fix(cron): warn at create time when gateway/ticker is not running (salvage of #2793 by @ygd58)

contributors/emails/seraphine@Seraphines-Mac-Studio.local

@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Bartok9
+# Seraphine Mac Studio local email on Bartok9 PR tips (per-PR attribution; Teknium/Daniel 2026-08-01)

tests/tools/test_cronjob_tools.py

@@ -2,11 +2,13 @@
 
 import json
 import pytest
+from unittest.mock import patch
 
 from tools.cronjob_tools import (
     _scan_cron_prompt,
     check_cronjob_requirements,
     cronjob,
+    _check_cron_ticker_warning,
 )
 
 
@@ -246,6 +248,59 @@ def test_create_and_list(self):
         assert listing["jobs"][0]["name"] == "Server Check"
         assert listing["jobs"][0]["state"] == "scheduled"
 
+    def test_create_warns_when_gateway_not_running(self):
+        """Direct create-response regression (keep_open on #51790): builtin
+        scheduler + no gateway must surface the ticker warning on create.message.
+        """
+        with (
+            patch(
+                "cron.scheduler_provider.resolve_cron_scheduler",
+                side_effect=Exception("no external scheduler configured"),
+            ),
+            patch("gateway.status.get_running_pid", return_value=None),
+        ):
+            created = json.loads(
+                cronjob(action="create", prompt="Check", schedule="every 1h")
+            )
+
+        assert created["success"] is True
+        assert "gateway is not running" in created["message"].lower(), created["message"]
+        assert "will NOT fire automatically" in created["message"]
+
+    def test_create_does_not_warn_when_gateway_running(self):
+        """Warning must not appear when get_running_pid returns a live pid."""
+        with (
+            patch(
+                "cron.scheduler_provider.resolve_cron_scheduler",
+                side_effect=Exception("no external scheduler configured"),
+            ),
+            patch("gateway.status.get_running_pid", return_value=12345),
+        ):
+            created = json.loads(
+                cronjob(action="create", prompt="Check", schedule="every 1h")
+            )
+
+        assert created["success"] is True
+        assert "gateway is not running" not in created["message"].lower(), created["message"]
+
+    def test_create_does_not_warn_for_non_builtin_scheduler(self):
+        """External scheduler (Chronos) + no gateway PID must stay silent."""
+        from types import SimpleNamespace
+
+        with (
+            patch(
+                "cron.scheduler_provider.resolve_cron_scheduler",
+                return_value=SimpleNamespace(name="chronos"),
+            ),
+            patch("gateway.status.get_running_pid", return_value=None),
+        ):
+            created = json.loads(
+                cronjob(action="create", prompt="Check", schedule="every 1h")
+            )
+
+        assert created["success"] is True
+        assert "gateway is not running" not in created["message"].lower(), created["message"]
+
     def test_list_handles_partial_legacy_job_records(self):
         from cron.jobs import save_jobs
 
@@ -615,3 +670,52 @@ def test_benign_text_mentioning_key_types_allowed(self):
         assert _scan_cron_prompt(
             "generate a keypair and explain id_rsa vs id_ed25519"
         ) == ""
+
+class TestCronTickerWarning:
+    """Unit coverage for _check_cron_ticker_warning (helper + provider gate)."""
+
+    def test_builtin_no_gateway_warns(self):
+        with (
+            patch(
+                "cron.scheduler_provider.resolve_cron_scheduler",
+                side_effect=Exception("no external scheduler configured"),
+            ),
+            patch("gateway.status.get_running_pid", return_value=None),
+        ):
+            msg = _check_cron_ticker_warning()
+        assert msg is not None
+        assert "gateway is not running" in msg.lower()
+        assert "hermes cron tick" in msg
+
+    def test_builtin_gateway_running_silent(self):
+        with (
+            patch(
+                "cron.scheduler_provider.resolve_cron_scheduler",
+                side_effect=Exception("no external scheduler configured"),
+            ),
+            patch("gateway.status.get_running_pid", return_value=12345),
+        ):
+            assert _check_cron_ticker_warning() is None
+
+    def test_non_builtin_no_gateway_silent(self):
+        from types import SimpleNamespace
+
+        with (
+            patch(
+                "cron.scheduler_provider.resolve_cron_scheduler",
+                return_value=SimpleNamespace(name="chronos"),
+            ),
+            patch("gateway.status.get_running_pid", return_value=None),
+        ):
+            assert _check_cron_ticker_warning() is None
+
+    def test_status_probe_error_is_best_effort(self):
+        with (
+            patch(
+                "cron.scheduler_provider.resolve_cron_scheduler",
+                side_effect=Exception("no external scheduler configured"),
+            ),
+            patch("gateway.status.get_running_pid", side_effect=RuntimeError("boom")),
+        ):
+            assert _check_cron_ticker_warning() is None
+

tools/cronjob_tools.py

@@ -320,6 +320,46 @@ def _origin_from_env() -> Optional[Dict[str, str]]:
     return None
 
 
+def _check_cron_ticker_warning() -> Optional[str]:
+    """Return a warning when the gateway (and thus the cron ticker) is not running.
+
+    Cron jobs only fire automatically while the gateway is up; in CLI-only mode
+    nothing advances ``next_run_at`` until the user runs ``hermes cron tick``.
+    Surfacing this at create time stops the silent "I scheduled it but it never
+    ran" trap. Best-effort: any failure to determine gateway status returns
+    ``None`` (no warning) rather than blocking job creation.
+
+    Only the built-in ticker depends on a live gateway process. An external
+    provider (e.g. Chronos) fires jobs via its own managed scheduler while the
+    gateway is scaled to zero, so a missing gateway PID does NOT mean those jobs
+    won't fire — warning there would be a false alarm. Mirror the CLI contract
+    (``hermes_cli/cron.py``) and stay silent for any non-builtin scheduler.
+    """
+    try:
+        try:
+            from cron.scheduler_provider import resolve_cron_scheduler
+
+            scheduler_name = resolve_cron_scheduler().name or "builtin"
+        except Exception:
+            # Fall back to the historical ticker-based check on any failure.
+            scheduler_name = "builtin"
+
+        if scheduler_name != "builtin":
+            return None
+
+        from gateway.status import get_running_pid
+
+        if get_running_pid() is None:
+            return (
+                "⚠️ The gateway is not running — this cron job will NOT fire "
+                "automatically. Start it with 'hermes gateway run', or trigger "
+                "jobs manually with 'hermes cron tick'."
+            )
+    except Exception:
+        pass
+    return None
+
+
 def _local_delivery_notice(job: Dict[str, Any], user_deliver: Optional[str]) -> Optional[str]:
     """Return an informational notice when a created job won't deliver anywhere.
 
@@ -726,6 +766,9 @@ def cronjob(
             _local_notice = _local_delivery_notice(job, _normalize_deliver_param(deliver))
             if _local_notice:
                 _create_message = f"{_create_message} {_local_notice}"
+            _ticker_warning = _check_cron_ticker_warning()
+            if _ticker_warning:
+                _create_message = f"{_create_message} {_ticker_warning}"
             return json.dumps(
                 {
                     "success": True,