loop-heartbeat

name	loop-heartbeat
description	Scheduled discovery automation that runs scans on a heartbeat interval, classifies findings, and routes them to goals or triage inbox.
origin	ECC

Loop Heartbeat

Scheduled discovery automation that runs scans, finds issues, and routes findings to goals or triage. The heartbeat is what makes a loop a loop — not a one-shot run.

Based on Addy Osmani's Loop Engineering: "Automations are the thing that makes a loop an actual loop. Run prompts on a schedule. Findings go to a triage inbox; empty runs archive themselves."

When to Activate

• User invokes /heartbeat start to begin scheduled scans
• User invokes /heartbeat run for a one-shot scan
• A goal converges and follow-up scanning is needed
• Project onboarding includes quality monitoring setup

Core Concept

The heartbeat is the "discovery layer" of a loop. It answers: "What's broken right now?" on a recurring basis without human prompting.

Every 30 minutes:
  ┌─ Run test suite ─── PASS → skip
  ├─ Run linter ─────── FAIL → create goal (auto-fix)
  ├─ Audit deps ─────── FAIL → triage inbox (human decision)
  └─ Type check ─────── PASS → skip

Configuration

Create .claude/heartbeat.yaml in the project root:

heartbeat:
  interval: "30m"
  scans:
    - name: "test-health"
      command: "npm test 2>&1 | tail -10"
      onFailure: "auto-goal"
      description: "Test suite health"
    - name: "lint-drift"
      command: "npm run lint -- --quiet 2>&1 | wc -l"
      threshold: 0
      onFailure: "triage"
      description: "Lint error count"
    - name: "type-check"
      command: "npx tsc --noEmit 2>&1; echo EXIT:$?"
      onFailure: "auto-goal"
      description: "TypeScript type errors"
  budget:
    maxDollarsPerHour: 2.0
    pauseOnExhaust: true

Scan Result Classification

onFailure	Behavior	Use When
auto-goal	Creates /goal automatically	Machine can fix it (tests, lint, types)
triage	Adds to /triage inbox	Human judgment needed (deps, security)
notify	Desktop notification only	Informational, no action required
ignore	Log silently	Monitoring only, aggregate later

Budget Controls

• maxDollarsPerHour: Pause heartbeat if scanning costs exceed this
• pauseOnExhaust: If true, pause (resumable); if false, stop entirely
• Goal creation inherits the default goal budget from /goal settings

Empty Run Handling

When all scans pass:

• No goals or triage items are created
• Run is logged to ~/.claude/heartbeat-last-run.json
• Next run proceeds on schedule
• This is the "archive themselves silently" behavior

Integration Points

• /goal: auto-goal failures create goals via completion-oracle.js
• /triage: triage failures append to ~/.claude/triage/inbox.jsonl
• CronCreate: Scheduling uses the Claude Code CronCreate primitive
• ScheduleWakeup: Alternative for dynamic-interval loops
• Hooks: Runs as a scheduled task, not a synchronous hook

Hard Bans

• Heartbeat MUST NOT modify code (it's discovery-only)
• Heartbeat MUST NOT create goals without a stopping condition
• Budget limits MUST be enforced (no unbounded scan spending)
• Failed scans MUST be classified (no silent failures)
• Empty runs MUST NOT create noise (pass = skip)

Example Session

User: /heartbeat start

System:
  Loaded .claude/heartbeat.yaml (3 scans configured)
  Registered CronCreate: every 30m
  Next run: 30m from now
  Budget: $2.00/hour

[30 minutes later, heartbeat fires]

Scan results:
  ✓ test-health: all tests pass
  ✗ lint-drift: 4 lint errors found → created goal-a1b2c3d4
  ✓ type-check: no type errors

Summary: 2/3 scans passed, 1 goal created