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ai-agent/CLAUDE.md
Gabriel Vidal b0dc463f1e docs(backend): describe the package layout and app.state injection
CLAUDE.md "Backend modules" now opens with the per-domain packages, the
barrels that keep the flat import spellings, and the deps: State / AppState
convention; every module bullet and cross-reference points at its new path
(conversations/parse.py, core/auth.py, runs/sidecar_client.py, …). The
schema-drift and backfill scripts' comments follow the parser's new home.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-10-06 23:58:10 +02:00

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# CLAUDE.md — `ai-agent`
Guidance for Claude Code when working in this repo. It was extracted from the
homelab monorepo (formerly `services/ai-agent/`, full history preserved); the
homelab keeps a deployment shim at `~/homelab/services/ai-agent/` (compose with
`build.context` pointing here, traefik.yml, `deploy.sh`, the live `data/`
volume), and the homelab root `CLAUDE.md` conventions (worktrees, Traefik copy
step, commit/notify) still apply when deploying there.
## North star
This service is headed somewhere bigger than a homelab dashboard: **the
open-source, intuitive, private and secure agent layer of any computer, to
build and host websites and interact with data** — Lovable, but open source
and self-hosted. Zipgo under the hood for hosting, shipped as a **single
Docker container**, with self-update handled **inside the container** (not by
host scripts). See [GOAL.md](GOAL.md) for the full vision and the gap list.
When making changes here, prefer container-internal solutions, generic config
over homelab-hardcoded paths, and zipgo over bespoke hosting.
## What this is
A viewer/editor + analytics dashboard for the homelab's **Claude context**, served
as an installable PWA at `https://ai-agent.lab.gabvdl.xyz` (behind Authelia). It:
- exposes every `CLAUDE.md` and the `.claude/` tree (skills, hooks, settings) as a
flat, editable file list with **real** Claude token counts + dollar costs, plus
the repo's root `data/` tree (plans, logs, notes, kanban) surfaced **read-only**;
- browses the archived Claude Code **conversation transcripts** (thread view with
per-turn usage/cost, skill-usage analytics, spawn/resume/interrupt live runs);
- catalogs **~/projects** (mounted at `/workspace/projects`; gallery + detail) and the repo's **services/** (static
parse of compose + Traefik configs — never Docker itself);
- surfaces the assistant's **memories** and the scaffolding **templates**;
- streams updates over SSE so the UI refreshes without a manual reload.
It is a **viewer**: it reads the repo context (mostly read-only mounts) and does
static parsing. It never drives Docker or mutates infrastructure. The only writes
are file edits into the mounted `.claude/` + `~/projects` trees and its own SQLite
store / metadata sidecar.
## Layout
- `backend/` — FastAPI app (`main:app`, port 8080). Serves `/api/*` and the built
PWA from `STATIC_DIR` (SPA catch-all mounted last by `main.create_app`).
One package per domain (see "Backend modules").
- `frontend/` — Vite + React + TS + Tailwind PWA. Built in the Dockerfile's first
stage into `/app/static`.
- `sidecar/` — a **host-side** FastAPI process (NOT in the container) that launches
`claude -p` sessions. See below.
- `Dockerfile` — 2 stages: build the React PWA, then a `python:3.12-slim` image
running `uvicorn`.
- `docker-compose.standalone.yml` — the generic, no-host-mounts shape (see
"Standalone mode" below). The homelab's compose service (profile `dev`,
container `ai-agent`, host-only port `127.0.0.1:8096:8080`, network `main`),
its Traefik router (`ai-agent.lab.gabvdl.xyz`, `auth-chain`) and the
blue-green `deploy.sh` + `deploy.override.yml` live in the homelab repo's
`services/ai-agent/` shim.
- `PROJECT_CLAUDE.md` — the **generic, host-agnostic** project working conventions
(worktree workflow, artefacts, plans, committing, the notify+`DONE` finish
signal), split out of the homelab root `CLAUDE.md` so the ai-agent can ship it
as the starting `CLAUDE.md` for a new project. Not this service's own guidance
(that's this file) — it's a shippable template with `{{…}}` placeholders.
- `data/` — SQLite DB, transcript archive, metadata sidecar, `ui-state.json`
(bind-mounted, gitignored).
### Backend modules
- `main.py` — the assembly only: `create_app()` installs the trusted-caller gate,
builds the shared state, mounts every domain router (`ROUTERS`, in the old
declaration order) and the SPA fallback; `_startup` starts the background
threads. No route lives here.
- **One package per domain**, each with a `routes.py` exposing an `APIRouter`
(and `service.py` / `catalog.py` / `store.py` modules behind it):
`core/` (config, auth gate, `_r`/`_json_in_worker` in `http.py`, the memo,
app-level routes: events / deploy-status / health), `files/` (bundle +
file editor, asset serving, uploads, custom avatar), `settings/` (ui-state,
hooks, webhooks, mail-trigger senders), `dashboards/` (dashboard, activity,
skills), `conversations/` (parser, pricing, cards, subagent tree, catalog,
routes, scaffold), `diff/`, `notifications/` (feed, pushes, asks),
`forms/`, `runs/` (sidecar client, the send path, spawn/resume/fork/interrupt),
`accounts/`, `workers/`, `models/`, `cron/`, `agents/`, `projects/`,
`services/`, `goals/`, `memories/`, `plans/`, `templates/`, `schemas/`.
A package whose flat module moved inside keeps its old spelling through a
barrel `__init__.py` (`import conversations`, `import projects`,
`import cron`… still work; the private names other modules used are
re-exported explicitly). Infrastructure shared by every domain stays flat:
`db.py`, `events.py`, `meta.py`, `indexer.py`, `fsscan.py`, `githist.py`,
`deploy_status.py`.
- **Shared state is injected, not imported.** `core/state.py` builds every
store, hub, watcher and mirror once (`build_state()` → `AppState`, a
dataclass attached to `app.state.ai`). A route declares `deps: State` (a
FastAPI dependency, excluded from OpenAPI) and a helper takes
`deps: AppState` as its first parameter; `deps.store`, `deps.hub`,
`deps.meta_store`… replace what used to be module globals. Module-level
caches (`_Memo`, the `_*_cache` tuples) stay where they are — they are keyed
on the store/meta versions, not on the state object. A test builds the app
the normal way and reads `main.app.state.ai` (see `test_worker_routing.py`).
- Keep a file under ~500 lines; the parser (`conversations/parse.py`) is the
deliberate exception — `ParserState` is one concern.
- `db.py` — SQLite store (WAL): `files` (content hash + real token count + cost +
word/char stats, computed lazily only when a file's hash changes), `skills`,
`transcripts` bookkeeping. Decoded transcript summaries are cached in-process
(`all_summaries()`/`get_summary()` return **read-only** dicts — copy before
mutating) and `summaries_version` bumps on change so request-level memoizers
(e.g. the project cost rollup) know when to recompute.
- `indexer.py` — background daemon: token/cost accounting (via the `count_tokens`
endpoint, debounced) + skill-usage mining from transcripts. Pricing consts here.
- `conversations/parse.py` — parse `*.jsonl` transcripts. `ParserState` is a **resumable**
parser (`feed(record)` + `summary()`); `parse_conversation(path, full=…)` is the
one-shot wrapper (cheap rollup vs. full thread). Real per-turn usage/cost from
`usage` blocks, plus the per-item metadata the viewer shows on each row:
`durationMs` (a tool call's run time — call → its result record; on a message,
the assistant API call's latency), `model`, `toolUseId`, `resultChars`/`resultLines`.
- `fsscan.py` — `os.scandir`-based directory walking. The poll loops re-walk
thousands of files every couple of seconds; `pathlib.rglob` allocates a `Path`
per entry and was a large chunk of idle CPU. Use this, not `rglob`, in any loop.
- `githist.py` — cached git history. `BucketedHistory` walks a repo's log **once**
(`git log --name-only -- <prefix>`) and buckets commits per directory, keyed on
the repo HEAD; `RepoLogCache` TTL-caches standalone project repos. Before this,
`/api/services` forked two `git log`s per service **per request** (11 s).
- `events.py` — `Hub` (SSE pub/sub) + `Watcher` (polls meta + live transcripts,
re-indexes, publishes `meta`/`transcript` events).
- `meta.py` — per-conversation action metadata JSON sidecar (projects, state,
committed/pushed/merged/deployed/notified timestamps), keyed by session id.
- `cron/scheduler.py` (+ `cron/service.py` for firing a job) — cron jobs: scheduled agent sessions (Settings → Cron). A job =
a 5-field cron schedule (dependency-free matcher, container-local time —
`TZ` in compose) + a prompt file under `.claude/agents/` whose content
(frontmatter stripped) is spawned as a session via the normal sidecar path;
each firing is recorded in the job's `history` (`{timestamp: sessionId}`)
and the conversation is tagged (`meta.cron` → violet badge linking back to
the job). **How a job runs is declared in that file's frontmatter** — see
below. Store is `/data/cron-jobs.json` (seeded with the every-5h
`goal-keeper` job on first run); the scheduler thread claims each fire
minute through the store, so the deploy-cutover window where two backends
share `/data` can't double-spawn. REST under `/api/cron` (+ `/run`,
`/prompt`); mutations and fires publish a `cron` SSE event.
- `diff/gitdiff.py` / `diff/worktreediff.py` / `diff/editsdiff.py` — the **diff view** (`/diff/*`),
in three layers. `gitdiff` does committed history: recent commits per repo
token (`project:<slug>` | `service:<slug>` | `super:_`), one commit's hunk
model, the net diff across a conversation's commits, and the discovery of
*which* commits a conversation produced (its active time window, plus
`main..<worktree branch>`; cached in the DB by a fingerprint of the repo
HEADs). The other two answer "what isn't committed yet":
- `worktreediff` — a **real** `git diff HEAD` (+ untracked files) read from
the conversation's still-live worktree. A worktree's `.git` file points at a
*host* path, so it maps the host repo root onto the mounted one and drives
git with an explicit `--git-dir`/`--work-tree` pair. Needs the worktrees root
mounted (`WORKTREES_DIR`, `/worktrees` in the homelab compose); without it
every lookup misses and the replay below takes over.
- `editsdiff` — the fallback for a torn-down worktree: the same view *replayed*
from the transcript's `structuredPatch`/`originalFile` payloads, hence
`approx: true`. Paths from the homelab checkout, a `~/projects/<slug>` repo
and either flavour of worktree all normalise onto the repo-relative paths
that repo token's git commands use.
- `conversations/scaffold.py` — the completion scaffold (`GET /api/conversations/{id}/scaffold`):
a conversation reduced to markdown — metadata, its prompts, merged
bash/tool/subagent summaries, and one squashed diff across every commit it
produced (via `gitdiff`) — with `## Summary` and `## Analysis` left blank for
the model. `PUT …/summary` publishes the filled version onto `meta.summary`.
The CLI wrapper is `scripts/conv-scaffold.sh`.
- `accounts/profiles.py` — the **Claude account** profiles (`personal`, `work`),
hard-coded, and the resolution order that gives every conversation a
`meta.account`. See "Claude accounts" below.
- `models/catalog.py` — the models a session can run on (`GET /api/models`). Fetched from
the Anthropic API (`/v1/models`, same key the token counter uses) and cached
in-process for 6h, then reduced to **the newest of each family** (`opus`,
`sonnet`, `haiku`, `fable` — older snapshots are dropped, so the tag row stays
four chips) with the CLI alias attached. A newly released model appears in the
composer with no code change. Falls back to a small static list when the key is
missing or the call fails.
- `models/openrouter.py` — the **OpenRouter catalogue** (`GET /api/models/openrouter`):
every model a pi.dev session can run on, with its $/Mtok (input / output /
cache-read), context window, parameter size and capability tags. The data is
**APPE's** (`appe.dev.gabvdl.xyz/api/models/openrouter.json`, a daily
models.dev sync), cached in-process for 6h with a disk copy under `/data` so a
restart with no network still lists models. Deliberately separate from
`/api/models`: that endpoint is the composer's short chip list, this is the few
hundred rows the model browser searches. It also **prices** pi sessions —
`conversations.rates_for()` reads a model's real rates from here instead of the
flat qwen estimate, and only an id the catalogue doesn't know falls back.
- `notifications/audio.py` — the sound a notification made, replayable in the browser
(`POST /api/notifications/audio` → a WAV, behind the ▶ button on an expanded
notification card). There is **no synthesizer here**: it POSTs to the homelab
phone service's `/render` (`services/phone/bridge/`), which composes exactly
what it would have dialled — the per-type jazz jingle, then the spoken line in
the cloned French voice — so the card and the handset can never drift apart.
Results are memoized per `(spoken, type)`. `--spoken` only became mandatory
recently, so a push without one falls back to reading its own title + message,
minus the screen-only parts (notify.sh's cost footer, URLs, emoji).
- `settings/ui_state.py` — server-side store (`/data/ui-state.json`) for the PWA's small
client state (Settings config + notification feed seen/new bookkeeping), moved
off browser localStorage so it follows the user across devices. Dumb key→string
map: the key is a Zustand `persist` store name, the value its opaque serialized
blob. Served by `GET/PUT/DELETE /api/ui-state/{key}`; the frontend points its
`persist` stores at it via `frontend/src/lib/serverStorage.ts`.
- `settings/mail_trigger.py` — server-side store (`/data/mail-trigger-senders.json`) for
Settings → Mail trigger (`/settings/mail-trigger`): emails allowed to start a
conversation by mailing claude@gabvdl.xyz, on top of the mail service's own
`MAIL_TRIGGER_SENDERS` env-var seed. Served by `GET/PUT /api/mail-trigger-senders`
as two lists — `emails` (allowed) and `disabled` (kept in the list, switched
off by the card's toggle; the mail service only ever reads `emails`).
The homelab's `services/mail` container mounts this same `/data` directory
read-only and hashes the file every poll cycle — see
`services/mail/CLAUDE.md` → "Authorized senders" for the other half.
- `projects/catalog.py` / `services/catalog.py` — projects gallery / services catalog
(static parsing); `projects/costs.py` the per-project spend rollup.
- `dashboards/skills.py` — the skills catalog behind `/api/skills` (the `/skills` page): a
disk scan of every `.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md` (repo + each project's)
joined with the transcript-mined usage. `/api/skills` returns the **union** of
disk skills and invoked-skill names, so a built-in/plugin skill with no
`SKILL.md` here still shows up (`sourceKind: "builtin"`, no editor link).
Per skill: calls, distinct conversations, last-used, context tokens/cost
(loading its dir once), `estSpend` = context × calls, and the coarser
`sessionCost` (whole spend of every conversation that invoked it). Usage is
keyed by bare skill name — the identity `Skill(name)` itself uses — so a
project-local skill sharing a repo skill's name shares its counts.
- `agents/catalog.py` — the **agents** catalog behind `/api/agents` (the `/agents` page),
the same page shape as skills for `.claude/agents/**/*.md`: a disk scan
(frontmatter `name`/`description`/`tools` + the `harness`/`model`/`effort`
run-config keys) unioned with the agent types the transcripts saw run, so a
built-in type (`Explore`, `general-purpose`) shows up as `sourceKind:
"builtin"`.
**The money here is measured, not estimated**: an agent run is a whole
conversation, so `agents.runs._build_agent_runs` joins two origins into one run list
— a **subagent** run (a sidechain transcript whose `agent-*.meta.json` names
the `agentType`, credited to its parent conversation) and a **session** run
(`cron.py` fires a definition as a top-level `claude -p`; the agent page's
"Run now" does the same and stamps `agentRun` into the metadata sidecar).
`POST /api/agents/{name}/run` is that button; scheduling reuses `POST /api/cron`
with the definition as the prompt file.
- `dashboards/activity.py` — the activity dashboard (`/api/activity`, the `/dashboards/activity`
page): **when** the agents ran, as opposed to what they cost. Three rollups in
one pass over the stored summaries — per local day (the contribution graph),
per 5-minute slot per model (the day histogram, as positional
`[slot, modelIndex, agents]` triples), and per model (runs / working time /
tokens / cost). The per-turn half is already done by the parser: each summary
carries `activeBins` (model id → the 5-minute bins that run produced a turn
in), so a rollup never re-reads a transcript. **Bins are epoch-absolute UTC**;
every entry point takes a `tzOffset` (minutes east of UTC, straight from the
browser) and buckets local days against it — the one representation that
survives a DST change. An *agent run* is one transcript, conversation or
subagent alike; the heatmap's intensity is deliberately conversations only,
while the histogram and per-model stats count every run.
- `goals/goalmd.py` — a dir's `GOAL.md` (the north star the `goal-keeper` cron agent pushes
forward), shared by both catalogs: `goal_summary()` returns the `{done, total}`
checklist rollup that tags a card, `goal_detail()` adds the markdown for the
detail page. Counting skips fenced code blocks, so a `- [ ]` inside a snippet
isn't mistaken for a real task. No GOAL.md ⇒ `goal: null` (a valid state).
- `memories/store.py` — surfaces the assistant's per-repo memory files (frontmatter).
- `templates/catalog.py` — browse `~/projects/templates/` scaffolds.
- `schemas/` — Pydantic response models mirroring `frontend/src/types.ts`. They
drive the OpenAPI schema (and thus the generated frontend types) but are
**documentation-only**: attached to routes via `responses={200: {"model": …}}`
(helper `_r()` in `core/http.py`), never `response_model`, so FastAPI serves them in
`/openapi.json` without validating or filtering the handlers' actual dicts.
One module per API area (`conversations`, `projects`, `cron`, `agents`,
`notifications`, `misc`, …) on a shared `base.Schema`; `__init__.py` re-exports
every model, so handlers keep writing `schemas.ConversationDetail`. Modules
import across each other with relative imports and must stay cycle-free —
`PlanSummary` lives in `conversations.py` (not `plans.py`) for that reason.
### API types are generated (orval)
The frontend's API DTOs are **generated from the backend's OpenAPI spec**, not
hand-maintained. Flow: `backend/schemas/` → `frontend/openapi.json` (a dumped
spec, committed) → orval → `frontend/src/generated/` (committed) → re-exported by
`frontend/src/types.ts` under their original names. `types.ts` keeps only the
non-API helpers (`TreeNode`, `FileKind`, `ServiceAuth`).
- **After changing a backend response shape**, update the matching model in
`schemas/`, re-dump `frontend/openapi.json` from the app's `app.openapi()`,
then `cd frontend && npm run gen:api` to regenerate, and `npx tsc --noEmit` to
surface fallout. Generated optionals are `T | null` (Pydantic `Optional`), so
widen consumers to accept `null` — the app runs unchanged; only `tsc` cares.
- The Docker build doesn't regenerate (no backend at build time) — it relies on
the committed `src/generated/` tree, so **commit regenerated output**.
- There's no venv on the host, so re-dump the spec with the service's own image:
```bash
docker run --rm --entrypoint python -v "$PWD:/svc" -w /svc/backend \
-e DB_PATH=/tmp/x.db -e TRANSCRIPTS_DIR=/tmp -e WORKSPACE=/tmp -e REPO_DIR=/tmp \
homelab-ai-agent -c \
"import json, os, main; json.dump(main.app.openapi(), open('/svc/frontend/openapi.json','w'), indent=2); os._exit(0)"
```
Both odd-looking bits are load-bearing: **`--entrypoint python`** because the
image's entrypoint (`docker-entrypoint.sh`) otherwise ignores the command and
boots the server, and **`os._exit(0)`** because importing `main` starts the
indexer/watcher threads, so a normal exit hangs waiting on them.
It runs as root, so delete the `backend/__pycache__` it leaves behind (a
root-owned dir will otherwise block `git worktree remove`).
### The mock backend (`frontend/src/mock/`) — demo + test without the API
The frontend ships an **in-browser mock backend** that sits behind those same
generated DTOs, so the PWA can be demoed and automatically tested with no
FastAPI, no sidecar and no transcripts on disk. Turn it on with `?mock=1` on any
URL (sticky until `?mock=0` — works against the deployed app too) or build/serve
with `VITE_MOCK=1` (`npm run dev:mock`); a `MOCK API` badge marks the mode.
It swaps `window.fetch` (every `/api/*` route) and `window.EventSource`
(`/api/events`, same `meta`/`transcript` events as `backend/events.py`) for
versions served from an in-memory, localStorage-persisted database. Writes really
mutate it, and **spawn/resume/interrupt actually run**: a scripted turn streams
into the conversation item by item over SSE, then stamps the notification + `DONE`
that mark it finished.
The seed is **combinatorial** — the cross-product of every field the UI branches
on (conversation harness × state × lifecycle × archived, every `ThreadItemKind`
and tool card, every `FileEntryKind`, every service auth, every plan status,
every `FileDiffStatus`/`DiffLineType`) — so every visual state is reachable from
a cold load, and it is deterministic (fixed clock, no RNG). Test hooks live on
`window.__mock` (`db()`, `reset()`, `speed()`, `flush()`).
Two rules keep it useful: install it **before the app tree is imported**
(`main.tsx` → dynamic `./mock`, then dynamic `./root`; the server-backed Zustand
stores fetch at import time), and type the seed rows with the **generated**
models — a backend schema change then breaks the seed at `tsc` time instead of
letting the mock drift. Details in `frontend/src/mock/README.md`.
### Every new piece of conversation data gets a visibility toggle
The conversation page has an eye-icon **visibility popover** (`components/
VisibilityPopover.tsx`, switches + store in `lib/visibility.ts`) — a scrollable,
grouped list of switches for everything the page renders: per-item metadata
(price, tokens, duration, timestamp, model, tool id, result size, diff stat),
content (thinking blocks, tool cards, run-command cards, tool output, rich
widgets, error states) and gizmos (task panel, fast-forward, animations). State
persists server-side via `ui-state` under the key `ai-agent-visibility`, so a
reading setup follows the user across devices.
**When you add anything to a message, a tool card or the conversation chrome,
add its switch too** — a new metadata field, a new inline widget, a new floating
gizmo, a new animation. It is not optional: the thread is dense, and every
addition has to be something the user can turn back off.
To add one: append a `VisItem` to the right group in `VIS_GROUPS`
(`lib/visibility.ts`) — the `VisKey` union, the popover list and the persisted
state all derive from that array — then gate the render on `useVis()` (or
`useVisible(key)` for a single switch). The store records only what's *hidden*,
so a newly added switch starts ON for everyone with no migration.
### "Waiting for feedback" — the home page's answer queue
The home page opens with the one list that is waiting on *the user*: every
**pending form** (`forms.py`, the `ask-form` skill) and every **pending ask**
(`notify.py`, the `notify-done` skill's tappable choice), above the Running rail
and the notification feed. `lib/waiting.ts` merges the two sources and joins
each question to its conversation by `sessionId`; the section
(`conversations/components/WaitingForFeedback.tsx`) renders it **amber with a
spinner** while that session is still running and **red** once it isn't, and
reports the conversation ids it showed so the Running rail below skips them.
Three things make that work, and each is easy to break:
- **Both skills must stamp `sessionId`.** It is the only link back to a
conversation — a question with no session still renders, but as an orphan
card. `ask.sh` resolves it the same way `notify.sh` and `ask-form.sh` do
(`$CLAUDE_SESSION_ID`, else conv-meta's `resolve-session.sh`).
- **A question can be older than the loaded page.** The home list is the first
~50 conversations, so `GET /api/conversations?sessions=a,b,c` resolves exactly
the ids a first pass missed (archived included, no paging). Never reach for
`limit=0` here — the full lite list is ~1.5 MB for one title.
- **Both kinds are answerable in place.** A form flips `?form=<id>` and the
page's own `<FormModal/>` opens it full-screen (no navigation); an ask POSTs
to `/api/ask/{id}/answer` — the very endpoint the phone's tapped button
uses, so the agent's long-poll wakes either way.
An ask the backend still calls `pending` past its `expiresAt` is filtered out
client-side: `notify.py` only flips a lapsed ask to `expired` when *that* ask is
read, so the list would otherwise keep showing dead questions.
### Answering questions inside the conversation thread
Every question kind an agent can ask has an **in-thread widget**, so it is
answerable from the conversation itself, not only from the home queue or the
phone. `Conversation.tsx`'s `groupThread` pulls each one out of the collapsed
tool group (gated by the **Form cards** visibility switch):
| how the agent asks | parser → widget | answer goes to |
|---|---|---|
| `ask-form …` (rich form: text/select/slider/file/date…) | `parseAskForm` → `forms/components/FormWidget.tsx` | `POST /api/forms/{id}/submit` |
| `notify-ask …` / `ask.sh` (2–3-button choice) | `parseAsk` → `notifications/components/AskWidget.tsx` | `POST /api/ask/{id}/answer` |
| a plan's `## Questions` json fence | `PlanQuestionsForm` (on the plan page) | the plan's form |
`AskWidget` resolves the ask record from the `ASK_ID=` stdout (a
`--background` ask) or the id on a `notify-ask wait <id>` call (Bash *or*
Monitor); a blocking ask with no id is matched in the notify log by question
text + nearest time. Its query key sits under `QK.notifyLog`, so the SSE
`notification` event refreshes the card the instant any surface answers.
`AskUserQuestion` stays a read-only card: it is disabled in spawns, and a
Claude Code process has no channel to take its answer from the viewer.
### Deep-linking a prompt into the composer (`?q=` / `?qt=`)
Any page URL can arrive with a prompt already written for it:
```
https://ai-agent.lab.gabvdl.xyz/?q=Deploy%20the%20lab&qt=project:homelab,skill:open-pr
https://ai-agent.lab.gabvdl.xyz/files?q=Summarise%20today&qt=radar
```
`q` is the prompt text, `qt` a CSV of tags to switch on — a full chip id
(`project:homelab`, `service:gitea`, `skill:open-pr`, a guideline's id) **or the
bare slug** (`homelab`, `open-pr`), matched case-insensitively, because a link
written by hand shouldn't have to know which namespace a name lives in. Either
param works alone. A selector that matches nothing is ignored, so a link naming
a since-renamed project still delivers its prompt.
Nothing is **sent**: the draft sits in the composer for a read-over and a tap on
send. A URL that spawned outright would be a GET that starts an agent run — one
stale bookmark or link preview away from a session nobody asked for.
Three things make it work, in `business/composer/useSpawnUrlPrompt.ts`:
- **It is read in `GlobalSpawn`, not in the composer.** The composer is
unmounted on half the pages a link can point at (desktop-docked shows only a
launcher button off the home feed); `GlobalSpawn` is the one always-mounted
host. It calls `openWith`, which surfaces the composer as well as filling it.
- **The params are stripped afterwards** (`setSearchParams(…, {replace: true})`,
the same one-shot treatment `?form=` gets), so a refresh or a Back/Forward
can't re-stomp what has since been typed.
- **A deep link overwrites a draft in progress; the in-app buttons don't.** That
is the `replace` flag on `SpawnPrefill` (`lib/spawnDock.ts`) — the Goals
checklist's Work button and the Plan page's Implement button still stand down
when something is already typed. Following a link *with a prompt in it* is a
deliberate act, and silently dropping it is the worse surprise.
The tag half is the fiddly part. **RichInput owns its selection** — there is no
`setTags` on `RichInputHandle` — so a preselection can only get in as `defaultOn`
flags on the tags themselves (`withPreselect`, `lib/richComposer.tsx`). Hence the
two-step consume in `SpawnComposer`: one commit to put the flags on
`composerTags`, the next to `clear()` the composer onto them. That `clear()` is
load-bearing twice over — it re-seeds the selection from the fresh `defaultOn`
flags, *and* it drops the `cacheKey="spawn"` draft, whose own remembered tag ids
RichInput otherwise re-applies over the selection every time the tag list grows
(and it grows: locations arrive from `/api/projects` after the first paint).
`useSpawnUrlPrompt.test.tsx` pins all three cases — preselected on, un-named tag
left off, cached draft overwritten.
### Fixed lists are rearrangeable: `HoldEditable` + `useListOrder`
Small lists of links, chips or cards are user-arrangeable by **holding** one for
1.4s: it lifts out of the flow and follows the pointer, the rest of the group
starts jumping (iOS-springboard style), dragging into a neighbour's slot hands
it over, and releasing drops it there and ends edit mode. All of it lives in
`technical/ui/HoldEditable.tsx` — pointer-events only (one code path for mouse
and touch) and a body-level portal for the lifted item so nothing clips it. It's
layout-agnostic: the group's flex/grid classes come from the caller, so the same
component drives a horizontal navbar and a vertical panel (one row or column —
not a wrapping grid).
**The DOM order never changes during a drag.** Slots are measured once at pickup
and the rearrangement is expressed purely as transforms; only the drop commits a
real reorder, once the pointer is gone. This is load-bearing, not tidiness:
reordering live means React moves the pressed node — and re-renders whichever
item now sits in a position-dependent slot, like the navbar's raised centre tab —
and **a browser cancels the touch whose target left the document**, so the drag
died on the first hand-over. For the same reason the held item's (invisible)
in-slot copy keeps rendering with the props it had before the pickup: its node
must not be replaced. Freezing the DOM also fixes the geometry, so hit-testing
needs no re-measuring and no animation lock, and a fast drag can't outrun the
shuffle.
```tsx
const [tabs, setTabs] = useListOrder("nav", TABS, tabKey); // lib/listOrder.ts
<HoldEditable items={tabs} getKey={tabKey} onReorder={setTabs} className="flex …">
{(tab, { index, held, editing }) => <Tab …/>}
</HoldEditable>
```
For a list that *is* the data (prompt shortcuts), pass the array and write it
back. For a list hard-coded in the app, `useListOrder(name, items, getKey)`
persists only the order, as ids, under `settings.listOrders[name]`, and
reconciles it against the code list on read — so adding, renaming or removing an
entry in a later release can never strand or duplicate an item. Already wired:
the bottom navbar (`nav`), the dashboards / settings / files drawer panels, and
the prompt-shortcut cards.
A hold ends in a click, so `HoldEditable` swallows the click that closes a drag —
otherwise rearranging the navbar would also navigate. Presses that start inside
an `input`/`textarea`/`select`/`[contenteditable]` (or anything marked
`data-hold-editable-ignore`) never pick up.
Travel during the hold cancels it **only for a finger** (>12px), where it means
"I'm scrolling, not holding". A mouse is deliberately exempt: it can't scroll
with the button down, and a hand resting on one drifts far more than that over
1.4s — cancelling on drift made hold-to-drag impossible on desktop. The pickup
then happens wherever the cursor ended up, not where it went down.
### Settings lists share one card: `technical/ItemCard.tsx`
Every settings list — Cron jobs, Workers, Webhooks, Mail trigger, Claude
accounts (each a page of its own under `/settings/<name>`, routed in `root.tsx`
and listed in `nav.ts` + the drawer's `SettingsPanel`) — renders its items with
the same `ItemCard`: a collapsed header row (chevron · icon · title · chips ·
optional `aside` · optional toggle) that expands on tap into a body holding the
editable fields, the actions and the item's detail. The conventions, so a new
list looks like the others without re-deriving them:
- **The toggle is in the header and applies immediately** (optimistic cache
flip + rollback on error, like `optimisticCronEnabled`), independent of any
unsaved edits in the body. What it means is per list: cron = fires or not,
worker = routing, webhook = forwarded to or not, mail sender = allowed or not
(kept in a `disabled` list the mail service never reads). Accounts have none.
- **Edits are explicit**: fields in the body hold a draft and a `SaveButton`
appears only while dirty — no autosave on blur.
- **Delete lives at the bottom of the open body** (`BTN_DANGER`, pushed right)
behind `useConfirm`, never in the collapsed row.
- **Add** is the dashed `AddButton` under the list, which swaps for a
`NewItemFrame` form; `EmptyNotice` / `ListLoading` / `ListError` /
`PageIntro` / `ListPageBody` are the page-level pieces.
- Inputs and buttons use the exported class strings (`INPUT`, `INPUT_MONO`,
`SELECT`, `BTN_PRIMARY`, `BTN_ACTION`, `BTN_GHOST`, `BTN_DANGER`) and
`Field` for a labelled control, so the bodies match without copy-pasting
Tailwind. `SettingRow` is the title + help + control row the plain Settings
page (display, avatar) and the account cards share.
`/settings#webhooks`, `#mail-trigger` and `#subscription` were the old in-page
anchors; `Settings.tsx` forwards them (with `?login=`) to the new pages.
## Performance: what the hot paths cost, and the rules that keep them cheap
This service polls the filesystem continuously and serves lists built from ~900
transcripts, so the naive version of almost anything here is quadratic. Seven
rules, each of which was once a real regression:
1. **Never walk the workspace (or the transcript dirs) per request or per tick.**
The file catalog comes from the `files` table; the discovery walk is cached in
the indexer (`_exposed_files`, refreshed every `WALK_INTERVAL_SECS`, forced on
save). The watcher tells the indexer *which* transcripts changed
(`scan_transcripts(only=…)`), so a live turn re-parses one file instead of
re-walking ~2 600. Walk with `fsscan.walk_files`, never `rglob`.
2. **Never re-parse a whole transcript to see what was appended.** A live session
writes every couple of seconds; the indexer keeps a `ParserState` per growing
transcript and feeds it only the new lines (byte offset in `Indexer._live`).
Re-parsing from byte 0 each tick is O(n²) over a session.
3. **Never shell out to git per item.** Both catalogs share one HEAD-keyed history
walk (`githist`).
4. **Never send content you don't need.** `/api/bundle` is metadata-only (content
loads per-file via `/api/file`); `/api/conversations` is paginated + lite
(`usage`/`byToolSub` only under `full=1`, which only the analytics dashboard
asks for); an SSE `transcript` ping patches **one row** via
`/api/conversation-summary` instead of refetching the list.
5. **Memoize whole-catalog builds on the version key, through `_Memo`.** Every
SSE-driven refetch lands right after a transcript write, i.e. right after a
`summaries_version` bump — so a hand-rolled check-then-build cache misses in
*every* concurrent request at once and each one rebuilds the same thing (N
open clients = N× the CPU, all on one GIL). `_Memo.get(key)` is
single-flight: the rest wait for the first build. Cards, agent runs and
agents-by-conversation go through it; a card's `state` also depends on the
clock, so the cards key carries a 15 s time bucket. The memoized list is
shared — copy before sorting it.
6. **Keep per-summary helpers O(1).** Anything called once per summary per
build runs ~2 000× a request: `pathlib.relative_to` was 0.24 ms a call and
alone made `_conv_id` half the list's cost — the path helpers are
`lru_cache`d. `MetaStore.peek` is lock-free (entries are replaced, never
mutated) and `.items()` is the no-copy sweep; `.all()` deep-copies 1.4 MB.
7. **Don't let FastAPI encode big bodies on the event loop.** A handler
returning a dict is serialized by pure-Python `jsonable_encoder` *on the
loop thread* (5–10× slower than `json.dumps`), and while it runs nothing is
served, `/api/health` included. Heavy GETs wear `@_json_in_worker`, which
returns a ready `JSONResponse` from the worker thread. When the loop is
starved the symptom is `/api/health` taking seconds.
Re-measure with `scripts/bench-lists.sh [backend-dir]` (a data snapshot in a
throwaway `--network none` container; pass a worktree's `backend/` to compare
against the deployed image). On 2 210 transcripts, one transcript write then
cost the list 526 ms → 111 ms, the per-row summary 312 ms → 47 ms, eight
clients refetching together 7.1 s → 0.18 s, and an unchanged re-request
214 ms → 1 ms. Before that fix the live box sat at a pinned core with
`/api/health` at 43 s and the list at 80 s: requests queued past the client's
patience and every refetch added more.
Measured on the real archive (898 transcripts / 458 MB): `/api/bundle` 12.5 s →
26 ms, `/api/services` 11.2 s → <1 s cold / 0.5 s warm, `/api/projects` 3.4 s →
0.35 s, the conversation list 1.3 MB → 89 KB, and idle CPU **~58% → ~7%** while a
session streams. If you add a feature here, check it against the four rules — and
re-measure, don't assume.
## Security: the trusted-caller gate
The backend has no auth of its own — Authelia guards it at Traefik. But the
container also sits on the shared `main` docker network, where a `PUT /api/file`
into `.claude/` (hooks!) or a `POST /api/spawn` is **host-level code execution**.
So `core/auth.py` installs a middleware that answers `/api/*` only for: Traefik (resolved
from `TRAEFIK_HOST`), the docker gateway (how host-originated connections to the
published `127.0.0.1:8096` port appear), localhost, or a caller presenting
`INTERNAL_API_TOKEN`. Everything else gets 403; `/api/health` stays open for the
deploy probe.
**Read-only API keys** (`READONLY_API_KEY`, comma-separated) are the one
credential that is *checked before* the trusted-IP path: a caller presenting a
matching `X-API-Key` is allowed **safe methods only** (GET/HEAD/OPTIONS) and any
mutating method is 403 — even from an otherwise-trusted source IP. That downgrade
is the point: the desk **phone** reaches the backend over the trusted host
loopback but must only ever *read* (it fetches `GET /api/notifications/unread` to
read notifications aloud), never spawn a session or PUT into `.claude/`. The
unread endpoint is a pure read — it never advances the read ledger
(`notif_read.py` / `/data/notif-read.json`); only the PWA opening/dismissing a
card (or `POST /api/notifications/seen`) marks notifications read. Assets served from repo/user bytes (`/api/data-asset`,
`/api/upload-file`, …) go out `nosniff` and, unless they're an allow-listed
raster image or video, `Content-Disposition: attachment` — an uploaded
`.html`/`.svg` must never execute on the app's origin.
## The runner: same sidecar, two places it can run
`sidecar/sidecar.py` is the only thing that launches `claude -p`. It runs in one
of two places, and the backend doesn't know the difference — it just POSTs to
`SIDECAR_URL`:
- **On the homelab host** (the default, below): a run then has the host user's
own auth, hooks, skills and CLAUDE.md — i.e. it is exactly a session started
from a terminal. This is why the homelab keeps it.
- **Inside the container** (`RUNNER_IN_CONTAINER=1`, the standalone default):
the image bakes in the Claude Code CLI (a self-contained native binary — see
the Dockerfile) and `docker-entrypoint.sh` starts the *same* sidecar module on
`127.0.0.1:8790`, mints a `SIDECAR_TOKEN` if none was given, and overrides
`SIDECAR_URL` to point at it. The CLI's `$HOME` is `RUNNER_HOME`
(`/data/home`, on the data volume), so its config, credentials and the
transcripts it writes survive a restart; `RUNNER_TRANSCRIPTS_DIR` (defaulted
from it) is added to the backend's live `SOURCE_DIRS`, which is what makes an
in-container session stream into the viewer like any other. Auth is
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`, or an already-logged-in Claude home mounted at
`RUNNER_HOME` (`-v ~/.claude:/data/home/.claude`). Remote control is off by
default there (it needs an interactive login).
That's GOAL.md's "single Docker container": a standalone image spawns sessions
with no host process. Keep it that way — a new runner feature belongs in
`sidecar.py`, not in a host script.
### The host sidecar (what the homelab runs)
`sidecar/sidecar.py` runs **natively on the host as the repo owner** and the
backend proxies to it over `host.docker.internal:8790` (Bearer `SIDECAR_TOKEN`):
- `POST /api/spawn` → sidecar `/spawn`: `claude -p <prompt> --session-id <uuid>
--model <model> --remote-control` (detached). Transcript lands in the watched
projects dir and the new conversation shows up in the viewer within ~2s.
- `POST /api/resume` / `POST /api/interrupt` → continue / SIGINT an existing run.
`model` is the `claude --model` argument the composer's **model tag** carries — a
family alias (`opus`) for a family's newest model, or a pinned id
(`claude-opus-4-5-20251101`) for an older one. Unset on spawn ⇒ `SIDECAR_MODEL`
(default `opus`); unset on resume ⇒ no `--model` flag, so the session keeps its
own. The sidecar only shape-checks the value (it goes on a command line) — the
pickable set is whatever `/api/models` returned.
### Background work in a headless run (stop guard, wait ceiling, inbox)
A `claude -p` process **ends when the model ends its turn** — and the model
routinely ends it with "I'll pick this up when the build / subagent reports
back". What happens to that background work then (measured on CLI 2.1.280,
`sidecar/stop_guard.py` has the details):
| background task | the CLI on exit | the sidecar's answer |
|-----------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------|
| `Bash run_in_background` (shell) | **killed at once** — `local_bash` tasks are excluded from the exit wait | `stop_guard.py`, a **Stop hook** injected via `--settings` on every run (spawn / resume / fork): while a running plain shell is left, it holds the stop — polling the task's `tasks/<id>.output` for the CLI's `[exited with code N]` marker, **no API call** — then returns `block` with "your task finished, its output is at …". Monitors are excluded (the CLI waits for those). Budget `STOP_GUARD_MAX_WAIT_S` (55 min) per hold, then the model is told what's still running and asked to TaskStop it or end its turn again. Hook timeout `SIDECAR_STOP_GUARD_TIMEOUT_S` (3600); `SIDECAR_STOP_GUARD=0` disables. Its lines: `sidecar/logs/<sid>.guard.log` (hook stderr never reaches the run log); the hold renders as a compact *held* tag (`kind: "held"`). |
| background subagent, Monitor | waited for, but only **`CLAUDE_CODE_PRINT_BG_WAIT_CEILING_MS`** (CLI default 600000 = 10 min — "Background tasks still running after 600s; terminating" in the run log) | exported into every run from `SIDECAR_BG_WAIT_CEILING_MS` (default **7200000**, 2 h; `0` = indefinitely, `""` = the CLI default) |
This is what made a conversation "stuck": the run had exited, nothing could
report, and the next `--resume` opened with a *didn't finish before the
previous session ended* notification. 44 such events in 26 conversations
(Sep–Oct 2026), every one a clean exit.
**Follow-ups into a live run** (`/message`). Now that runs legitimately stay
alive for an hour, a "Up?" must not kill them. `_send_message` first POSTs the
prompt to the sidecar's `/message`, which writes it into the run's
cross-session **inbox socket** (the CLI's `<config dir>/sessions/<pid>.json` →
`messagingSocketPath`; runs are launched with `crossSessionInbound: accept` in
the same `--settings`). The model reads it between tool calls, or at once when
idle-waiting, and the background work survives. The CLI records it as a peer
message ("Another Claude session sent a message … not typed by your user"), so
the sidecar prefixes the text (`INBOX_PREFIX`) and `conversations._unwrap_inbox`
shows the plain user turn. Only a 404 (nothing live ⇒ plain resume) or a 409
`inbox_unavailable` (a pi run, an older CLI ⇒ the old stop-then-`--resume`)
falls back. A model / thinking / effort switch does **not** apply through the
inbox; the Stop button then a resume does.
One more hole the tests found: the socket *accepts and drops* a message while
the session sits in a Stop hook — i.e. exactly during a guard hold. So the
hook writes `logs/<sid>.hold` for the hold's duration, `/message` checks it
first and, when present, leaves the text in `logs/<sid>.inbox/`
(`delivered: "hold"`); the hook polls that mailbox every poll, ends the hold at
once and relays the text in its block reason between `<<<USER MESSAGE>>>` /
`<<<END USER MESSAGE>>>` fences (`conversations._relayed_message` shows it as
the user's turn), telling the model what is still running and to end its turn
again afterwards so the hold resumes.
### Model tags
Models are a first-class tag on both sides of the app (`frontend/src/lib/models.tsx`):
picking one in a composer (a mutually-exclusive chip per model — RichInput's
`exclusive` key, added in `@gabvdl/ui` ≥0.11) runs that session on it and the
toolbar echoes the choice; the pick is sticky (`spawnModel` in Settings, stored
server-side). Reading back, a conversation is tagged with every model that
actually produced a turn — `conversations/parse.py` collects them (`models`, busiest
first; a session can switch mid-thread), so past conversations are tagged too
(bump `PARSER_VERSION` to force the re-parse that back-fills a new summary field).
Subagent models are appended after the thread's own (`_with_child_models` in
`conversations/tree.py`), so `models[0]` stays the main thread's busiest.
**Switching mid-thread.** `model` is the *first* model a thread ran on; the one
it is on now is `contextModel` (the last turn's) — that is what the resume
composer, header and fork menu seed from. A switch is sticky (an untouched
resume sends no `--model` and the CLI keeps the session's last one). Sending a
switch goes through a confirm (`lib/modelSwitch.ts` → `useConfirm`, which needs
the `ModalProvider` in `root.tsx`): a new model re-reads the whole context
uncached (priced as a cache write on it), and claude ⇄ pi starts **blank** —
the two harnesses keep separate session stores. The thread draws a "switched
a → b" divider above the message whose answer came from a new model.
### The tag registry (Settings → Tags)
Tags are **derived, never authored** (`frontend/src/lib/tags.ts`): `useTags()`
aggregates the projects/services on disk, the stack + `package.json` keywords a
project declares, the skills/agents catalogs, and every mention carried by a
conversation, memory, plan or project-local skill into one list of
`<kind>:<slug>` tags with per-source counts. Nothing creates, renames or deletes
a tag — rename a directory and the tag follows; a tag that is referenced but has
no directory is flagged `exists: false` rather than hidden, since that is usually
a rename something still points at.
Two axes: **where** work happened (`project`/`service`/`stack`) and **what it was
done with** (`skill`/`agent`). The tool axis is mined from the transcripts, not
declared — a conversation card carries `skillsUsed` (the `Skill(…)` calls, its
subagents' included, since a child transcript is never listed on its own) and
`agentsUsed` (built in `conversations.catalog._agents_by_conversation` from the same run list the
agents catalog counts, so a card can't disagree with the agent page: a subagent
run keys to its *parent* conversation, a cron/manual agent session to the
conversation it is). Population is "everything on disk + the built-ins that
actually ran", straight off the two catalogs, so a built-in skill/agent is a tag
with `exists: false` and no file to open. Those pills render on the conversation
**detail** only (`SkillTags`/`AgentTags` in `ConvMetaBits`, capped at 5 with an
expanding `+N`) — the list cards stay about location.
What a human *does* own is a tag's presentation, stored per id in the settings
store's `tagMeta` bag (server-side, like the rest of Settings): **colour** (a key
into `TAG_COLORS`, `lib/tagStyles.ts`), **icon** (a key into the curated
`TAG_ICONS` set, `lib/tagIcons.tsx`) and **description**. Unset fields fall back
to the tag kind's shipped look — projects primary/`Tag`, services sky/`Server`,
stacks violet/`Blocks`, skills amber/`Wrench`, agents emerald/`Bot` — which is
why an untouched homelab looks exactly as it did before the page existed.
`useTagPresentation()` is the queryless resolver every surface uses, so a tag
looks the same on a conversation card (`ConvMetaBits`), in a memory/plan list,
and as a composer chip (`lib/richComposer.tsx`). The description matters most in
the composer: it's the text that goes out in the prompt's `Work in the following
homelab location(s):` bullet, so editing it here changes what a spawned agent
actually reads — the Tags editor previews that exact line.
Skill/agent tags are composer chips too (`toolMentions`/`toolTags`, offered in
both the spawn and resume composers, recently-used first). They deliberately do
*not* join the location block: selecting one adds a `Use the following in this
task:` bullet naming the skill/subagent and its description — the difference
between a session invoking `open-pr` and one hand-rolling a PR body.
The icon set is curated rather than lucide's full `icons` barrel on purpose: tag
glyphs render synchronously all over the app, so they can't come from a lazy
chunk, and pulling ~1500 icons into the main bundle to serve one settings page
is a bad trade.
### Picking a pi model: the OpenRouter browser
The model select lists the curated entries per harness, but on **pi** the real
catalogue is a modal: `Browse OpenRouter…` opens `OpenRouterBrowser` — a
`FuzzyList` over every OpenRouter model, each row stating the three rates that
bill an agent run (**in / out / cache-read**, $ per million tokens), the model's
parameter size and its context window, with capability chips (tools, reasoning,
vision, open weights, free) to narrow the list. Cheapest first, so an unfiltered
open lands on what costs least to try.
Picking one sends its full id (`openai/gpt-oss-20b`) as `--model`; the runner
already routes **any** vendor-prefixed id to OpenRouter and bare ids to the local
EVOX2 provider, so no allow-list has to be kept in step. The frontend reads the
same shape: `isOpenRouterId()` (a slash — Claude ids never have one) is what
makes an arbitrary pick resolve to the pi harness on resume, without the
catalogue being loaded.
### Effort (claude) vs. thinking (pi)
How hard a run works a turn is **one knob shown two ways**, per harness — never
both at once:
- **claude** gets an `EffortSelect` (`--effort low|medium|high|xhigh|max`), the
CLI's own scale. Sticky as `spawnEffort`; `""` means "send no flag" and let the
CLI default. The sidecar validates against an allow-list (`EFFORT_LEVELS`),
unlike `--model`, because the scale is a closed set.
- **pi** keeps the binary `ThinkingToggle` — it has no `--effort`. `_effort_args`
emits nothing for it, so a stale pick can't leak onto a pi command line.
The composers send only the active harness's control (the other goes out unset).
Reading back, `conversations/parse.py` mines the `effort` field the CLI stamps on each
**assistant record** (it rides on the record, not the message) into `efforts`,
busiest first — same shape as `models`, rendered by `EffortTags` on conversation
rows and in the detail header. Empty for pi runs and for transcripts predating
the flag, which is a valid state, not a blank chip.
### Claude accounts: which subscription a run bills
The host runs Claude Code under two logins — `personal` (the CLI's default
`~/.claude`) and `work` (the Orus seat, `~/.claude-work`). An account **is** a
config dir: `CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR` moves the login, `.claude.json`, settings and
the `projects/` transcripts together. The profiles are hard-coded in
`backend/accounts.py` (the backend must decide an account for its own
server-side totals, so it can't be a client preference); Settings → Claude
accounts owns only the presentation — plan, monthly price, start date, and an
in-totals toggle (`settings.accounts[id]`, settings v2).
- **Launch** (`sidecar/routes_runs.py`): `account` on `/spawn`, `/resume`, `/fork`. A
non-default account's dir (from `SIDECAR_ACCOUNTS=work=~/.claude-work`, written
into the unit by `install.sh`) is exported as `CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR`; the default
account gets the variable *removed* — pointing it at `~/.claude` would move
`.claude.json` into the dir and log the account out. With accounts declared,
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` is stripped from every run (it would silently bill the API
key instead of either seat), a work run whose dir has no `.credentials.json`
is a **409, never a fallback**, and `--remote-control` is default-account only
(a work run would list itself in the employer's claude.ai sessions).
`GET /accounts` = `claude auth status` per account (cached 60s).
- **Log in / out** (`sidecar/claude_cli.py`, Settings → Claude accounts →
`AccountLogin`): a headless `claude auth login --claudeai` under the account's
env prints an OAuth URL (redirect = Anthropic's manual-code page) and waits on
stdin; the UI shows *Open sign-in page* + a paste box, the `code#state` goes
to `POST /api/accounts/{id}/login/code` and is piped to the CLI (the sidecar
checks `#state` first). `…/logout` runs `claude auth logout` — the default
account asks you to type its id first (it signs every lab run out). Changes
publish an `accounts` SSE event. `?login=<id>` on `/settings` highlights that
account (the target of every "Log in" button).
- **Typed errors**: sidecar errors are `{detail: {message, kind, hint?,
account?}}` and `_sidecar_call` passes them through with the sidecar's status
(401/403 → 502: the viewer reads a 401 as an Authelia logout). A launch that
dies is read from the CLI's JSON `result` line. The frontend's `ApiError`
(`api.ts`) + `lib/runErrors.tsx` (`RunErrorFix`) show the hint and a *Log in*
button under composer/resume/fork errors; a transcript's API-error turn
(`isApiErrorMessage`) is tagged `ThreadItem.apiError` by the parser and drawn
as an error card instead of a Claude bubble.
- **Route** (`_send_message`): a new claude run bills the composer's account
chip, else the account owning a tagged project (`projects: ["orus-monorepo"]`
→ work, which also starts it in that repo), else personal. **Resume and fork
always keep the session's own account** — its transcript only exists in that
account's `projects/`. Stamped as `meta.account`. Cron/agent frontmatter takes
`account:`. pi runs aren't a Claude login and bill personal.
- **Ingest**: `WORK_TRANSCRIPTS_DIR` (`/transcripts-work`) joins `SOURCE_DIRS`;
the archive merges every source into one tree, so the indexer stamps
`meta.accountSource` at import — the last moment the origin is known.
- **Attribute**: `_conv_meta` always emits `account` — explicit stamp → import
source → cwd rule (`…/orus-monorepo…`, `…/worktrees/orus-monorepo-*`) →
default. No migration or `PARSER_VERSION` bump: the cwd is in every summary,
and a subagent shares its parent's sessionId and cwd. A project-less work
conversation lands on orus-monorepo, not the lab root.
- **Totals**: work spend is list price × tokens on a seat the owner doesn't pay
for, so it is **excluded from aggregated totals by default**. The rollups
(`/api/activity`, `/api/projects`, `/api/skills`, `/api/agents`) take
`?account=` — unset = the totals (no `excludeFromTotals` accounts), `all`, or
an id — and `byAccount` splits activity, project costs and plan actuals. The
conversation *list* is unfiltered by default (a list shows everything; only
sums leave work out). An account-owned project card shows its own account's
spend flagged `excludeFromTotals`, rather than $0.
- **Frontend** (`lib/accounts.tsx`): `AccountBadge` (non-default accounts only,
like the harness badge), the composer's `AccountSelect` chip (auto from the
project tags, pinnable per send — never sticky), the drawer's
`selectedAccounts` filter, the `account` tag kind, and the dashboards'
Personal / Work / All `AccountSwitch` (sticky `settings.accountScope`; unpicked
= the accounts counted in totals). Client-side dashboards filter the full list
by `meta.account`; server-side ones pass the scope as `?account=`, so the two
always agree. `planValue` prices each account against its own seat.
### Workers: the runner on another machine (`workers.py`, `remotefeed.py`)
A **worker** is `sidecar/sidecar.py` running somewhere other than the lab —
a Mac, as a launchd user agent (`worker/install-macos.sh`, see
`worker/README.md`). Any Mac qualifies: Gabriel's personal MacBook (account
`personal`) as much as the Orus work seat (`work`), the one it was built for —
the org disables Claude Code's Remote Control there, and the lab's own work
seat can't do what a terminal on that Mac can (its secrets are stubs).
Sessions on a worker run natively under the Mac user: its Keychain login and
whatever its shell has (mise, gcloud, `op`, `gh`…). The installer asks for the
default cwd (the directory it is run from, confirmed with `y`), labels the
worker with the sidecar's default account unless `WORKER_ACCOUNT` says
otherwise, and turns Remote Control off only for a `work` account.
**The hub pulls; the worker never calls the hub.** That is the whole security
shape: the worker binds its Tailscale address only, holds one bearer (minted at
pairing) and no hub URL or credential. Notifications, asks and forms still
work there through the **outbox** (below); the other lab skills that call back
(conv-meta, complete) are not on workers yet — a worker session finishes on
its `notify send --final`, else the exit watcher and the recency window.
- **Pairing** (`workers.pair`, `sidecar/pairing.py`): the installer writes a
one-time code and prints `100.80.162.92:8790/<code>/<claude login email>`.
Settings → Workers → Add worker takes that one string. The login is matched
against the hub's accounts (the host sidecar's `claude auth status` per
account) **before** the code is spent — no match ⇒ 400 `kind: "account"` and
the dialog shows an account picker, code still good. `POST /pair` consumes
the code and answers the bearer + identity; wrong codes burn it after 10.
Store: `/data/workers.json` (0600; the token never leaves the backend).
Re-pairing needs `install-macos.sh --pair` and rotates the token.
- **Liveness** (`WorkerMonitor`, 15 s): `/health` + an authenticated
`/sessions` ⇒ `online` / `offline` / `unauthorized` (token refused), live in
memory only, published as a `workers` SSE event.
- **Transcripts** (`FeedMirror`, 2 s): `GET /feed?since=` lists the worker's
`projects/` (`.jsonl` + subagent `.meta.json`), `GET /feed/file?rel=&offset=`
serves byte ranges. The mirror appends what grew, re-downloads what shrank,
and keeps the remote mtime (a backfilled old session mustn't read as
running), into `WORKERS_TRANSCRIPTS_DIR` (`/data/workers/transcripts`) —
which is just one more `SOURCE_DIRS` entry, so indexer/Watcher/parser/costs/
SSE are untouched. It stamps `meta.workerSource` + `meta.accountSource`
(the worker's account) in **one meta save per pass** (`MetaStore.stamp_many`)
— the first sync backfills every session the Mac ever had.
- **Routing** (`_send_message`): a new claude run goes to the composer's
`worker` pick (`"local"` = the lab; an offline pick is a 409, never a silent
reroute), else the resolved account's online worker, else the lab. It bills
the worker's account, and `account` is dropped from the payload (a worker
has one login: its default). Continue / fork / interrupt follow
`meta.worker` (stamped by the hub) or `meta.workerSource` (mirror) —
`_session_worker`; a session can't move runners. pi never runs on a worker.
- **Takeover guard**: resuming a worker session whose mirror copy grew in the
last `TERMINAL_LIVE_S` (60 s) with no worker run behind it is a 409
`kind: "terminal_live"` — a terminal on the Mac probably still holds it, and
two writers garble the transcript. The ResumeBox turns it into a confirm and
resends with `takeover: true`.
- **Outbox** (`sidecar/outbox.py`, `backend/outbox_mirror.py`, `cli/notify.py`):
the `notify` CLI — the one entry point behind `notify-done`, `notify-ask`
and `ask-form` — is stdlib Python shipped in `cli/` and appended to every
run's PATH by the sidecar, which also exports `CLAUDE_SESSION_ID`. On the
lab it POSTs to the hub. On a worker the sidecar exports
`AI_AGENT_OUTBOX_URL` + a per-worker run token, and the CLI drops the same
payload into the worker's `POST /outbox`; the `OutboxMirror` thread polls
`GET /outbox` on every online worker (2 s), creates the record through the
very functions `/api/notify`, `/api/ask` and `/api/forms` run
(`_create_notify` / `_create_ask` / `_create_form`), acks it, and pushes the
terminal state (answered / submitted / acted / expired / cancelled) to
`POST /outbox/{id}/answer`, which wakes the CLI's `notify wait` long-poll on
the worker. Ids are minted by the CLI (`ntf_`/`ask_`/`frm_` + 12 hex) so
the viewer, the phone and the worker agree. The hub owns what the CLI used
to compute: the default `url` (`_conversation_url` — worker transcripts
included), the `notified` meta stamp, and `final` → `state: finished`.
A push's extra button (`--action-cmd`) answers on
`POST /api/notify/{id}/action` like an ask does.
- **Prompt shortcuts per runner** (`lib/shortcutRunners.ts`, Settings →
Prompt shortcuts): a shortcut is either **shared** (`shared: true` — offered
on every runner: worktree, commit & push, open PR, notify, ask + form,
tasks) or scoped to one runner (`runner`: `"local"` = the lab, or a worker
id — the lab's deploy / plan / test / complete; a Mac's own). The composer
resolves the runner its prompt will land on (the "Runs on" pick, else the
account's online worker, else the lab) and offers the shared chips first,
then that runner's; switching runner seeds the newly revealed chips'
default-on cascade. The resume box uses the session's own runner. The
Settings page is a Shared section plus one tab per runner (Lab, each paired
worker); a shortcut scoped to an unpaired worker surfaces under Lab. A config
from before the field (settings v3 migration) reads `SHARED_DEFAULT_IDS`.
- **A worker's skills in the composer** (`sidecar/skills_list.py`,
`GET /api/workers/{id}/skills`, `useWorkerSkills`): when "Runs on" resolves
to a worker, the mention list is *that machine's* skills — its sidecar lists
the default cwd's `.claude/skills/` then the user-level `<config>/skills/`
(where the installer links `notify`), the hub proxies it with a 60 s cache
(empty for an offline or pre-`/skills` worker), and the lab's catalog and
cron agents are not offered there because they don't exist on the Mac.
- **Exit watcher**: one `/sessions` baseline per runner (lab + each worker);
an unreachable runner keeps its baseline, so a Mac falling asleep never
reads as "all its runs exited".
- **Frontend** (`lib/workers.tsx`): `WorkerSelect` composer chip (only once a
worker is paired; amber when auto fell back to the lab because the worker is
down), `WorkerBadge` on cards / meta row / resume toolbar, Settings →
Workers (`/settings/workers`), and the home `WorkerOfflineBanner`.
### A cron job's run config lives in its prompt file's frontmatter
A scheduled job has no composer to pick a harness/model/effort in, so it says so
itself: the leading YAML block of `.claude/agents/<job>.md` carries `harness`
(`claude`|`pi`), `model` (a family alias or a full id), `effort`
(`low|medium|high|xhigh|max`, or `none` for no flag), `thinking`
(`true`|`false`) and `account` (`personal`|`work` — see Claude accounts). `cron.run_config()` reads them, `_fire_cron_job` passes them
to the same `_send_message` the composer uses, and the resolved config comes
back on the job as `runConfig` so Settings → Cron shows it as chips. Every
homelab job currently declares `claude` + `sonnet` + no effort.
Two deliberate properties: the keys are a **subset of Claude Code's own agent
frontmatter** (`model` means the same thing there), so a job's prompt file stays
a usable `.claude/agents` subagent; and an invalid value is **dropped, not
raised** — a firing on the defaults beats a job that stops firing, and the
missing chip in the UI is the feedback. The store's per-job `model` field is now
only the fallback for a file whose frontmatter sets none.
### Where a cron job runs: the store's `worker` field
Unlike the run config, the **runner** is a store field (`worker`, set in
Settings → Cron's "Runs on" select, `PUT /api/cron/{id} {"worker": …}`), because
it is machine pairing, not prompt content. `null` = the lab's own sidecar; a
worker id pins every firing to that paired machine (e.g. a PR-watch job on the
Orus MacBook, where `gh` and the work login live). `_fire_cron_job` passes it as
an explicit runner pick (`"local"` when unset), so a job **never auto-routes**,
even with `account: work` in its frontmatter. Workers run claude only. The prompt
file is always read on the hub and sent as text. The run uses the worker's own
login and default cwd, and `notify-done` from there goes through its outbox. A
firing while the worker is offline is refused (`worker_offline`) and recorded as
the job's `lastStatus`. It never falls back to the lab. Unknown ids are rejected
when saved. The page shows one tab per runner (Homelab + each paired worker, plus
an "Unpaired worker" tab for a job whose worker is gone); `?runner=<id>` selects
one.
### The `complete` skill replaced the conversation hooks (and the CTAs)
There used to be a **hook** scheduler here: ten seconds after any run ended, it
resumed that same conversation with a follow-up prompt. It worked, and it was
the wrong shape. Two reasons, both structural:
- **It cost a full transcript per firing.** `--resume` is a fresh `claude -p`
process, and Claude Code rebuilds that process's environment preamble (cwd,
git status, date, …) from scratch; any byte of drift there — near-guaranteed
on a checkout other agents are also committing to — invalidates every cache
breakpoint after it. Sampled real transcripts confirmed it:
`cache_read_input_tokens` collapsed to the cross-session baseline and
`cache_creation_input_tokens` re-created the *entire* prior conversation,
every firing, regardless of the delay. A tidy-up pass routinely cost as much
as the feature work it followed. The `maxContextK` cap was a bandage.
- **Half the work didn't need a model.** "Summarise what happened" is mostly
aggregation — which prompts were given, which tools ran, what net change
landed in git — and the backend already parses transcripts and buckets
commits. Asking a model to re-read a transcript to derive that was paying
premium rates for a `GROUP BY`.
The first replacement was a **CTA**: the same prompt file, offered as a button
under the last message of a finished run. It fixed the "unasked-for" half but
not the cost — pressing the button still resumed the session in a new process,
so the tidy-up still paid for the whole transcript as fresh input tokens.
The current answer avoids the resume entirely: **completion is a skill the
session runs on itself, before it ends.** A spawn guideline tells the session to
finish with the `complete` skill, so the pass happens inside the still-warm
process, on the prompt cache it already built — the same work for a fraction of
the tokens. The skill waits 30 s first, so there is a window to read the finished
conversation and steer it before the pass starts.
What that leaves in this backend:
- `conversations/scaffold.py` — the algorithmic half (`conv-scaffold`), unchanged: metadata,
the squashed diff, the merged tool/bash/subagent summaries, two blank sections
for the model. The filled document is published onto `meta.summary` and
rendered under the thread by `ConversationSummary`.
- `meta.completedAt` — **derived, not stamped**. The completion pass signs off
with `COMPLETED` instead of `DONE`, the parser already flags that
(`completedMarker`), and `_conv_meta` turns it into a timestamp. Nothing has
to write a ledger, and there is no button state to keep in sync. It is what
puts the spinning COMPLETED seal on a conversation card.
Native Claude Code hooks (`.claude/settings.json`) are **read-only** here
(`GET /api/claude-hooks`, listed under Settings → Claude Code hooks): writing
that file from the container would be host-level code execution — see the
trusted-caller gate above. They are now the only hooks the viewer knows about.
Install/manage the sidecar with `sidecar/install.sh` (systemd **user** unit
`claude-sidecar`); config comes from the repo `.env` (`SIDECAR_TOKEN`,
`SIDECAR_PORT`). See `sidecar/README.md`.
## Schema drift: the transcript format is not ours
`backend/conversations/parse.py` parses Claude Code's **internal, undocumented** JSONL
transcript format, so a CLI update can silently change what it emits. The
early-warning tool is `scripts/schema-drift.py`:
```bash
scripts/schema-drift.py # newest transcripts vs committed baseline
scripts/schema-drift.py --update # accept reviewed drift as the new baseline
```
It does two things: diffs a **structural footprint** (key paths + content-block
types, never values — `scripts/schema-baseline.json` is safe in git) of recent
`~/.claude/projects` transcripts against the baseline, and runs a **parser
canary** (the real `parse_conversation` cross-checked against raw record
counts: assistant turns with usage, token totals, models, timestamps). Exit 1
on drift or a failed invariant. Run it after a Claude Code update or whenever
conversations render oddly; on drift, decide whether the parser needs to handle
the new shape, then `--update`. Every transcript record carries the CC
`version` stamp — a new version alone is INFO, not failure (releases are ~daily
and almost never drift).
### Subagents nest: the `subagents/` dir is a tree, not a list
Claude Code writes **every** agent a conversation spawns — at any depth — into
the one flat `<convId>/subagents/` dir, as `agent-<id>.jsonl` + an
`agent-<id>.meta.json` sidecar. A subagent's own `Agent`/`Task` calls spawn
grandchildren whose meta names the spawner in `parentAgentId` (absent on a
depth-1 agent) and the level in `spawnDepth`. `conversations/tree.py` keeps two parent
notions apart, and everything subagent-related goes through its helpers rather
than globbing the dir:
- **root** (`_root_path_of`): the `<convId>.jsonl` the dir belongs to. Usage
rolls up there (`_subagent_descendants` — the list card and the detail
totals count the whole tree, each transcript once), `agentsUsed` and the
agents catalog key runs there, and the graph's `rootId` is it.
- **direct parent** (`_parent_path_of`, via `parentAgentId`): the transcript
holding the Task card that spawned it. `_subagent_children` lists a node's
direct children (a root's are the metas with no `parentAgentId`, so archives
from before nesting keep their one-level reading); `_attach_subagents` links
each card to its child on **every** page, a subagent's included, and sends
`parentConversation` (direct parent + `toolUseId`) plus `parentChain` (every
ancestor, root first — the breadcrumb). `_sidechain_state` resolves running
state up the chain: a nested agent runs while its parent's Task call is open,
and that parent's own state comes from *its* parent, not from the metadata
sidecar (a sidechain's `sessionId` is the root's, so `_conv_meta` would
answer for the root).
An agent page reports its **own** spend (`subagents` = direct children, each
ref carrying `subagentCount` for what it spawned in turn); only the root rolls
the tree up. The Task card that spawned a child is still credited with the
child's whole subtree (`turnCost`), so the cost-growth chart stays whole on the
root page where the grandchildren have no card. The graph (`/api/subagents`)
orbits a nested agent around its parent agent's node (`parentId` is a
sidechain id there; `rootId` is the fallback when that node isn't drawn).
`_parent_path_of` is deliberately not memoised on the path: the meta sidecar
can be unwritten on the first look, and a nested agent must never get pinned
to the root.
## Deploying
**Never** `compose up --force-recreate` this service — use the blue-green script,
which validates a fresh build on a standby container before touching the live one:
```bash
~/homelab/services/ai-agent/deploy.sh # the homelab shim's copy (runs from anywhere)
```
It builds a new image, brings up a second `ai-agent-deploy` standby on
`homelab_main`, health-gates it on `/api/health`, cuts Traefik over to it
(file-provider hot-reload), recreates the canonical `ai-agent` on the new image,
then restores routing and removes the standby — zero downtime, and if the standby
never goes healthy the live container is left untouched. An `flock` on
`/tmp/ai-agent-deploy.lock` serializes deploys; a second run aborts immediately.
`deploy.override.yml` is only for the standby slot (renames the container, drops
the host port, joins the external `homelab_main` network).
### The public face: `landing/` → tokunia.dev.gabvdl.xyz
The project's public name is **Tokunia** (*Tokun·IA*, from 徳用 *tokuyō*, "good
value for the money"). `landing/` is its marketing page — a dependency-free
static site (hand-written HTML/CSS, one small JS file), *not* a Vite app — and
`landing/deploy.sh` publishes both public hosts through zipgo on raspy2:
```bash
./landing/deploy.sh # landing only → tokunia.dev.gabvdl.xyz
./landing/deploy.sh --demo # rebuild + publish the demo too
```
Two things about that script are load-bearing:
- **The demo is this frontend built with `VITE_MOCK=1`** — the in-browser mock
backend (see above) is what makes a public demo possible with no API exposed.
Branding comes from `VITE_APP_TITLE` / `VITE_APP_SHORT_NAME` /
`VITE_APP_DESCRIPTION`, read in `vite.config.ts`; unset, they keep the
homelab's own title and manifest exactly as they were.
- **The landing rsync excludes `demo./`.** The two hosts are nested in zipgo's
trailing-dot tree (`…/dev./tokunia./` and `…/dev./tokunia./demo./`), and
`zipgo deploy` mirrors by default — an unfiltered landing deploy would delete
the demo sitting underneath it.
Numbers quoted on the page (the receipt's itemised run, the archive stats) are
real figures pulled from the live instance, and the carbon line uses the app's
own `frontend/src/lib/footprint.ts` factors. Keep them honest if you edit them.
## Standalone mode: a missing catalog is a valid state
The homelab `docker-compose.yml` mounts ~8 host paths (transcripts, memories,
screenshots, services/, plans, …), but the image must also run with **none** of
them — that's the GOAL's "generic first-run setup" / one-liner `docker run`.
`docker-compose.standalone.yml` is that shape: a workspace + a data volume, and
nothing else required.
So **every catalog degrades to an empty list when its dir is absent** — never a
500. (`/api/templates` used to raise; it doesn't now.) A *named* item that isn't
there is still a 404 — it's only the missing-mount case that's benign. When you
add a catalog backed by a mount, follow that rule.
The guard is a smoke test — run it after touching mounts, env wiring or a
catalog route:
```bash
scripts/standalone-smoke.sh # boot the current image on a bare workspace
scripts/standalone-smoke.sh --build # build first, then smoke
```
It boots the image with only a throwaway workspace + data dir (and
`RUNNER_IN_CONTAINER=1`), asserts every catalog endpoint and the PWA shell answer
200, that the bundled `claude` CLI is on PATH and its runner answers `/health`,
and greps the log for tracebacks (a background indexer/watcher crash won't fail a
request). Exit 1 = regressed.
Standalone **spawns** sessions now (the in-image runner, above). The one thing it
still can't do is **build** off-homelab: `frontend/.npmrc` pulls `@gabvdl/ui` from
the host-bound verdaccio, so a standalone build needs that registry — a prebuilt
image runs anywhere. Tracked in [GOAL.md](GOAL.md).
## Local development
There is no lint/test pipeline. Frontend and backend are built into the image;
to iterate:
- **Frontend only**: `cd frontend && npm install && npm run dev` (Vite on `:5180`).
It needs the backend API — point it at a running container or backend.
- **Full stack**: rebuild + redeploy via the homelab shim's `deploy.sh`, or hit the running
container directly on the host at `http://127.0.0.1:8096` (plain HTTP, bypasses
Authelia — handy since new `*.lab` domains can't get an LE cert here).
- **Health**: `curl -s http://127.0.0.1:8096/api/health` → `{"ok":true}`.
After changing the homelab shim's `traefik.yml`, run `make link-traefik-configs`
from the homelab repo root (the file provider watches `config/dynamic/`, not the
shim's file).
## Gotchas
- **Read-only mounts**: most of the repo context is mounted `:ro` (services/, .git,
transcripts, memories, screenshots, and the root `data/` tree). Only `.claude/`,
`~/projects` (host-side; `/workspace/projects` in-container), `CLAUDE.md` and the service's own `data/` (SQLite store) are
writable. The container runs as `1000:1000` so edits keep repo ownership.
- **Root `data/` tree**: mounted `${PWD}/data:/workspace/data:ro` and surfaced in
the file tab for visibility only. The indexer exposes just text files (see
`DATA_TEXT_EXTS` in `core/config.py` — md/json/py/log/…; binaries like the PNG
thumbnails are skipped) and marks them non-editable. `data/tmp/` is in
`IGNORE_DIRS`, so scratch files and secrets (e.g. `*-creds.env`) never appear.
- **Token counts cost API calls**: they hit the `count_tokens` endpoint
(`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` from `.env`) and are recomputed only when a file's content
hash changes, after a debounce — don't add code that recounts on every request.
- **Conversation "finished" state**: three signals, strongest first. (1) A
`notify-done` notification **plus** a last message ending with the literal
`DONE` marker (see the root CLAUDE.md "When work is done"). (2) The **exit
watcher**: a background thread in `runs/sidecar_client.py` (`_watch_sidecar_runs`) polls the
sidecar's `/sessions` every ~2s and stamps `finished` (+`exitedAt`) the moment
a sidecar-launched run's process dies — so runs whose prompt never said DONE
don't sit on "running". The stamp is distrusted if the transcript later grows
past `exitedAt` (a terminal/remote-control continuation, `_outlived_exit`),
and in-flight resume/interrupt swaps are shielded via `_sidecar_busy`. (3)
The recency fallback (`RUNNING_WINDOW_SECS`, 600s) for anything the watcher
never saw live (terminal sessions, runs that died while the backend was down).
- **Conversation "paused" state**: a run whose last act was parking itself on a
trigger — a trailing `ScheduleWakeup` (non-`stop`) or a pending `Monitor` — is
shown `paused` instead of `running` (`waiting_trailing` in `conversations/parse.py`,
resolved in `conversations/cards.py:_resolve_state`). The flag clears on any later tool call,
real user turn, or interrupt — not on the same turn's closing text.
- **Two containers briefly share `data/`** during a deploy cutover (SQLite); this is
a short window and intentional — don't "fix" it by locking the DB.
- **A resume must never answer 200 without a live run behind it.** The composer
echoes the typed turn optimistically and only drops the echo once the
transcript grows, so any resume that reports success but starts nothing leaves
the UI on "sending…" forever. Two guards keep that honest and must stay:
`sidecar/launch.py` watches a freshly launched `claude` for `LAUNCH_PROBE_S` and 502s
with its log tail if it dies on the spot (a `--resume` whose transcript isn't
found exits 1 in ~2.5s), and `/resume` only reports `reused` for a process that
is *genuinely still running* — a finished-but-unreaped child is a zombie, and a
zombie answers `os.kill(pid, 0)` (hence `_reap()` + the `Z` check in `_alive`).
`reused` means the turn was **dropped**, so the backend returns 409, not 200.
The backend always resumes with `force: true`: a genuinely-live run is stopped
first (`_stop_run` — SIGINT the group, wait up to `STOP_WAIT_S`, escalate to
SIGKILL) and the resume then launches, so sending a message into a running or
paused conversation restarts it on the new turn instead of 409ing. `reused`
can now only come from a sidecar predating the flag.