diff --git a/pageserver/compaction/src/compact_tiered.rs b/pageserver/compaction/src/compact_tiered.rs
index 52219a014cc7..60fc7ac9252a 100644
--- a/pageserver/compaction/src/compact_tiered.rs
+++ b/pageserver/compaction/src/compact_tiered.rs
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ pub async fn compact_tiered<E: CompactionJobExecutor>(
         );
 
         // Identify the range of LSNs that belong to this level. We assume that
-        // each file in this level span an LSN range up to 1.75x target file
+        // each file in this level spans an LSN range up to 1.75x target file
         // size. That should give us enough slop that if we created a slightly
         // oversized L0 layer, e.g. because flushing the in-memory layer was
         // delayed for some reason, we don't consider the oversized layer to
@@ -248,7 +248,6 @@ enum CompactionStrategy {
     CreateImage,
 }
 
-#[allow(dead_code)] // Todo
 struct CompactionJob<E: CompactionJobExecutor> {
     key_range: Range<E::Key>,
     lsn_range: Range<Lsn>,
@@ -345,7 +344,7 @@ where
     ///
     /// TODO: Currently, this is called exactly once for the level, and we
     /// decide whether to create new image layers to cover the whole level, or
-    /// write a new set of delta. In the future, this should try to partition
+    /// write a new set of deltas. In the future, this should try to partition
     /// the key space, and make the decision separately for each partition.
     async fn divide_job(&mut self, job_id: JobId, ctx: &E::RequestContext) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         let job = &self.jobs[job_id.0];
@@ -709,18 +708,6 @@ where
     }
 }
 
-// Sliding window through keyspace and values
-//
-// This is used to decide what layer to write next, from the beginning of the window.
-//
-// Candidates:
-//
-// 1. Create an image layer, snapping to previous images
-// 2. Create a delta layer, snapping to previous images
-// 3. Create an image layer, snapping to
-//
-//
-
 // Take previous partitioning, based on the image layers below.
 //
 // Candidate is at the front:
@@ -739,6 +726,10 @@ struct WindowElement<K> {
     last_key: K,  // inclusive
     accum_size: u64,
 }
+
+// Sliding window through keyspace and values
+//
+// This is used to decide what layer to write next, from the beginning of the window.
 struct Window<K> {
     elems: VecDeque<WindowElement<K>>,
 
diff --git a/pageserver/compaction/src/identify_levels.rs b/pageserver/compaction/src/identify_levels.rs
index ef388fd92be0..98dd46925ca9 100644
--- a/pageserver/compaction/src/identify_levels.rs
+++ b/pageserver/compaction/src/identify_levels.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-//! An LSM tree consists of multiple levels, each exponential larger than the
-//! previous level. And each level consists of be multiple "tiers". With tiered
+//! An LSM tree consists of multiple levels, each exponentially larger than the
+//! previous level. And each level consists of multiple "tiers". With tiered
 //! compaction, a level is compacted when it has accumulated more than N tiers,
 //! forming one tier on the next level.
 //!
@@ -170,13 +170,6 @@ where
     })
 }
 
-// helper struct used in depth()
-struct Event<K> {
-    key: K,
-    layer_idx: usize,
-    start: bool,
-}
-
 impl<L> Level<L> {
     /// Count the number of deltas stacked on each other.
     pub fn depth<K>(&self) -> u64
@@ -184,6 +177,11 @@ impl<L> Level<L> {
         K: CompactionKey,
         L: CompactionLayer<K>,
     {
+        struct Event<K> {
+            key: K,
+            layer_idx: usize,
+            start: bool,
+        }
         let mut events: Vec<Event<K>> = Vec::new();
         for (idx, l) in self.layers.iter().enumerate() {
             events.push(Event {
@@ -202,7 +200,7 @@ impl<L> Level<L> {
         // Sweep the key space left to right. Stop at each distinct key, and
         // count the number of deltas on top of the highest image at that key.
         //
-        // This is a little enefficient, as we walk through the active_set on
+        // This is a little inefficient, as we walk through the active_set on
         // every key. We could increment/decrement a counter on each step
         // instead, but that'd require a bit more complex bookkeeping.
         let mut active_set: BTreeSet<(Lsn, bool, usize)> = BTreeSet::new();
@@ -236,6 +234,7 @@ impl<L> Level<L> {
                 }
             }
         }
+        debug_assert_eq!(active_set, BTreeSet::new());
         max_depth
     }
 }
diff --git a/pageserver/compaction/src/interface.rs b/pageserver/compaction/src/interface.rs
index 979ceebf0e2f..2bb2e749c071 100644
--- a/pageserver/compaction/src/interface.rs
+++ b/pageserver/compaction/src/interface.rs
@@ -4,12 +4,12 @@
 //! All the heavy lifting is done by the create_image and create_delta
 //! functions that the implementor provides.
 use async_trait::async_trait;
+use futures::Future;
 use pageserver_api::{key::Key, keyspace::key_range_size};
 use std::ops::Range;
 use utils::lsn::Lsn;
 
 /// Public interface. This is the main thing that the implementor needs to provide
-#[async_trait]
 pub trait CompactionJobExecutor {
     // Type system.
     //
@@ -17,8 +17,7 @@ pub trait CompactionJobExecutor {
     // compaction doesn't distinguish whether they are stored locally or
     // remotely.
     //
-    // The keyspace is defined by CompactionKey trait.
-    //
+    // The keyspace is defined by the CompactionKey trait.
     type Key: CompactionKey;
 
     type Layer: CompactionLayer<Self::Key> + Clone;
@@ -35,27 +34,27 @@ pub trait CompactionJobExecutor {
     // ----
 
     /// Return all layers that overlap the given bounding box.
-    async fn get_layers(
+    fn get_layers(
         &mut self,
         key_range: &Range<Self::Key>,
         lsn_range: &Range<Lsn>,
         ctx: &Self::RequestContext,
-    ) -> anyhow::Result<Vec<Self::Layer>>;
+    ) -> impl Future<Output = anyhow::Result<Vec<Self::Layer>>> + Send;
 
-    async fn get_keyspace(
+    fn get_keyspace(
         &mut self,
         key_range: &Range<Self::Key>,
         lsn: Lsn,
         ctx: &Self::RequestContext,
-    ) -> anyhow::Result<CompactionKeySpace<Self::Key>>;
+    ) -> impl Future<Output = anyhow::Result<CompactionKeySpace<Self::Key>>> + Send;
 
     /// NB: This is a pretty expensive operation. In the real pageserver
     /// implementation, it downloads the layer, and keeps it resident
     /// until the DeltaLayer is dropped.
-    async fn downcast_delta_layer(
+    fn downcast_delta_layer(
         &self,
         layer: &Self::Layer,
-    ) -> anyhow::Result<Option<Self::DeltaLayer>>;
+    ) -> impl Future<Output = anyhow::Result<Option<Self::DeltaLayer>>> + Send;
 
     // ----
     // Functions to execute the plan
@@ -63,33 +62,33 @@ pub trait CompactionJobExecutor {
 
     /// Create a new image layer, materializing all the values in the key range,
     /// at given 'lsn'.
-    async fn create_image(
+    fn create_image(
         &mut self,
         lsn: Lsn,
         key_range: &Range<Self::Key>,
         ctx: &Self::RequestContext,
-    ) -> anyhow::Result<()>;
+    ) -> impl Future<Output = anyhow::Result<()>> + Send;
 
     /// Create a new delta layer, containing all the values from 'input_layers'
     /// in the given key and LSN range.
-    async fn create_delta(
+    fn create_delta(
         &mut self,
         lsn_range: &Range<Lsn>,
         key_range: &Range<Self::Key>,
         input_layers: &[Self::DeltaLayer],
         ctx: &Self::RequestContext,
-    ) -> anyhow::Result<()>;
+    ) -> impl Future<Output = anyhow::Result<()>> + Send;
 
     /// Delete a layer. The compaction implementation will call this only after
     /// all the create_image() or create_delta() calls that deletion of this
     /// layer depends on have finished. But if the implementor has extra lazy
-    /// background tasks, like uploading the index json file to remote storage,
+    /// background tasks, like uploading the index json file to remote storage.
     /// it is the implementation's responsibility to track those.
-    async fn delete_layer(
+    fn delete_layer(
         &mut self,
         layer: &Self::Layer,
         ctx: &Self::RequestContext,
-    ) -> anyhow::Result<()>;
+    ) -> impl Future<Output = anyhow::Result<()>> + Send;
 }
 
 pub trait CompactionKey: std::cmp::Ord + Clone + Copy + std::fmt::Display {
diff --git a/pageserver/compaction/src/simulator.rs b/pageserver/compaction/src/simulator.rs
index 6d07038dcd8f..def7983e7573 100644
--- a/pageserver/compaction/src/simulator.rs
+++ b/pageserver/compaction/src/simulator.rs
@@ -429,7 +429,6 @@ impl From<&Arc<MockImageLayer>> for MockLayer {
     }
 }
 
-#[async_trait]
 impl interface::CompactionJobExecutor for MockTimeline {
     type Key = Key;
     type Layer = MockLayer;
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
index 914e3948efa2..8b544b1c3a02 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
@@ -134,7 +134,6 @@ struct ResidentDeltaLayer(ResidentLayer);
 #[derive(Clone)]
 struct ResidentImageLayer(ResidentLayer);
 
-#[async_trait]
 impl CompactionJobExecutor for TimelineAdaptor {
     type Key = crate::repository::Key;