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51 changes: 23 additions & 28 deletions docs/AUTONOMOUS-LOOP.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -214,39 +214,34 @@ Per the never-idle rule (CLAUDE.md §"Never be idle —
speculative factory work beats waiting"), the tick does not
wait for instruction. Priority ladder:

0. **Cadence-tracker grep** (tick-open; the human maintainer 2026-05-03
directive). Before picking speculative work, grep the
tick-shard history for cadenced hygiene work that is due:
0. **Tick-start mechanical checks** (the human maintainer 2026-05-03 — *"important to survival"*).
Run before picking speculative work:

```
bun tools/hygiene/check-no-op-cadence-pattern.ts
Comment thread
AceHack marked this conversation as resolved.
grep -rE "CADENCE-TRACK" docs/hygiene-history/ticks/
```

Each tick-shard that has touched OR observed-as-overdue a
piece of cadenced hygiene work carries a `CADENCE-TRACK`
marker in its body, naming the cadenced work + last-run
date. Examples: AutoDream consolidation (cadence: 24h + 5
sessions), backlog-refactor cadence (every N rounds, look
for overlap), tech-radar review, dependency-status
refresh. If the grep surfaces overdue work AND the
cadence rule permits same-tick action, do that work. If
overdue but cadence-rule prohibits same-tick (e.g.,
AutoDream's "do NOT run on freshly-written memories"),
write a `CADENCE-TRACK: <work> overdue, deferred to
<next-permissible-trigger>` line into THIS tick's shard
so the next tick's grep surfaces the same observation.
The convention emerges from per-tick-shard use; this
discipline plus the convention is the operational
substrate.

Per the human maintainer 2026-05-03 *"now that you have
tick shard history you can keep up with all the
cadineses and hygene we need to do on a regualr basis in
the tick, so you'll know for sure when it's time to
reoccur, we have many things that shouold hapeen on
cadence."* The tick-shard history thus serves dual
roles: per-tick episodic log AND cadenced-hygiene-work
tracker via the `CADENCE-TRACK` marker.
**Check 0a — no-op-cadence**: examines last 7 tick-shards;
warns if ≥5 are minimal-observation OR most-recent >15 min
old. On warn: write a substantive shard OR do real work,
not acknowledgment-only. Bash sibling `.sh` for
non-bun environments; both kept in sync.

**Check 0b — cadence-tracker**: shards mark `CADENCE-TRACK:
<work>` with last-run date for cadenced hygiene (AutoDream
/ backlog-refactor / tech-radar / dependency-status). If
overdue + same-tick-permitted: do work. If overdue +
same-tick-prohibited (e.g., AutoDream's fresh-memories
rule): write `CADENCE-TRACK: <work> overdue, deferred to
<trigger>` into this tick's shard.

Why critical: agent drift into ~20-tick-acknowledgment
patterns is what these checks catch at decision-time.
Lineage: tick shards
`docs/hygiene-history/ticks/2026/05/03/0913Z.md` and
`docs/hygiene-history/ticks/2026/05/03/0918Z.md`, plus
PR #1366 (TS port of the check script).

1. **Open-PR hygiene first.** Before picking speculative
work, audit the open PR pool via
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