tm_animate memory issue

Please consider

library(sf)
library(tmap)

bbox <- st_bbox(c(xmin=-6.2,
                  ymin=53.4,
                  xmax=-6.1,
                  ymax=53.5),
                crs=st_crs(4326))
cp <- st_as_sfc(bbox) |> st_centroid()
cx = st_coordinates(cp)[,1]
cy = st_coordinates(cp)[,2]

tb = seq(as.POSIXct('2025-08-01 10:00:00', tz='UTC'),
         as.POSIXct('2025-08-01 12:00:00', tz='UTC'),
         by=1)
angle = seq(0, 2 * pi, length.out=length(tb))

data = st_sf(tb=tb,
             geometry=st_sfc(lapply(seq_len(length(tb)),
                                    function(i) st_point(c(cx + 0.025 * cos(angle[i]),
                                                           cy + 0.025 * sin(angle[i])))),
                             crs=4326),
             angle=angle)

p = (tm_basemap('CartoDB.Positron')
     + tm_shape(data, bbox=bbox, crs=4326)
     + tm_dots('location', fill='red', fill_alpha=0.75)
     + tm_options(facet.max=3600 * 3)
     + tm_animate_fast('tb', fps=30))

tmap_animation(p, file='plot-traffic-bug.mp4', width=1024, height=1024)

Running this script you can see memory usage steadily grow and the execution fails with error

*** recursive gc invocation

This also happens when I set TMP=~/tmp, so PNG files (frames) are stored on a hard drive instead of tmpfs.

tmap 4.3, sf 1.1

Start by running the supplied sf/tmap script and observing memory growth through tm_animate_fast and tmap_animation, both named entry points in the report. Compare behavior with TMP redirected to disk and identify where frame generation or animation handling retains memory. Done means the reproduction no longer steadily grows until “recursive gc invocation” during the reported animation.