| name | rebar-inbox-watch |
| description | Use during multi-repo coordination phases (release days, cross-repo arcs, ratification rounds) when this repo holds a peer inbox/ directory — arms a persistent background watcher so new memo deposits reach you as live notifications instead of sitting unread while a peer waits. |
rebar-inbox-watch — arm the peer-inbox watcher
Canonical practice: rebar:practice/inbox-watch (design choices, honest
limitations, variations) — resolve with scripts/rebar-doc.sh rebar:practice/inbox-watch --cat (or rebar doc if the CLI is installed).
This skill is the arming procedure only.
Steps
- Sweep first.
ls -lat inbox/ | head — process any deposits that
arrived while no watcher was alive.
- Arm the watcher. Run
scripts/inbox-watch.sh <inbox-dir> [<dir>…]
through the harness background-monitor facility in persistent mode
(Claude Code: the Monitor tool, or a background Bash task). Multi-inbox
capable — pass one directory per repo pair you are coordinating.
- Default cadence is 30s. Effectively free locally and matched to memo
timescales; tighten only during a known live back-and-forth, then return
to 30s.
- Act on the emitted lines. One line per new file, shaped
NEW INBOX DEPOSIT: <path> — it lands as a notification mid-task; read
and process the memo promptly.
Session-scoped by design
- The watcher dies with the session and must be re-armed at the next
cold start during coordination phases (the
rebar-coldstart skill
includes this step).
- Silence means "no deposits" only while the watcher is alive — if the
monitor died, re-arm before trusting the quiet.
