Found while completing #443's pump-termination item (three empirical rounds on the #444 branch); target semantics below are verified on Android, where terminate-during-entry works (android#2021 @ 351bef64, spec-proven with terminate landing 0-1ms into the entry body).

The defect (iOS)

The no-op: WorkerWrapper::workerIsolate_ is assigned only after the background looper's func() returns — and func() is where entry evaluation (the pumped module-graph load, any top-level-await park) runs. Terminate() bails on the null isolate, so for a worker still inside its entry, worker.terminate() does nothing: no TerminateExecution, no termination-requested flag. The pump bails landed in #444 engage only once the worker has a published isolate — the parked-entry scenario #443's pump item describes is unreachable on iOS for this reason.

The wedge: publishing the isolate early (via a separate atomic, drain-guard semantics untouched) makes Terminate() genuinely fire mid-entry — and the suite then hangs past 600s in teardown. That attempt was reverted on #444's branch: shipping it would convert a silent no-op into a hang. The comment at WorkerWrapper.mm (Terminate) records the gap at the site.

Target semantics — what correct terminate-during-entry looks like

Verified end-to-end on Android (trace + spec); the fix here must satisfy all six:

1. Prompt pump exit via a termination-requested flag, not the V8 probe alone — IsExecutionTerminating is a mid-unwind probe and a parked pump runs no JS. (Already converged: android e11c9c30 / iOS's requested-flag in fix: loader additional hardening (#443) #444; iOS's flag is currently unreachable mid-entry because of the no-op above.)
2. Termination never masquerades: the evaluator checks termination BEFORE its timeout branch (never "Top-level await timed out"), and exception construction has an explicit HasTerminated/empty-Message branch (never an entry rejection with a fabricated message).
3. No onerror on a dying worker: the error router early-returns on the wrapper's terminating flag — a terminated entry produces neither worker-scope onerror nor a parent error event. Terminate is not an error.
4. Everything after the bail runs no JS and tolerates empty answers: the settle-gate's capability re-Evaluate() returns empty on a terminating isolate and must fall through inertly; the teardown chain drops loop entries and releases handles only, never consuming an unchecked Maybe before Dispose.
5. Error-report building must be termination-safe: anything between the bail and disposal that formats messages/stacks must read through FromMaybe/IsEmpty, never ToChecked/ToLocalChecked — the termination interrupt can materialize inside the reporter itself (ToDetailString runs JS). Android hit exactly this CHECK-abort and fixed it in 351bef64; iOS's exception/message formatters need the same audit as part of this work.
6. The window is real, not theoretical: on Android the spec's terminate landed 0-1ms into the entry body on every iteration. Any fix must be spec-proven with the same shape (worker .mjs entry parked in TLA, terminated mid-pump, repeated iterations).

Scope

A worker-lifecycle design pass: early isolate publication paired with a teardown path that tolerates termination landing inside entry evaluation (the pumped graph load, the TLA park, and the queue-arm-before-isolate window are all live during func()), plus the rule-5 formatter audit. Cross-runtime contract: the six rules above should hold identically on both platforms; Android already conforms.