nighttime-mode

name	nighttime-mode
description	Autonomous overnight orchestration mode. Active outside day hours. Dispatch and monitor deep work across agents while user sleeps. Internal building only — no external actions.
triggers	["nighttime mode","overnight mode","night mode","overnight orchestration","nighttime protocol"]

Nighttime Mode

Orchestrate deep work across agents while the user sleeps. Dispatch tasks, monitor progress, prepare morning briefing.

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Hard Guardrails — NEVER Cross

1. No external communications — No emails, messages, posts, or DMs sent to anyone outside the system
2. No purchases or transactions — No buying, no transfers, no commitments
3. No permanent deletes — All actions must be reversible
4. No production deploys — Prepare PRs, don't merge; build assets, don't publish
5. No commitments on user's behalf — No promises, deadlines, or agreements
6. No approval creation at night — Queue approval requests for morning; do not create them at night

When in doubt: Document it, present in morning review.

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What TO Do Overnight

Category	Examples	Assign to
Research	Market analysis, competitor research, trend analysis	research agents
Building	Code on feature branches, scripts, tools	dev agents
Content drafts	Scripts, outlines, social copy (drafts only)	content agents
Analysis	Data processing, metrics review, document processing	analyst agents
Organization	File organization, task grooming, template creation	any appropriate agent
Self-improvement	Skill development, workflow optimization	orchestrator

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Quick Start Loop

1. CHECK: cortextos bus list-tasks --status in_progress
   → Any overnight tasks dispatched?

2. IF tasks are running:
   a. Check agent heartbeats: cortextos bus read-all-heartbeats
   b. Check inbox for completion reports: cortextos bus check-inbox
   c. Process completions, dispatch next tasks if queue has more
   d. GOTO step 1

3. IF no tasks pending:
   a. Begin preparing morning briefing data
   b. Update heartbeat: cortextos bus update-heartbeat "preparing morning briefing"

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Overnight Orchestration Protocol

Step 1: Check approved queue

cortextos bus list-tasks --status in_progress
cortextos bus read-all-heartbeats

Step 2: Monitor agent progress

# Check heartbeats regularly (every ~1h)
cortextos bus read-all-heartbeats

# Check inbox for completion reports
cortextos bus check-inbox

Step 3: Process completions

When an agent reports task completion:

# 1. Complete the task in cortextOS
cortextos bus complete-task "$TASK_ID" --result "<what was produced>"

# 2. Log the event
cortextos bus log-event task task_completed info --meta '{"task_id":"'$TASK_ID'","agent":"<completing_agent>"}'

# 3. Write to memory
TODAY=$(date -u +%Y-%m-%d)
echo "COMPLETED: $TASK_ID - <description> (by <agent>)" >> "memory/$TODAY.md"

# 4. Dispatch next task if queue has more
cortextos bus list-tasks --status pending

Step 4: Handle blockers

When an agent reports a blocker:

# 1. Log the blocker
TODAY=$(date -u +%Y-%m-%d)
echo "BLOCKED: $TASK_ID - <reason> (agent: <name>)" >> "memory/$TODAY.md"

# 2. Try to unblock if possible (provide info, reassign)
cortextos bus send-message <agent> normal '<unblocking info or reassignment>'

# 3. If cannot unblock, queue for morning review
echo "MORNING REVIEW NEEDED: Blocker - $TASK_ID - <reason>" >> "memory/$TODAY.md"

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Heartbeat During Nighttime

Update regularly to show overnight activity:

cortextos bus update-heartbeat "nighttime mode - X/Y tasks complete, monitoring agents"

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Before Morning: Prepare Briefing Data

Before the morning review cron fires, ensure this data is ready in today's memory:

1. What was completed (by which agent, key deliverables with file paths)
2. What needs user review or decision
3. Blockers discovered that need morning attention
4. Recommended priorities for today

TODAY=$(date -u +%Y-%m-%d)
cat >> "memory/$TODAY.md" << MEMEOF

## Overnight Summary - $(date -u +%H:%M:%S)

### Completed
- [task] by [agent] -- [deliverable at path/]
- [task] by [agent] -- [deliverable at path/]

### Blocked (needs morning attention)
- [task] -- [reason]

### Needs User Review
- [item needing decision]

### Agent Status at Morning
[list each agent: status, last heartbeat]
MEMEOF

cortextos bus update-heartbeat "morning briefing data ready - overnight complete"

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Event Logging

# Starting nighttime mode
cortextos bus log-event action nighttime_mode_start info --meta '{"agent":"'$CTX_AGENT_NAME'"}'

# Task completions
cortextos bus log-event task task_completed info --meta '{"task_id":"<id>","agent":"<completing_agent>"}'

# Morning ready
cortextos bus log-event action morning_briefing_ready info --meta '{"tasks_completed":"X","tasks_blocked":"Y"}'

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Philosophy

Lower risk, higher autonomy. No external actions — internal building only.

The night is for making the user's next day easier. Dispatch, monitor, and coordinate — never act externally without them. The orchestrator's job overnight is to keep agents productive and prepare a clear morning briefing.

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This is the single source of truth for nighttime mode.