disinto/AGENTS.md

<!-- last-reviewed: e782119a15e41cfb02b537d2b2294ab6b93ff342 -->
# Disinto — Agent Instructions

## What this repo is

Disinto is an autonomous code factory. It manages eight agents (dev, review,
gardener, supervisor, planner, predictor, action, vault) that pick up issues from Codeberg,
implement them, review PRs, plan from the vision, gate dangerous actions, and
keep the system healthy — all via cron and `claude -p`.

See `README.md` for the full architecture and `BOOTSTRAP.md` for setup.

## Directory layout

```
disinto/
├── dev/           dev-poll.sh, dev-agent.sh, phase-handler.sh — issue implementation
├── review/        review-poll.sh, review-pr.sh — PR review
├── gardener/      gardener-poll.sh, gardener-agent.sh — backlog grooming
├── planner/       planner-poll.sh — files action issue for run-planner formula
│                  prediction-poll.sh, prediction-agent.sh — evidence-based predictions
├── supervisor/    supervisor-poll.sh — health monitoring
├── vault/         vault-poll.sh, vault-agent.sh, vault-fire.sh — action gating
├── action/        action-poll.sh, action-agent.sh — operational task execution
├── lib/           env.sh, agent-session.sh, ci-helpers.sh, ci-debug.sh, load-project.sh, parse-deps.sh, matrix_listener.sh
├── projects/      *.toml — per-project config
├── formulas/      Issue templates
└── docs/          Protocol docs (PHASE-PROTOCOL.md, EVIDENCE-ARCHITECTURE.md)
```

## Tech stack

- **Shell**: bash (all agents are bash scripts)
- **AI**: `claude -p` (one-shot) or `claude` (interactive/tmux sessions)
- **CI**: Woodpecker CI (queried via REST API + Postgres)
- **VCS**: Codeberg (git + Gitea REST API)
- **Notifications**: Matrix (optional)

## Coding conventions

- All scripts start with `#!/usr/bin/env bash` and `set -euo pipefail`
- Source shared environment: `source "$(dirname "$0")/../lib/env.sh"`
- Log to `$LOGFILE` using the `log()` function from env.sh or defined locally
- Never hardcode secrets — all come from `.env` or TOML project files
- ShellCheck must pass (CI runs `shellcheck` on all `.sh` files)
- Avoid duplicate code — shared helpers go in `lib/`

## How to lint and test

```bash
# ShellCheck all scripts
git ls-files '*.sh' | xargs shellcheck

# Run phase protocol test
bash dev/phase-test.sh
```

---

## Agents

### Dev (`dev/`)

**Role**: Implement issues autonomously — write code, push branches, address
CI failures and review feedback.

**Trigger**: `dev-poll.sh` runs every 10 min via cron. It scans for ready
backlog issues (all deps closed) or orphaned in-progress issues and spawns
`dev-agent.sh <issue-number>`.

**Key files**:
- `dev/dev-poll.sh` — Cron scheduler: finds next ready issue, handles merge/rebase of approved PRs, tracks CI fix attempts
- `dev/dev-agent.sh` — Orchestrator: claims issue, creates worktree + tmux session with interactive `claude`, monitors phase file, injects CI results and review feedback, merges on approval
- `dev/phase-test.sh` — Integration test for the phase protocol

**Environment variables consumed** (via `lib/env.sh` + project TOML):
- `CODEBERG_TOKEN` — Dev-agent token (push, PR creation, merge) — use the dedicated bot account
- `CODEBERG_REPO`, `CODEBERG_API` — Target repository
- `PROJECT_NAME`, `PROJECT_REPO_ROOT` — Local checkout path
- `PRIMARY_BRANCH` — Branch to merge into (e.g. `main`, `master`)
- `WOODPECKER_REPO_ID` — CI pipeline lookups
- `CLAUDE_TIMEOUT` — Max seconds for a Claude session (default 7200)
- `MATRIX_TOKEN`, `MATRIX_ROOM_ID`, `MATRIX_HOMESERVER` — Notifications (optional)

**Lifecycle**: dev-poll.sh → dev-agent.sh → tmux `dev-{project}-{issue}` →
phase file drives CI/review loop → merge → close issue.

### Review (`review/`)

**Role**: AI-powered PR review — post structured findings and formal
approve/request-changes verdicts to Codeberg.

**Trigger**: `review-poll.sh` runs every 10 min via cron. It scans open PRs
whose CI has passed and that lack a review for the current HEAD SHA, then
spawns `review-pr.sh <pr-number>`.

**Key files**:
- `review/review-poll.sh` — Cron scheduler: finds unreviewed PRs with passing CI
- `review/review-pr.sh` — Creates/reuses a tmux session (`review-{project}-{pr}`), injects PR diff, waits for Claude to write structured JSON output, posts markdown review + formal Codeberg review, auto-creates follow-up issues for pre-existing tech debt

**Environment variables consumed**:
- `CODEBERG_TOKEN` — Dev-agent token (must not be the same account as REVIEW_BOT_TOKEN)
- `REVIEW_BOT_TOKEN` — Review-agent token for approvals (use human/admin account; branch protection: in approvals whitelist)
- `CODEBERG_REPO`, `CODEBERG_API`, `PROJECT_NAME`, `PROJECT_REPO_ROOT`
- `PRIMARY_BRANCH`, `WOODPECKER_REPO_ID`
- `MATRIX_TOKEN`, `MATRIX_ROOM_ID`, `MATRIX_HOMESERVER`

### Gardener (`gardener/`)

**Role**: Backlog grooming — detect duplicate issues, missing acceptance
criteria, oversized issues, stale issues, and circular dependencies. Invoke
Claude to fix or escalate to a human via Matrix.

**Trigger**: `gardener-poll.sh` runs daily (or 2x/day) via cron. Accepts an
optional project TOML argument.

**Key files**:
- `gardener/gardener-poll.sh` — Cron wrapper: lock, escalation-reply injection for dev sessions, calls `gardener-agent.sh`, then processes dev-agent CI escalations via recipe engine
- `gardener/gardener-agent.sh` — Orchestrator: bash pre-analysis, creates tmux session (`gardener-{project}`) with interactive `claude`, monitors phase file, parses result file (ACTION:/DUST:/ESCALATE), handles dust bundling

**Environment variables consumed**:
- `CODEBERG_TOKEN`, `CODEBERG_REPO`, `CODEBERG_API`, `PROJECT_NAME`, `PROJECT_REPO_ROOT`
- `CLAUDE_TIMEOUT`
- `MATRIX_TOKEN`, `MATRIX_ROOM_ID`, `MATRIX_HOMESERVER`

### Supervisor (`supervisor/`)

**Role**: Health monitoring and auto-remediation. Two-layer architecture:
(1) factory infrastructure checks (RAM, disk, swap, docker, stale processes)
that run once, and (2) per-project checks (CI, PRs, dev-agent health,
circular deps, stale deps) that iterate over `projects/*.toml`.

**Trigger**: `supervisor-poll.sh` runs every 10 min via cron.

**Key files**:
- `supervisor/supervisor-poll.sh` — All checks + auto-fixes (kill stale processes, rotate logs, drop caches, docker prune, abort stale rebases) then invokes `claude -p` for unresolved alerts
- `supervisor/update-prompt.sh` — Updates the supervisor prompt file
- `supervisor/PROMPT.md` — System prompt for the supervisor's Claude invocation

**Alert priorities**: P0 (memory crisis), P1 (disk), P2 (factory stopped/stalled),
P3 (degraded PRs, circular deps, stale deps), P4 (housekeeping).

**Environment variables consumed**:
- All from `lib/env.sh` + per-project TOML overrides
- `WOODPECKER_TOKEN`, `WOODPECKER_SERVER`, `WOODPECKER_DB_PASSWORD`, `WOODPECKER_DB_USER`, `WOODPECKER_DB_HOST`, `WOODPECKER_DB_NAME` — CI database queries
- `CHECK_PRS`, `CHECK_DEV_AGENT`, `CHECK_PIPELINE_STALL` — Per-project monitoring toggles (from TOML `[monitoring]` section)
- `CHECK_INFRA_RETRY` — Infra failure retry toggle (env var only, defaults to `true`; not configurable via project TOML)

### Planner (`planner/`)

**Role**: Five-phase strategic planning, executed as an action formula.
Phase 0 (preflight): pull latest code, load persistent memory from
`planner/MEMORY.md`. Phase 1: update the AGENTS.md documentation tree to
reflect recent code changes (fast-track PR). Phase 1.5: triage
`prediction/unreviewed` issues filed by the [Predictor](#predictor-planner) —
for each prediction: promote to action, promote to backlog, watch (relabel to
prediction/backlog), or dismiss with reasoning. Promoted predictions compete
with vision gaps for the per-cycle issue limit. Phase 2: strategic planning
via resource+leverage gap analysis — reasons about VISION.md, RESOURCES.md,
formula catalog, and project state to create up to 5 total issues (including
promotions) prioritized by leverage. Phase 3: persist learnings to
`planner/MEMORY.md`.

**Trigger**: `planner-poll.sh` runs weekly via cron. It files an `action`
issue referencing `formulas/run-planner.toml`; the [action-agent](#action-action)
picks it up and executes the planning steps in an interactive Claude tmux session.

**Key files**:
- `planner/planner-poll.sh` — Cron wrapper: memory guard, dedup check, files action issue
- `formulas/run-planner.toml` — Execution spec: five steps (preflight, agents-update,
  triage-predictions, strategic-planning, memory-update) with `needs` dependencies.
  Steps 2 and 3 are independent; step 4 depends on both. Claude executes all steps
  in a single interactive session with tool access
- `planner/MEMORY.md` — Persistent memory across runs (gitignored, local only)

**Future direction**: The [Predictor](#predictor-planner) already reads `evidence/` JSON and files prediction issues for the planner to triage. The next step is evidence-gated deployment (see `docs/EVIDENCE-ARCHITECTURE.md`): replacing human "ship it" decisions with automated gates across dimensions (holdout, red-team, user-test, evolution fitness, protocol metrics, funnel). Not yet implemented.

**Environment variables consumed** (by the action-agent session):
- `CODEBERG_TOKEN`, `CODEBERG_REPO`, `CODEBERG_API`, `PROJECT_NAME`, `PROJECT_REPO_ROOT`
- `PRIMARY_BRANCH`
- `MATRIX_TOKEN`, `MATRIX_ROOM_ID`, `MATRIX_HOMESERVER`

### Predictor (`planner/`)

**Role**: Evidence-based pattern detection (the "goblin"). Reads structured
JSON from the project's `evidence/` directory (red-team, evolution, user-test,
holdout, resources, protocol) plus secondary Codeberg signals (recent issues
and merged PRs) and system resource snapshots. Asks Claude to identify
staleness, regressions, opportunities, and risks, then files up to 5
`prediction/unreviewed` issues for the [Planner](#planner-planner) to triage.
The predictor MUST NOT emit feature work — only observations about evidence
state, metric trends, and system conditions.

**Trigger**: `prediction-poll.sh` runs hourly via cron. It iterates over all
`projects/*.toml` files and runs `prediction-agent.sh` for each project.
Guarded by a global lock (`/tmp/prediction-poll.lock`) and a memory check
(skips if available RAM < 2000 MB).

**Key files**:
- `planner/prediction-poll.sh` — Cron wrapper: lock, memory guard, iterates projects, calls prediction-agent.sh per project
- `planner/prediction-agent.sh` — Scans `evidence/` subdirectories for latest + previous JSON, fetches recent Codeberg activity, collects system resource snapshot, builds prompt, invokes `claude -p --model sonnet` (one-shot), parses JSON output lines, creates `prediction/unreviewed` issues on Codeberg, notifies Matrix

**Environment variables consumed**:
- `CODEBERG_TOKEN`, `CODEBERG_REPO`, `CODEBERG_API`, `PROJECT_NAME`, `PROJECT_REPO_ROOT`
- `CLAUDE_TIMEOUT` — Max seconds for the Claude invocation (default 7200)
- `MATRIX_TOKEN`, `MATRIX_ROOM_ID`, `MATRIX_HOMESERVER` — Notifications (optional)

**Lifecycle**: prediction-poll.sh (hourly cron) → lock + memory guard →
for each project TOML: prediction-agent.sh → scan `evidence/` →
`claude -p --model sonnet` → parse JSON predictions → create
`prediction/unreviewed` issues → Matrix notification. The planner's Phase 1.5
later triages these predictions into action/backlog issues or dismisses them.

### Action (`action/`)

**Role**: Execute operational tasks described by action formulas — run scripts,
call APIs, send messages, collect human approval. Unlike the dev-agent, the
action-agent produces no PRs: Claude closes the issue directly after executing
all formula steps.

**Trigger**: `action-poll.sh` runs every 10 min via cron. It scans for open
issues labeled `action` that have no active tmux session, then spawns
`action-agent.sh <issue-number>`.

**Key files**:
- `action/action-poll.sh` — Cron scheduler: finds open action issues with no active tmux session, spawns action-agent.sh
- `action/action-agent.sh` — Orchestrator: fetches issue body + prior comments, creates tmux session (`action-{issue_num}`) with interactive `claude`, injects formula prompt, monitors session until Claude exits or 4h idle timeout

**Session lifecycle**:
1. `action-poll.sh` finds open `action` issues with no active tmux session.
2. Spawns `action-agent.sh <issue_num>`.
3. Agent creates Matrix thread, exports `MATRIX_THREAD_ID` so Claude's output streams to the thread via a Stop hook (`on-stop-matrix.sh`).
4. Agent creates tmux session `action-{issue_num}`, injects prompt (formula + prior comments).
5. Claude executes formula steps using Bash and other tools, posts progress as issue comments. Each Claude turn is streamed to the Matrix thread for real-time human visibility.
6. For human input: Claude sends a Matrix message and waits; the reply is injected into the session by `matrix_listener.sh`.
7. When complete: Claude closes the issue with a summary comment. Session exits.
8. Poll detects no active session on next run — nothing further to do.

**Environment variables consumed**:
- `CODEBERG_TOKEN`, `CODEBERG_REPO`, `CODEBERG_API`, `PROJECT_NAME`, `CODEBERG_WEB`
- `MATRIX_TOKEN`, `MATRIX_ROOM_ID`, `MATRIX_HOMESERVER` — Matrix notifications + human input
- `ACTION_IDLE_TIMEOUT` — Max seconds before killing idle session (default 14400 = 4h)

---

### Vault (`vault/`)

**Role**: Safety gate for dangerous or irreversible actions. Actions enter a
pending queue and are classified by Claude via `vault-agent.sh`, which can
auto-approve (call `vault-fire.sh` directly), auto-reject (call
`vault-reject.sh`), or escalate to a human via Matrix for APPROVE/REJECT.

**Trigger**: `vault-poll.sh` runs every 30 min via cron.

**Key files**:
- `vault/vault-poll.sh` — Processes pending actions: retry approved, auto-reject after 48h timeout, invoke vault-agent for new items
- `vault/vault-agent.sh` — Classifies and routes pending actions via `claude -p`: auto-approve, auto-reject, or escalate to human
- `vault/PROMPT.md` — System prompt for the vault agent's Claude invocation
- `vault/vault-fire.sh` — Executes an approved action
- `vault/vault-reject.sh` — Marks an action as rejected

**Environment variables consumed**:
- All from `lib/env.sh`
- `MATRIX_TOKEN`, `MATRIX_ROOM_ID`, `MATRIX_HOMESERVER` — Escalation channel

---

## Shared helpers (`lib/`)

All agents source `lib/env.sh` as their first action. Additional helpers are
sourced as needed.

| File | What it provides | Sourced by |
|---|---|---|
| `lib/env.sh` | Loads `.env`, sets `FACTORY_ROOT`, exports project config (`CODEBERG_REPO`, `PROJECT_NAME`, etc.), defines `log()`, `codeberg_api()`, `codeberg_api_all()` (accepts optional second TOKEN parameter, defaults to `$CODEBERG_TOKEN`), `woodpecker_api()`, `wpdb()`, `matrix_send()`, `matrix_send_ctx()`. Auto-loads project TOML if `PROJECT_TOML` is set. | Every agent |
| `lib/ci-helpers.sh` | `ci_passed()` — returns 0 if CI state is "success" (or no CI configured). `classify_pipeline_failure()` — returns "infra" if all failed Woodpecker steps are git-step exit 128/137, else "code". | dev-poll, review-poll, review-pr, supervisor-poll |
| `lib/ci-debug.sh` | CLI tool for Woodpecker CI: `list`, `status`, `logs`, `failures` subcommands. Not sourced — run directly. | Humans / dev-agent (tool access) |
| `lib/load-project.sh` | Parses a `projects/*.toml` file into env vars (`PROJECT_NAME`, `CODEBERG_REPO`, `WOODPECKER_REPO_ID`, monitoring toggles, Matrix config, etc.). | env.sh (when `PROJECT_TOML` is set), supervisor-poll (per-project iteration) |
| `lib/parse-deps.sh` | Extracts dependency issue numbers from an issue body (stdin → stdout, one number per line). Matches `## Dependencies` / `## Depends on` / `## Blocked by` sections and inline `depends on #N` patterns. Not sourced — executed via `bash lib/parse-deps.sh`. | dev-poll, supervisor-poll |
| `lib/matrix_listener.sh` | Long-poll Matrix sync daemon. Dispatches thread replies to the correct agent via well-known files (`/tmp/{agent}-escalation-reply`). Handles supervisor, gardener, dev, review, vault, and action reply routing. Run as systemd service. | Standalone daemon |
| `lib/agent-session.sh` | Shared tmux + Claude session helpers: `create_agent_session()`, `inject_formula()`, `agent_wait_for_claude_ready()`, `agent_inject_into_session()`, `agent_kill_session()`, `monitor_phase_loop()`, `read_phase()`. `create_agent_session(session, workdir, [phase_file])` optionally installs a PostToolUse hook (matcher `Bash\|Write`) that detects phase file writes in real-time — when Claude writes to the phase file, the hook writes a marker so `monitor_phase_loop` reacts on the next poll instead of waiting for mtime changes. Also installs a StopFailure hook (matcher `rate_limit\|server_error\|authentication_failed\|billing_error`) that writes `PHASE:failed` with an `api_error` reason to the phase file and touches the phase-changed marker, so the orchestrator discovers API errors within one poll cycle instead of waiting for idle timeout. When `MATRIX_THREAD_ID` is exported, also installs a Stop hook (`on-stop-matrix.sh`) that streams each Claude response to the Matrix thread. `monitor_phase_loop` sets `_MONITOR_LOOP_EXIT` to one of: `done`, `idle_timeout`, `idle_prompt` (Claude returned to `❯` for 3 consecutive polls without writing any phase — callback invoked with `PHASE:failed`, session already dead), `crashed`, or a `PHASE:*` string. Agents must handle `idle_prompt` in both their callback and their post-loop exit handler. | dev-agent.sh, gardener-agent.sh, action-agent.sh |

---

## Issue lifecycle and label conventions

Issues flow through these states:

```
 [created]
    │
    ▼
 backlog        ← Ready for the dev-agent to pick up
    │
    ▼
 in-progress    ← Dev-agent has claimed the issue (backlog label removed)
    │
    ├── PR created → CI runs → review → merge
    │
    ▼
 closed         ← PR merged, issue closed automatically by dev-poll
```

### Labels

| Label | Meaning | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| `backlog` | Issue is queued for implementation. Dev-poll picks the first ready one. | Planner, gardener, humans |
| `in-progress` | Dev-agent is actively working on this issue. Only one issue per project is in-progress at a time. | dev-agent.sh (claims issue) |
| `blocked` | Issue has unmet dependencies (other open issues). | gardener, supervisor (detected) |
| `tech-debt` | Pre-existing issue flagged by AI reviewer, not introduced by a PR. | review-pr.sh (auto-created follow-ups) |
| `underspecified` | Dev-agent refused the issue as too large or vague. | dev-poll.sh (on preflight `too_large`), dev-agent.sh (on mid-run `too_large` refusal) |
| `vision` | Goal anchors — high-level objectives from VISION.md. | Planner, humans |
| `prediction/unreviewed` | Unprocessed prediction filed by predictor. | prediction-agent.sh |
| `prediction/backlog` | Prediction triaged as WATCH — not urgent, tracked. | Planner (triage-predictions step) |
| `prediction/actioned` | Prediction promoted or dismissed by planner. | Planner (triage-predictions step) |
| `action` | Operational task for the action-agent to execute via formula. | Planner, humans |

### Dependency conventions

Issues declare dependencies in their body using a `## Dependencies` or
`## Depends on` section listing `#N` references:

```markdown
## Dependencies
- #42
- #55
```

The dev-poll scheduler uses `lib/parse-deps.sh` to extract these and only
picks issues whose dependencies are all closed. The supervisor detects
circular dependency chains and stale dependencies (open > 30 days).

### Single-threaded pipeline

Each project processes one issue at a time. Dev-poll will not start new work
while an open PR is waiting for CI or review. This keeps context clear and
prevents merge conflicts between concurrent changes.

---

## Phase-Signaling Protocol (for persistent tmux sessions)

When running as a **persistent tmux session** (issue #80+), Claude must signal
the orchestrator at each phase boundary by writing to a well-known file.

### Phase file path

```
/tmp/dev-session-{project}-{issue}.phase
```

### Required phase sentinels

Write exactly one of these lines (with `>`, not `>>`) when a phase ends:

```bash
PHASE_FILE="/tmp/dev-session-${PROJECT_NAME:-project}-${ISSUE:-0}.phase"

# After pushing a PR branch — waiting for CI
echo "PHASE:awaiting_ci" > "$PHASE_FILE"

# After CI passes — waiting for review
echo "PHASE:awaiting_review" > "$PHASE_FILE"

# Blocked on human decision (ambiguous spec, architectural question)
echo "PHASE:needs_human" > "$PHASE_FILE"

# PR is merged and issue is done
echo "PHASE:done" > "$PHASE_FILE"

# Unrecoverable failure
printf 'PHASE:failed\nReason: %s\n' "describe what failed" > "$PHASE_FILE"
```

### When to write each phase

1. **After `git push origin $BRANCH`** → write `PHASE:awaiting_ci`
2. **After receiving "CI passed" injection** → write `PHASE:awaiting_review`
3. **After receiving review feedback** → address it, push, write `PHASE:awaiting_review`
4. **After receiving "Approved" injection** → merge (or wait for orchestrator to merge), write `PHASE:done`
5. **When stuck on human-only decision** → write `PHASE:needs_human`, then wait for input
6. **When a step fails unrecoverably** → write `PHASE:failed`

### Crash recovery

If this session was restarted after a crash, the orchestrator will inject:
- The issue body
- `git diff` of work completed before the crash
- The last known phase
- Any CI results or review comments

Read that context, then resume from where you left off. The git worktree is
the checkpoint — your code changes survived the crash.

### Full protocol reference

See `docs/PHASE-PROTOCOL.md` for the complete spec including the orchestrator
reaction matrix and sequence diagram.