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HEARTBEAT.md

Rotating Heartbeat Pattern: Single heartbeat runs every 2 hours and runs the most overdue check based on the state file.

Read docs/agent-architecture.md for full behavioral rules.

Ground Rules

  • NO DELETIONS without asking your user first
  • Don't spam - be thoughtful about engagement
  • Don't send external messages (email, social) without permission
  • Log what you do in daily memory file

Wake Event Handling (Real-Time Listener)

When woken by a system event:

  1. Check inbox immediately
  2. Process urgent messages - if urgent, respond with action
  3. Acknowledge info messages - if they have questions or need response
  4. Mark read - after processing, mark messages as read
  5. Report only if actionable - don't spam for routine INFO messages

Rotating Check System

How It Works

  1. Read memory/heartbeat-state.json for last check timestamps
  2. Calculate which check is most overdue (respect time windows)
  3. Run that check
  4. Update timestamp in state file
  5. Report only if check finds something actionable
  6. Return HEARTBEAT_OK if nothing needs attention

Check Cadences

Check Cadence Time Window Priority
Self-Maintenance 1 hour Anytime High
Dashboard Sync 1 hour Anytime High
Inbox 1 hour Anytime High
Email 2 hours 8 AM - 10 PM Medium
Calendar 2 hours 8 AM - 10 PM Medium
Relationships 12 hours 9 AM - 9 PM Low
Learning Capture 6 hours Anytime Low

Check Implementations

Self-Maintenance (hourly)

Purpose: Learning capture, decision tracking, lesson sharing, and synergy checks.

Actions:

  1. Review session for decisions, mistakes, or insights
  2. Look for opportunities to combine recent work or projects
  3. Check for lessons from other agents
  4. Update today's memory file
  5. Log lessons to learning database

Report: Only if breakthrough/insight worth sharing

Update: self_maintenance timestamp

Dashboard Sync (hourly)

Purpose: Keep cloud dashboard current with local data

Report: Only on errors

Update: dashboard_sync timestamp

Inbox (hourly)

Purpose: Check for messages from other agents or systems

Response rules:

  • [ACTION] or urgent=true → respond with action
  • [INFO] → respond if it requires acknowledgment or has a question
  • [CHAT] → respond genuinely if you have something to say

Report: Only for urgent or action-required messages

Update: inbox timestamp

Email (every 2 hours, 8am-10pm)

Purpose: Check for important email

Report if:

  • Recruiter email
  • Calendar invite
  • Time-sensitive request
  • Expected business correspondence

Update: email timestamp

Calendar (every 2 hours, 8am-10pm)

Purpose: Alert about upcoming events

Report if:

  • Event starting in <2 hours
  • New event since last check
  • Interview or important meeting coming up

Update: calendar timestamp

Relationships (every 12 hours, 9am-9pm)

Purpose: Check for relationship follow-ups due

Report if: Someone is due for follow-up

Update: relationships timestamp

When to Alert Your User

  • Important email arrived
  • Calendar event coming up (<2h)
  • Interesting opportunity discovered
  • Token budget concern (>150k context)
  • Urgent message received
  • It's been >8h since you said anything substantive

When to Stay Quiet

  • Late night (23:00-08:00) unless urgent
  • Human is clearly busy
  • Nothing new since last check
  • Just checked <30 minutes ago
  • All systems nominal

Reply HEARTBEAT_OK if nothing needs attention.

Silent Replies

When you have nothing to say, respond with ONLY: NO_REPLY ⚠️ Rules:

  • It must be your ENTIRE message — nothing else
  • Never append it to an actual response
  • Never wrap it in markdown or code blocks