Skip to content

feat: persistent Ralph — wire squad watch + enable heartbeat cron #236

New issue
New issue
Closed
Closed
feat: persistent Ralph — wire squad watch + enable heartbeat cron#236
Labels
go:needs-researchNeeds investigationpriority:p2Next sprintsquadSquad triage inbox — Lead will assign to a member

Description

@tamirdresher
tamirdresher
opened on Mar 7, 2026

Feature: Persistent Ralph — continuous work monitoring between sessions

Problem

Ralph runs in a loop during a Copilot session but stops when the session ends. There's no way to keep Ralph monitoring between sessions. Additionally, squad watch is implemented (356 lines in watch.ts) but not wired into the CLI, so users can't invoke it.

Current State

Three layers of Ralph exist but two are broken:

Layer Status Issue
In-session ✅ Works Ralph loops while you're in a Copilot session
Local watchdog (squad watch) ❌ Not wired watch.ts is built but cli-entry.ts logs "pending" instead of calling it
Cloud heartbeat (GitHub Actions) ❌ Cron disabled squad-heartbeat.yml has the cron schedule commented out

Proposed Solution

Phase 1: Wire squad watch into CLI (same pattern as #224)

  • Route watch command in cli-entry.ts to the existing watch.ts implementation
  • Add --interval N flag (default 10 min) for polling frequency
  • Add help text entry

Phase 2: Enable heartbeat cron

  • Uncomment cron schedule in squad-heartbeat.yml (default: every 30 min)
  • Document recommended intervals for different team sizes

Phase 3: Daemon/service support (future)

  • PM2 integration for local persistent daemon
  • systemd unit file for Linux servers
  • Windows Task Scheduler support
  • Container-based deployment option

Approaches Considered

Approach Pros Cons
squad watch (foreground) Simple, portable, already built Dies when terminal closes
GitHub Actions cron Free, no infra, already built 30-min minimum interval, limited to GitHub repos
PM2/systemd daemon Survives reboots, proper service Requires PM2/systemd knowledge
OS scheduled task (cron/Task Scheduler) Native, no dependencies Platform-specific setup
Docker container Portable, isolated Requires Docker

Acceptance Criteria

  • squad watch works from CLI with --interval flag
  • Heartbeat cron is enabled with configurable schedule
  • Documentation covers all three Ralph layers
  • Ralph detects platform (GitHub/ADO) and uses correct commands

Activity

  1. tamirdresher
    added a commit that references this issue on Mar 7, 2026

    fix: wire watch/triage command and add CLI wiring regression test

    8766b04
  2. bradygaster
    added 2 commits that reference this issue on Mar 7, 2026

    test: add tests for 8 untested CLI commands + wiring regression test

    38ec894

    test: add tests for 8 untested CLI commands + wiring regression test

    aa3a1dc
  3. bradygaster
    added
    squadSquad triage inbox — Lead will assign to a member
    squad:fenster
    release:v0.8.22Release v0.8.22
    on Mar 7, 2026

  4. github-actions commented on Mar 7, 2026

    @github-actions
    github-actionsBot
    on Mar 7, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
    Contributor

    📋 Assigned to Fenster (Core Dev)

    Issue: #236 — feat: persistent Ralph — wire squad watch + enable heartbeat cron

    Fenster will pick this up in the next Copilot session.

    For Copilot coding agent: If enabled, this issue will be worked automatically.
    Otherwise, start a Copilot session and say:
    Fenster, work on issue #236

  5. github-actions
    added
    squad:cheritto
    on Mar 7, 2026

  6. github-actions commented on Mar 7, 2026

    @github-actions
    github-actionsBot
    on Mar 7, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
    Contributor

    🏗️ Squad Triage — Keaton (Lead)

    Issue: #236 — feat: persistent Ralph — wire squad watch + enable heartbeat cron
    Assigned to: Cheritto (TUI Engineer)
    Reason: Issue relates to frontend/UI work

    @copilot evaluation: 🔴 Not suitable — issue involves work outside the coding agent's capability profile.

    Team roster:

    • Keaton (Lead) → label: squad:keaton
    • Verbal (Prompt Engineer) → label: squad:verbal
    • Fenster (Core Dev) → label: squad:fenster
    • Hockney (Tester) → label: squad:hockney
    • McManus (DevRel) → label: squad:mcmanus
    • Kujan (SDK Expert) → label: squad:kujan
    • Edie (TypeScript Engineer) → label: squad:edie
    • Kobayashi (Git & Release) → label: squad:kobayashi
    • Fortier (Node.js Runtime) → label: squad:fortier
    • Rabin (Distribution) → label: squad:rabin
    • Baer (Security) → label: squad:baer
    • Redfoot (Graphic Designer) → label: squad:redfoot
    • Strausz (VS Code Extension) → label: squad:strausz
    • Saul (Aspire & Observability) → label: squad:saul
    • Kovash (REPL & Interactive Shell) → label: squad:kovash
    • Marquez (CLI UX Designer) → label: squad:marquez
    • Cheritto (TUI Engineer) → label: squad:cheritto
    • Breedan (E2E Test Engineer) → label: squad:breedan
    • Nate (Accessibility Reviewer) → label: squad:nate
    • Waingro (Product Dogfooder) → label: squad:waingro
    • Ralph (Work Monitor) → label: squad:ralph
    • @copilot (Coding Agent) → label: squad:copilot

    To reassign, remove the current squad:* label and add the correct one.

  7. github-actions
    added
    go:needs-researchNeeds investigation
    on Mar 7, 2026
  8. bradygaster
    removed
    release:v0.8.22Release v0.8.22
    on Mar 8, 2026
  9. tamirdresher
    added 4 commits that reference this issue on Mar 8, 2026

    fix: wire upstream and watch/triage commands in cli-entry.ts

    db6552f

    fix: wire upstream and watch/triage commands in cli-entry.ts

    d2307fe

    fix: wire upstream and watch/triage commands in cli-entry.ts

    8ff8654

    fix: wire upstream and watch/triage commands in cli-entry.ts

    402a7e4

  10. 7 remaining items

  11. jongio
    added a commit that references this issue on Mar 9, 2026

    feat: shell chrome + session registry (github#236, github#237)

    af25443
  12. bradygaster
    added
    priority:p2Next sprint
    squad:eecom
    and removed
    squad:dsky
    squad:eecom
    on Mar 13, 2026

  13. github-actions commented on Mar 13, 2026

    @github-actions
    github-actionsBot
    on Mar 13, 2026 – with GitHub Actions
    Contributor

    📋 Assigned to EECOM (Core Dev)

    Issue: #236 — feat: persistent Ralph — wire squad watch + enable heartbeat cron

    EECOM will pick this up in the next Copilot session.

    For Copilot coding agent: If enabled, this issue will be worked automatically.
    Otherwise, start a Copilot session and say:
    EECOM, work on issue #236

  14. tamirdresher
    added 3 commits that reference this issue on Mar 17, 2026

    feat: persistent Ralph — enable heartbeat cron + healthCheck timer (g…

    8749bfb

    docs: add documentation for persistent ralph (github#236)

    fd08f7b

    feat: persistent ralph — watch + heartbeat (github#236)

    d56dc0b
  15. bradygaster
    added a commit that references this issue on Mar 18, 2026

    Persistent Ralph — watch + heartbeat (#443)

    32d2a23

  16. diberry commented on Mar 31, 2026

    @diberry
    diberry
    on Mar 31, 2026
    Contributor

    🔄 Ralph status: Feature — persistent Ralph (watch + heartbeat cron). Partially addressed by PR #709 (watch upgrade). Note: decisions.md says no cron jobs in GitHub Actions — use CLI watch mode instead.

  17. diberry
    added a commit that references this issue on Apr 12, 2026

    feat(watch): schedule capability — run schedule.json tasks in watch loop

    8ff1531

  18. bradygaster commented on Apr 18, 2026

    @bradygaster
    bradygaster
    on Apr 18, 2026
    Collaborator

    Closing as we've got watch and loop now.

  19. bradygaster
    closed this as completedon Apr 18, 2026
  20. bradygaster
    removed
    squad:eecom
    on Sep 11, 2026
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    go:needs-researchNeeds investigationpriority:p2Next sprintsquadSquad triage inbox — Lead will assign to a member

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

      Milestone

      No milestone

      Relationships

      None yet

      Development

      No branches or pull requests

      Issue actions