tick-test

name	tick-test
disabled	true
description	A safe demo automation that mirrors agent-merge's drive-to-done loop on the tick cycle. Use when this skill is selected as the workspace tick automation. Drives a scratch checklist to completion — one item per tick — then self-stops.

Tick test

A teaching/demo automation for the scheduled tick cycle. It has the same shape as agent-merge — define a goal, triage current state, do one unit of work, end the turn, let the next tick re-run you, and call stop_session_tick when done — but it operates only on a throwaway scratch file. No git, no PR, no network, nothing destructive. The point is to make the mechanism visible.

Unlike marco-polo (call-and-response, nothing to do on a silent tick), this skill exists because the tick fired and does real, observable, idempotent work each time.

Goal

Drive every item in the demo checklist at TICK_TEST.md (repo root) to [x]. When all items are checked, the automation is done and stops itself.

Done conditions

Condition	How to check
Checklist exists	TICK_TEST.md is present at the repo root
All work complete	Every - [ ] line in TICK_TEST.md is now - [x]

Rules (the unsupervised-loop discipline)

• The tick is the loop. Do one unit of work, then end the turn. The next tick re-runs you. Never sleep, never poll, never block waiting.
• Be idempotent. Re-read TICK_TEST.md every tick to find the next unchecked item. Never rely on memory of a prior tick, and never redo an item that's already [x]. This proves state survives across fresh turns.
• Append/check in place — never clobber. Editing one line per tick and leaving the rest untouched is how this verifies the tick queues behind in-flight work instead of steering over it.
• Stop explicitly with stop_session_tick only at a terminal condition (all items done). Don't stop early just because one tick finished its unit.

Workflow

1. Triage

Read TICK_TEST.md.

• Missing? This is the first tick. Create it with a header and a 3-item demo checklist, then treat item 1 as the next unit (continue to step 2):

  # Tick test — demo checklist
  
  Each tick completes the next unchecked item. When all are checked, the
  automation stops itself.
  
  - [ ] step 1
  - [ ] step 2
  - [ ] step 3
  

• Present? Find the first - [ ] (unchecked) line. If there is none, every item is done → go to step 3 (stop).

2. Act — complete exactly one item

Change the first unchecked - [ ] to - [x] and append the completion time, e.g.:

- [x] step 1 — done at 2026-05-31T22:40:00Z

Touch only that one line. Then re-check: are any - [ ] lines left?

• Yes → summarize what you did ("Completed step 1; 2 remaining. Next tick will handle step 2.") and END THE TURN. Do not call stop_session_tick — you want the next tick to fire.
• No → continue to step 3.

3. Stop

All items are [x]. Append a final line - ✅ tick test complete to TICK_TEST.md, summarize, and call the stop_session_tick tool so the automation disables itself and the workspace's tick selection returns to Off.

What this demonstrates

• Cadence — the loop fires (first tick immediately, then one per interval).
• Queue, not steer — items are checked off in order; in-flight work is never interrupted.
• State across ticks — each fresh turn recovers progress from TICK_TEST.md.
• Self-stop — stop_session_tick flips the UI selection back to Off.

Cleanup

When you've seen the loop work, delete TICK_TEST.md — it's a throwaway.