seniorRuby

How does Ruby handle execution context switching between fibers?

Updated May 17, 2026

Short answer

Fibers switch execution by saving and restoring VM stack and registers in user space.

Deep explanation

Fibers are lightweight coroutines implemented at VM level. Switching a fiber involves saving instruction pointer, stack pointer, and VM frame state, then restoring another fiber’s state. No OS context switch occurs, making it significantly cheaper than threads.

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