DOM nodes count keeps in Performance monitoring tab keeps growing

Describe the bug

I’ve been using this library to virtualise a grid, and while testing, I noticed that the DOM node count keeps increasing when monitoring via the Performance monitoring tab in Brave DevTools.

At first, I assumed it might be an issue with my implementation, so I tested one of the official examples – specifically, the infinite scroll demo from the website.

Inspecting the Elements tab, it does appear that items are being mounted and unmounted correctly as I scroll. However, the total DOM node count continues to rise, which seems unexpected for a virtualised list.

I then wondered if the performance monitor might be counting some kind of 'virtual' or detached nodes, but to compare, I tried react-virtuoso. There, the node count rises initially as you scroll, but drops back down when items go out of view – which is the behaviour I would expect.

Is this increasing DOM node count an expected behaviour with TanStack Virtual, or could it be a memory leak or cleanup issue?

Your minimal, reproducible example

https://stackblitz.com/github/tanstack/virtual/tree/main/examples/react/infinite-scroll?embed=1&theme=dark&preset=node&file=src/main.tsx

Steps to reproduce

1.) Used the code from the above example, see here.

2.) Open 'Performance monitoring' on this page: https://owailmmbkggithub-0flc--5173--10996a95.local.webcontainer.io/, and then start scrolling.

Expected behavior

Number of DOM nodes should drop back down as user scrolls - it shouldn't keep increasing.

How often does this bug happen?

Appears to be happening consistently.

Screenshots or Videos

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/1b4f41c2-53a8-4761-8d65-da21568415b5

Platform

• OS: macOS
• Browser: Brave

tanstack-virtual version

3.13.10

TypeScript version

No response

Additional context

No response

Terms & Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct
• I understand that if my bug cannot be reliable reproduced in a debuggable environment, it will probably not be fixed and this issue may even be closed.

Reproduce the report with the React infinite-scroll example at src/main.tsx, using the linked StackBlitz setup and Brave DevTools Performance monitor. Compare the growing DOM-node count with the Elements tab while scrolling, then determine whether the behavior is expected or indicates a cleanup issue; done means the cause and any required correction are verified.