fix: Operator drives the rk cron clock explicitly — mute/unmute on tracked-set transitions, lease as bounded snooze by sahil-noon · Pull Request #660 · sahil87/fab-kit

sahil-noon · 2026-09-09T13:18:33Z

Summary

run-kit's operator-tick cron entry lost both suppress_while guards (nothing-tracked, operator-loop-fresh) in sahil87/run-kit#889 after rk's state-file slug mismatch silently suppressed every operator tick for days. fab-kit's documented clock was then wrong in three places, and nothing on the fab side stopped ticks on an empty operator. This change moves quiescence from rk-side inference to explicit, deterministic mute/unmute issued by fab's tracked-set verbs, realigning skill text, memory, and specs to the guard-free entry.

Changes

Go: quiescence is an explicit mute issued by the tracked-set verbs — edge-triggered flip inside mutateOperatorState issues rk cron mute <id> when the tracked set (monitored / watches / active autopilot / open coordination note) empties and rk cron mute <id> --off when it first fills; every call is exec.LookPath-gated, argv exec, 5s-bounded via a new context-bound pane.RunCmd variant, and fail-silent
Lightweight reconcile — tick-start --diff mutes on a post-diff untracked state; skill §2 Init step 4 unmutes when the entry is muted while work is tracked
Lease is a bounded snooze, not a heartbeat — new §4 "Mute and Lease" prose: rk cron mute <id> --for <dur> for user-requested bounded quiet; never leave an indefinite mute behind while work is tracked
Skill text (fab-operator.md) — §2 ready line gains · muted / · muted until <t>; §4 quotes the guard-free, anchor-less entry with respawn: ["rk","operator","-L","{server}"]; ownership reworded to tracked-set-verb mute/unmute; Tick Behavior step 7, §6 known-gap paragraph, and §9 Cadence row updated
Memory and spec realignment — docs/memory/runtime/operator.md clock block + Design Decisions (add "Explicit Mute Over Inferred Quiescence", "Lease Is a Bounded Snooze, Not a Heartbeat"; supersede the nothing-tracked gap entry), docs/specs/skills.md two-line update, _cli-fab.md shared clock-side-effect paragraph, _cli-external.md § rk pointer
Cross-repo contract note — slugify/serverSlug/StatePath in operator.go documented as owned by fab-kit and mirrored by run-kit for display; renaming either requires a coordinated run-kit change

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

…, lease as bounded snooze run-kit removed both suppress_while guards (nothing-tracked, operator-loop-fresh) from the operator-tick cron entry; quiescence is now an explicit mute issued edge-triggered from mutateOperatorState via rk cron mute <id> / --off (fail-silent, 5s-bounded, LookPath-gated), with lightweight reconcile in tick-start --diff and the skill's Init step 4. Skill, memory, spec, and _cli-fab/_cli-external realigned to the guard-free entry (no anchor, respawn argv); slugify/StatePath documented as a cross-repo contract with run-kit. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Copilot

🟡 Changes recommended

rk cron list --json parsing can silently fail when muted_until is null, which would disable clock resolution/mute logic in the common “muted” state.

Once you've addressed the issues Copilot identified, you can request another Copilot review.

Pull request overview

This PR realigns fab-kit’s operator cadence with run-kit’s guard-free cron entry by moving “quiescence” from rk-side inference to explicit, deterministic rk cron mute/--off calls driven by fab’s tracked-set state mutations, and updates the skills/docs to match that contract.

Changes:

Add Go-side tracked predicate + edge-triggered clock sync (mute/unmute on tracked↔untracked transitions) with a lightweight tick-start reconcile for drift.
Introduce a context-bounded subprocess helper (pane.RunCmdContext) and wire clock calls through it with timeout + fail-silent behavior.
Update operator skill text and docs/specs/memory to reflect mute/lease semantics and the new ownership model.

File summaries

File	Description
src/kit/skills/fab-operator.md	Updates operator skill to describe mute/unmute ownership, lease semantics, and ready-line clock status.
src/kit/skills/_cli-fab.md	Documents the shared “clock side effect” across operator state verbs and tick-start diff reconcile.
src/kit/skills/_cli-external.md	Adds a pointer to the fab-owned operator clock mute/lease rules.
src/go/fab/internal/pane/pane.go	Adds `RunCmdContext` and routes `RunCmd` through it to preserve behavior while enabling timeouts.
src/go/fab/internal/pane/pane_test.go	Adds tests covering deadline cancellation and stdout/stderr capture for `RunCmdContext`.
src/go/fab/cmd/fab/operator.go	Adds cross-repo contract comments for state-file slug derivation and ownership.
src/go/fab/cmd/fab/operator_tick_start.go	Disables edge-triggered sync in tick-start diff path and adds reconcile mute-if-untracked after mutation.
src/go/fab/cmd/fab/operator_test.go	Updates slugify test comments to note the cross-repo consumer contract.
src/go/fab/cmd/fab/operator_state.go	Introduces `mutateOperatorStateClock` and wires edge-triggered sync post-save.
src/go/fab/cmd/fab/operator_clock.go	Implements tracked predicate, rk cron runner seam, entry resolution, and mute/unmute behavior.
src/go/fab/cmd/fab/operator_clock_test.go	Adds comprehensive tests for tracked predicate, flips, reconcile, and fail-silent degradation.
fab/changes/260909-qvek-operator-cron-mute-lease/plan.md	Captures the implementation plan, requirements, and acceptance checklist for this change.
fab/changes/260909-qvek-operator-cron-mute-lease/intake.md	Records clarified decisions and updated requirements (placement + reconcile strategy).
fab/changes/260909-qvek-operator-cron-mute-lease/.status.yaml	Updates fab change status/progress metadata and computed impact summary.
fab/changes/260909-qvek-operator-cron-mute-lease/.history.jsonl	Logs stage transitions and confidence scoring history for the change.
docs/specs/skills.md	Updates `/fab-operator` spec lines to reflect mute/lease posture and tools usage.
docs/memory/runtime/operator.md	Realigns runtime/operator memory to the new explicit mute/lease clock contract and design decisions.
docs/memory/runtime/index.md	Updates runtime index description for operator memory to include tracked-set-verb mute/lease quiescence.

Review details

Files reviewed: 18/18 changed files
Comments generated: 2
Review effort level: Lite

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sahil-noon · 2026-09-09T13:25:33Z

+	Name       string `json:"name"`
+	Target     string `json:"target"`
+	Muted      bool   `json:"muted"`
+	MutedUntil int64  `json:"muted_until"`
+}


Skipped — Go's encoding/json unmarshals a JSON null into a non-pointer numeric type as a no-op, never an error; the existing test fixture (cronListJSONMuted) already exercises "muted_until":null through resolveOperatorCronRow and passes, so clock resolution does not no-op here.

sahil-noon · 2026-09-09T13:25:35Z

+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 100*time.Millisecond)
+	defer cancel()
+	start := time.Now()
+	_, _, err := RunCmdContext(ctx, "sleep", "30")
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("RunCmdContext past-deadline sleep: err = nil, want non-nil")
+	}
+	if elapsed := time.Since(start); elapsed > 5*time.Second {
+		t.Fatalf("RunCmdContext returned after %v, want within the deadline", elapsed)
+	}


Fixed — tightened the elapsed bound in TestRunCmdContext_DeadlineKillsChild from 5s to 2s so the test actually validates the 100ms deadline kills the child. (68adb1e)

Tighten TestRunCmdContext_DeadlineKillsChild elapsed bound 5s -> 2s so the test actually validates that the 100ms context deadline kills the child. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>

sahil87 and others added 2 commits September 9, 2026 18:47

Update ship status and record PR URL

37ee0fb

sahil-noon requested a lite review from Copilot September 9, 2026 13:20

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of sahil-noon September 9, 2026 13:21 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Sep 9, 2026

View reviewed changes

sahil87 and others added 2 commits September 9, 2026 18:55

fix: address review feedback from @Copilot

68adb1e

Tighten TestRunCmdContext_DeadlineKillsChild elapsed bound 5s -> 2s so the test actually validates that the 100ms context deadline kills the child. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Update review-pr status

14c0214

sahil-noon marked this pull request as ready for review September 9, 2026 14:28

sahil-noon merged commit 3def486 into main Sep 9, 2026
3 checks passed

Impact	+/−	Net
raw	+1064 / −78	+986
true	+657 / −22	+635
└ impl	+262 / −21	+241
└ tests	+395 / −1	+394

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fix: Operator drives the rk cron clock explicitly — mute/unmute on tracked-set transitions, lease as bounded snooze - #660

fix: Operator drives the rk cron clock explicitly — mute/unmute on tracked-set transitions, lease as bounded snooze#660
sahil-noon merged 4 commits into
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260909-qvek-operator-cron-mute-lease

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sahil-noon commented Sep 9, 2026

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