# Gardener Agent **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-run.sh` runs 4x/day via cron. It creates a tmux session with `claude --model sonnet`, injects `formulas/run-gardener.toml` with escalation replies as context, monitors the phase file, and cleans up on completion or timeout (2h max session). No action issues — the gardener runs directly from cron like the planner, predictor, and supervisor. **Key files**: - `gardener/gardener-run.sh` — Cron wrapper + orchestrator: lock, memory guard, consumes escalation replies, sources disinto project config, creates tmux session, injects formula prompt, monitors phase file, handles crash recovery via `run_formula_and_monitor` - `formulas/run-gardener.toml` — Execution spec: preflight, grooming, dust-bundling, blocked-review, agents-update, commit-and-pr **Environment variables consumed**: - `CODEBERG_TOKEN`, `CODEBERG_REPO`, `CODEBERG_API`, `PROJECT_NAME`, `PROJECT_REPO_ROOT` - `PRIMARY_BRANCH`, `CLAUDE_MODEL` (set to sonnet by gardener-run.sh) - `MATRIX_TOKEN`, `MATRIX_ROOM_ID`, `MATRIX_HOMESERVER` **Lifecycle**: gardener-run.sh (cron 0,6,12,18) → lock + memory guard → consume escalation replies → load formula + context → create tmux session → Claude grooms backlog, bundles dust, reviews blocked issues, updates AGENTS.md, commits and creates PR → `PHASE:done`.