Round 44: docs/AUTONOMOUS-LOOP.md — tick discipline (additive-only)

[AceHack]

Summary

Lands `docs/AUTONOMOUS-LOOP.md` — canonical specification of the autonomous-loop tick discipline. CLAUDE.md-level load-bearing: if the tick stops, the factory's self-direction stops — a SEV-1 failure mode designated by the human maintainer in round 44.

What the doc covers

• Mechanism: native Claude Code scheduled-tasks (`CronCreate` + `<>` sentinel); no plugin dependency. Explicitly distinguished from the Ralph Loop plugin.
• Cadence: 1 minute, cron `* * * * *`, recurring. Fleet-pile-on trade-off at `:00`/`:30` documented; 1-min is runtime-enforced floor.
• Every-tick checklist (6 steps): speculative work → priority ladder → verify → commit → append tick-history + CronList + visibility signal → stop.
• End-over-start discipline: `CronList` check is load-bearing AT END of tick, minimizing the [last-check → next-fire] window.
• History-before-CronList ordering: append evidence before the scheduler call so a crash between them still leaves a tick-fired record.
• Session-restart recovery: `--resume` / `--continue` for same thread; `long-term-rescheduler` for fresh sessions.
• Empirical Ralph-disable A/B test confirming mechanism attribution to native `CronCreate`.

Drain discipline

Scrubbed at pre-commit per the pre-check discipline established from PR #83:

• Maintainer-name prose replaced with role-refs (BP-L284-L290).
• Quoted directives preserved verbatim in the History section — those are historical record; only the name attribution around them changes.
• `memory/*` refs replaced with in-tree pointers to CLAUDE.md ground rules.

Pre-check: `grep -nE 'memory/(user|feedback|project|reference)_|\baaron\b' -i docs/AUTONOMOUS-LOOP.md` → 0 hits.

Unblocks

The speculative branch has additive diffs on `CLAUDE.md` (tick-must-never-stop discipline block) and `AGENTS.md` (pointer to this file) that depend on `docs/AUTONOMOUS-LOOP.md` existing on main. Landing this file unblocks those pointer additions as a follow-up PR.

Test plan

• Pre-check (memory/ refs + contributor-name prose) — 0 hits
• Copilot review clean
• CI green (doc-only; no code changes)

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Adds a new canonical documentation spec for the factory’s autonomous-loop “tick discipline” (native Claude Code scheduled tasks), intended to be CLAUDE.md-level load-bearing guidance to keep the loop reliably firing and self-directing work across sessions.

Changes:

• Introduces docs/AUTONOMOUS-LOOP.md describing the tick mechanism, cadence, and end-of-tick CronList re-arming discipline.
• Specifies an every-tick checklist (work selection, verification, commit rules, tick-history append, visibility signal, stop).
• Documents recovery paths and historical context for the mechanism choice and cadence changes.

[Copilot]

P1: The intro says the tick fires “Every ~2 minutes” (lines 3-6), but the registered cadence below is * * * * * (every minute). Since this doc is the canonical spec, the cadence description should be consistent (update the intro to ~1 minute or remove the specific number).

Suggested change

	The factory's self-direction runs on a tick. Every ~2 minutes a
	The factory's self-direction runs on a tick. Every minute a

[Copilot]

P1: This section still claims the next tick fires within “~2 min” (line 127), which conflicts with the documented 1-minute cron cadence (* * * * *). Update the timing/window explanation to match the 1-minute cadence (or phrase it without a specific minute count).

Suggested change

	seconds before stopping — the next tick fires within
	~2 min — so the at-risk window collapses to just the
	stop/restart handoff. An optional start-of-tick
	`CronList` is fine if the cron's state affects early
	decisions, but the **load-bearing check is step 5**.
	seconds before stopping — the next tick fires on the
	next 1-minute cron interval — so the at-risk window
	collapses to just the stop/restart handoff. An optional
	start-of-tick `CronList` is fine if the cron's state
	affects early decisions, but the **load-bearing check is
	step 5**.

[Copilot]

P2: The emphasized phrase is split across a hard line break as *check-don't- / assume*, which will render with an unintended space and reads like a broken word. Consider keeping it as *check-don't-assume* (no forced wrap) so the emphasis renders correctly.

Suggested change

	*check-don't-
	assume*: defensive polling, re-arm only on miss. Most
	ticks are no-ops on the scheduler (cron is there → do
	nothing); the rare miss is detected and fixed in-tick
	before the silent stop becomes hours of missing activity.
	*check-don't-assume*: defensive polling, re-arm only on
	miss. Most ticks are no-ops on the scheduler (cron is
	there → do nothing); the rare miss is detected and fixed
	in-tick before the silent stop becomes hours of missing
	activity.