README: running a Pickup run on a schedule #287

Parent

#212

What to build

A README section, under the Pickup run documentation, on running a Pickup run on a schedule, next to the one for an Architect run. thirdshift has no scheduler of its own (ADR 0009): the operating system's scheduler runs the ordinary command. The section gives a complete crontab entry to paste and edit:

PATH=/home/you/.local/bin:/home/you/.cargo/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin
*/30 * * * * cd ~/repos/widgets && thirdshift pickup base main >> ~/.thirdshift/logs/pickup-cron.log 2>&1

and explains it in a few sentences, checked against how the command actually behaves once the Tickets before this one have landed.

The recipe can't be run in CI or by an agent. Write it for a Linux machine with cron, and say so; a person tries the line on a real machine when reviewing the Spec PR.

Acceptance criteria

• The README has the crontab entry, with placeholders for the user's own paths.
• It says the interval sets how soon a Ready issue is taken and how much work is started, one issue per pass.
• It says to use one line per repository, and that a Pickup run and an Architect run on one repository skip while the other runs.
• It says when a pass is skipped (the lock, no Ready issue, the Claim limit), that a skip exits 0 and sends no email, and that the log file holds the skip lines and the reasons issues were passed over.
• It says the command's flags and the User config decide what a pass does with the issue, as for a hand-typed run, and shows no-merge as the cautious variant.
• It says a failed issue keeps its Claim and waits for the Day shift, and how to send it round again by hand.
• It warns users of the upstream skills that ready-for-agent on a Spec must mean its Tickets are published, and says the ten-minute settle time is only a second line of defence.
• It points to the Architect run's section for what the two share, PATH, logins and other schedulers, without repeating it.
• thirdshift help points to running it on a schedule in a line or two, without repeating the recipe.

Blocked by

• Releasing a Claim, and removing it when thirdshift closes the issue #281
• The rest of the Ready issue rule, and saying why an issue was passed over #283
• The Claim limit, and taking in-progress off closed issues #284
• One Run notification for a Pickup run that took an issue #285
• Day shift skills: ready-for-agent on a Spec means its Tickets are published #286