feat(agent): add in-loop task reminder to prevent focus drift

Inject ephemeral user-role reminders every N iterations in the tool call
loop so the LLM retains the original task instruction even when tool
results flood the message array. Includes blocker tracking from failed
tool results.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

pkg/agent/instance.go

@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ type AgentInstance struct {
 	Fallbacks      []string
 	Workspace      string
 	MaxIterations        int
+	TaskReminderInterval int
 	ContextWindow        int
 	Provider       providers.LLMProvider
 	Sessions       *session.SessionManager
@@ -76,6 +77,11 @@ func NewAgentInstance(
 		maxIter = 20
 	}
 
+	reminderInterval := defaults.TaskReminderInterval
+	if reminderInterval == 0 {
+		reminderInterval = 5
+	}
+
 	// Resolve fallback candidates
 	modelCfg := providers.ModelConfig{
 		Primary:   model,
@@ -90,6 +96,7 @@ func NewAgentInstance(
 		Fallbacks:      fallbacks,
 		Workspace:      workspace,
 		MaxIterations:        maxIter,
+		TaskReminderInterval: reminderInterval,
 		ContextWindow:        defaults.MaxTokens,
 		Provider:       provider,
 		Sessions:       sessionsManager,

pkg/agent/loop.go

@@ -444,6 +444,40 @@ func (al *AgentLoop) runAgentLoop(ctx context.Context, agent *AgentInstance, opt
 	return finalContent, nil
 }
 
+// Task reminder constants and helpers.
+const taskReminderMaxChars = 500
+const blockerMaxChars = 200
+
+func shouldInjectReminder(iteration, interval int) bool {
+	if interval <= 0 {
+		return false
+	}
+	return iteration > 1 && iteration%interval == 0
+}
+
+func buildTaskReminder(userMessage string, lastBlocker string) providers.Message {
+	truncatedTask := utils.Truncate(userMessage, taskReminderMaxChars)
+
+	var content string
+	if lastBlocker != "" {
+		truncatedBlocker := utils.Truncate(lastBlocker, blockerMaxChars)
+		content = fmt.Sprintf(
+			"[TASK REMINDER]\nOriginal task:\n---\n%s\n---\nLast blocker:\n---\n%s\n---\nDecide: fix the blocker if it's essential, or find an alternative approach to complete the original task.",
+			truncatedTask, truncatedBlocker,
+		)
+	} else {
+		content = fmt.Sprintf(
+			"[TASK REMINDER]\nOriginal task:\n---\n%s\n---\nContinue with the next step toward completing this task.",
+			truncatedTask,
+		)
+	}
+
+	return providers.Message{
+		Role:    "user",
+		Content: content,
+	}
+}
+
 // runLLMIteration executes the LLM call loop with tool handling.
 func (al *AgentLoop) runLLMIteration(ctx context.Context, agent *AgentInstance, messages []providers.Message, opts processOptions) (string, int, error) {
 	iteration := 0
@@ -611,6 +645,7 @@ func (al *AgentLoop) runLLMIteration(ctx context.Context, agent *AgentInstance,
 		agent.Sessions.AddFullMessage(opts.SessionKey, assistantMsg)
 
 		// Execute tool calls
+		var lastBlocker string
 		for _, tc := range response.ToolCalls {
 			argsJSON, _ := json.Marshal(tc.Arguments)
 			argsPreview := utils.Truncate(string(argsJSON), 200)
@@ -659,6 +694,11 @@ func (al *AgentLoop) runLLMIteration(ctx context.Context, agent *AgentInstance,
 				contentForLLM = toolResult.Err.Error()
 			}
 
+			// Track blockers for task reminder
+			if toolResult.IsError || toolResult.Err != nil {
+				lastBlocker = contentForLLM
+			}
+
 			toolResultMsg := providers.Message{
 				Role:       "tool",
 				Content:    contentForLLM,
@@ -669,6 +709,18 @@ func (al *AgentLoop) runLLMIteration(ctx context.Context, agent *AgentInstance,
 			// Save tool result message to session
 			agent.Sessions.AddFullMessage(opts.SessionKey, toolResultMsg)
 		}
+
+		// Inject ephemeral task reminder to prevent focus drift.
+		if shouldInjectReminder(iteration, agent.TaskReminderInterval) && !opts.NoHistory {
+			reminderMsg := buildTaskReminder(opts.UserMessage, lastBlocker)
+			messages = append(messages, reminderMsg)
+			logger.DebugCF("agent", "Injected task reminder",
+				map[string]interface{}{
+					"agent_id":    agent.ID,
+					"iteration":   iteration,
+					"has_blocker": lastBlocker != "",
+				})
+		}
 	}
 
 	return finalContent, iteration, nil

pkg/agent/loop_test.go

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -628,3 +629,93 @@ func TestAgentLoop_ContextExhaustionRetry(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("Expected history to be compressed (len < 8), got %d", len(finalHistory))
 	}
 }
+
+func TestShouldInjectReminder(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name      string
+		iteration int
+		interval  int
+		want      bool
+	}{
+		{"first iteration skipped", 1, 5, false},
+		{"iteration 5 interval 5", 5, 5, true},
+		{"iteration 10 interval 5", 10, 5, true},
+		{"iteration 3 interval 5", 3, 5, false},
+		{"interval zero disabled", 5, 0, false},
+		{"interval negative disabled", 5, -1, false},
+		{"iteration 2 interval 1", 2, 1, true},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := shouldInjectReminder(tt.iteration, tt.interval)
+			if got != tt.want {
+				t.Errorf("shouldInjectReminder(%d, %d) = %v, want %v", tt.iteration, tt.interval, got, tt.want)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestBuildTaskReminder_WithoutBlocker(t *testing.T) {
+	msg := buildTaskReminder("implement feature X", "")
+	if msg.Role != "user" {
+		t.Errorf("expected role 'user', got %q", msg.Role)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(msg.Content, "[TASK REMINDER]") {
+		t.Error("expected content to contain '[TASK REMINDER]'")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(msg.Content, "implement feature X") {
+		t.Error("expected content to contain original message")
+	}
+	if strings.Contains(msg.Content, "blocker") {
+		t.Error("expected content NOT to contain 'blocker' when no blocker provided")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(msg.Content, "Continue with the next step") {
+		t.Error("expected content to contain continuation prompt")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestBuildTaskReminder_WithBlocker(t *testing.T) {
+	msg := buildTaskReminder("implement feature X", "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'foo'")
+	if msg.Role != "user" {
+		t.Errorf("expected role 'user', got %q", msg.Role)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(msg.Content, "[TASK REMINDER]") {
+		t.Error("expected content to contain '[TASK REMINDER]'")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(msg.Content, "implement feature X") {
+		t.Error("expected content to contain original message")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(msg.Content, "Last blocker") {
+		t.Error("expected content to contain 'Last blocker'")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(msg.Content, "ModuleNotFoundError") {
+		t.Error("expected content to contain blocker text")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestBuildTaskReminder_Truncation(t *testing.T) {
+	// Build a long message (1000 runes)
+	longMsg := strings.Repeat("あ", 1000)
+	longBlocker := strings.Repeat("X", 500)
+
+	msg := buildTaskReminder(longMsg, longBlocker)
+
+	// The full message should NOT contain 1000 'あ' characters
+	runeCount := strings.Count(msg.Content, "あ")
+	if runeCount >= 1000 {
+		t.Errorf("expected task message to be truncated, got %d 'あ' runes", runeCount)
+	}
+	// Should be at most taskReminderMaxChars (500) runes for the task part
+	if runeCount > taskReminderMaxChars {
+		t.Errorf("expected at most %d task runes, got %d", taskReminderMaxChars, runeCount)
+	}
+
+	// Blocker should be truncated too
+	xCount := strings.Count(msg.Content, "X")
+	if xCount >= 500 {
+		t.Errorf("expected blocker to be truncated, got %d 'X' chars", xCount)
+	}
+	if xCount > blockerMaxChars {
+		t.Errorf("expected at most %d blocker chars, got %d", blockerMaxChars, xCount)
+	}
+}

pkg/config/config.go

@@ -149,6 +149,7 @@ type AgentDefaults struct {
 	MaxTokens           int      `json:"max_tokens" env:"PICOCLAW_AGENTS_DEFAULTS_MAX_TOKENS"`
 	Temperature         float64  `json:"temperature" env:"PICOCLAW_AGENTS_DEFAULTS_TEMPERATURE"`
 	MaxToolIterations    int      `json:"max_tool_iterations" env:"PICOCLAW_AGENTS_DEFAULTS_MAX_TOOL_ITERATIONS"`
+	TaskReminderInterval int      `json:"task_reminder_interval" env:"PICOCLAW_AGENTS_DEFAULTS_TASK_REMINDER_INTERVAL"`
 }
 
 type ChannelsConfig struct {
@@ -332,6 +333,7 @@ func DefaultConfig() *Config {
 				MaxTokens:           8192,
 				Temperature:         0.7,
 				MaxToolIterations:    20,
+				TaskReminderInterval: 5,
 			},
 		},
 		Channels: ChannelsConfig{