[brennanb2025]

	Files	Added	Deleted	Net
Test	12	$\color{#1a7f37}{\Huge{\mathbf{+}}}$​152	$\color{#cf222e}{\Huge{\mathbf{−}}}$​8	$\color{#1a7f37}{\Huge{\mathbf{+}}}$​144
Prod	25	$\color{#1a7f37}{\Huge{\mathbf{+}}}$​183	$\color{#cf222e}{\Huge{\mathbf{−}}}$​26	$\color{#1a7f37}{\Huge{\mathbf{+}}}$​157

Problem

Every dispatched orchestration worker is told to send a heartbeat to its coordinator every 5 minutes. There is no way to turn that off, so users who don't want the extra coordinator mail have to work around it in their own agent instructions.

Change

Settings → Agent Orchestration gets a Worker heartbeats switch, on by default (today's behavior unchanged).

• Off: newly dispatched workers' briefs no longer mention heartbeats at all, and the legacy orchestration run loop's stale-heartbeat check is skipped.
• Workers already running keep the brief they were given; the setting applies to workers dispatched after the change (the description says so).
• Like the other orchestration settings, it is read from the runtime's own store, is not writable through the CLI settings RPC, and is hidden on paired web clients. An older host ignores it and keeps 5 minutes.

Plan

The heartbeat interval was two constants that had to agree: 5 minutes in the worker brief and a 10-minute (2×) stale threshold. Both now come from one resolver (src/shared/orchestration-heartbeat.ts) that returns the interval in minutes or null when off. All six places that build the brief pass that value, and the stale check uses the same value. No saved field or wire change beyond the optional setting itself, where a missing value means on.

We also considered recording each dispatch's interval on its row so the stale check would judge against what that worker was told. We chose not to, because the stale check's only output is a log callback that the production coordinator leaves empty (gates.ts constructs it without onLog). A stored column would make something no one sees more precise. Intended difference from the common pattern of recording the interval per session: here the brief itself carries the interval to the worker.

A follow-up PR adds the interval setting, shown while heartbeats are on.

Testing

Full-path review completed: correctness and architecture review, persistence/consumer trace, cross-platform/mobile readiness scan, performance pass, and final reference comparison. No production defect found. Two verification gaps were filled, then the tests were reduced to the focused contracts requested by the lane owner.

• Real Store migration/save/reopen: older profiles inherit on; saved false survives reload and the runtime resolves it to off.
• Renderer: default-on/save-off, plus a saved-off profile toggled back on.
• Real CLI argv through handlers, RPC validation, runtime and resolver: off omits heartbeat text from the delivered/returned brief and retains completion, both outcomes, ask, escalation and mailbox-check instructions.
• 63 tests passed across those three named suites. The original changed-file suites also passed before the test-only additions. Normal commit hooks and the explicit main-merge check passed.
• Branch-only Settings screenshot confirmed the new switch is on by default with the complete description visible. The isolated copy stopped gracefully with no survivors. Settings/orchestration use qa=tests; no agent QA run is required.

Final CI 40412354258 is green on 3845982: static analysis/typecheck, all unit shards, cross-version compatibility, packaging and platform persistence checks passed. The screenshot and reference evidence were captured on 779d33f. Subsequent own commits change only tests/support; main merges 2161f4c, e35e544 and 3742278 passed narrow checks. CI-exposed fixture contracts were corrected, the affected CLI suite passed again (2/2), and the final test/support delta is 147 net lines against 147 production additions.

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Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 65358c5 and 3845982.

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• src/main/runtime/rpc/methods/orchestration/cli-runtime-boundary.test.ts

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Walkthrough

The changes add a worker-heartbeat setting that is enabled by default and can be disabled in local runtime settings. The runtime resolves the setting to a five-minute interval or null. Dispatch preambles include heartbeat instructions only when an interval is configured. The coordinator uses the interval to determine when to warn about stale dispatches and skips those checks when heartbeats are disabled.

Priority: Low

Merge Risk: Minimal · up to 38459

No actionable merge-blocking risk was identified in this test-only change.

Pre-merge checks: 3 · 2

Failed checks: 2 warnings

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage		Docstring coverage is 28.57% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 21 functions across 29 files.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.
Description check		The description explains the problem, change, implementation plan, and testing in detail, but it does not follow the repository template. It omits the required ELI5, What Changed, Why, Linked Issue, V…	Update the description to include all required template sections. Add an actual issue reference under “Linked Issue” using Fixes #... or the maintainer exception. Add the required before/after visual proof, or write N/A with a reason if…

Passed checks: 3 passed

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check		The title clearly and concisely describes the main change: adding a Settings switch to disable worker heartbeats.
Linked Issues check		Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check		Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

Full details: Description check

Explanation

The description explains the problem, change, implementation plan, and testing in detail, but it does not follow the repository template. It omits the required ELI5, What Changed, Why, Linked Issue, Visual Proof, AI Disclosure, Review, boundary, Notes, and Checklist sections. It also does not provide an actual linked issue or the required visual-proof declaration or attachment.

Resolution

Update the description to include all required template sections. Add an actual issue reference under “Linked Issue” using Fixes #... or the maintainer exception. Add the required before/after visual proof, or write N/A with a reason if applicable. Complete the testing checkboxes, AI Disclosure, Review, Agent skill upstream boundary, Notes, and Checklist sections.

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[brennanb2025]

Workers always received five-minute heartbeat instructions, so users could not avoid the extra coordinator mail. This PR adds Worker heartbeats in Settings → Agent Orchestration, on by default. Turning it off omits heartbeat instructions from future worker briefs and skips the legacy stale check. Existing briefs and incoming completion/heartbeat reports continue to work.

The full review found no production defect. Two missing test contracts were added: older settings load/save/reopen with the opt-out preserved, and real CLI arguments through RPC/runtime to the delivered brief. The tests were then narrowed at the lane owner's direction to those contracts plus the pane test. Final CI also exposed a legacy partial-runtime fixture cast after the heartbeat stub changed its expression; a line-specific safety explanation was added without changing fixture behavior. The first executed typecheck then found an incomplete authority mock and a CLI import crossing the Node project boundary in that integration test. Both were corrected using existing patterns; the real argv/RPC/runtime path and assertions are retained. No findings remain deferred.

Verification: 63 tests passed in the three retained suites, and the two-test CLI suite passed again after its fixture/import corrections; normal commit hooks and all three explicit main-merge checks passed. Correctness, architecture, performance, cross-platform/mobile readiness, final reference comparison and the narrow final merge check passed. Final CI 40412354258 is green on 3845982104a: static analysis/typecheck, all five unit shards, selection evidence, cross-version compatibility and packaging passed, alongside the platform persistence and WSL checks. The bounded test-fix review also passed. Settings and orchestration use qa=tests; no real-agent QA round was required. The isolated Settings screenshot copy stopped gracefully with no survivors.

The live runtime preference is an intended difference from the common recorded-session pattern: the legacy stale callback reaches no production consumer and never fails, releases or wakes a worker. There is no dispatch migration or wire change. The interval control remains a separate follow-up.

For Brennan's review: the screenshot shows the switch enabled by default and its complete description. The key spots are the scope description and the heartbeat-only preamble branch.

Screenshot/reference production evidence is from 779d33f32c897bd173d26f517c5451cf820a86a4. Since then, 06e33929f82 added test contracts, 3b38f8e0782 pruned them to the retained scope, and clean main merges 2161f4c67b2, e35e5448c8e, and 37422780d94175362e55805b2ba99023df37721b incorporated main and its CI repairs. 65358c53bc3 adds only that fixture safety annotation. 3845982104a corrects only the CLI test fixture/import. All four own commits change only tests/support, including the runtime test harness that accepts the settings fixture; the settings and CLI tests cover that tests-row flow on the final head, while the unchanged Settings screen retains its original screenshot; all main merges passed narrow review and preserve the reviewed heartbeat changes. Prior evidence carries. Final source/merge review is on 37422780d94175362e55805b2ba99023df37721b; the test-only deltas and final CI are on 3845982104a8d34f5df7e6b9bd56dec4bf1feb4b.