, so the module is uninstall-clean.

Verifying the fix

Before installing, you can confirm whether you are affected. Run (read-only):

SELECT u.login, a.res_model, count(*)
FROM mail_activity a JOIN res_users u ON u.id = a.user_id
GROUP BY u.login, a.res_model
ORDER BY count(*) DESC
LIMIT 10;

If any single user has tens or hundreds of thousands of activities on one model, that user's activity menu is the bottleneck this module fixes. After installing, open that user's session — the clock menu opens immediately, with the same badge numbers.

You should also investigate why those activities were created (usually an automated action) and clean up the stale ones; this module makes the menu fast regardless, but a runaway rule will keep growing the table.

Frequently asked questions

Will my badge numbers change?

No. See Why the numbers stay identical — permissions, buckets and shape are all preserved.

Is it safe on multi-company databases?

Yes. The multi-company record rule is compiled into the SQL, so counts are correct per company, exactly as before.

Do I need to upgrade Odoo or delete data?

No. The module is an in-place algorithmic fix. Cleaning up the source of the activity pile-up is recommended but independent of this module.

What happens on uninstall?

The override is removed and standard behaviour returns. There is no schema change to reverse.

Support

BambooForge Labs — support@bambooforge.dev