feat: continuous autonomous operation — re-trigger after every productive cycle

Previously the autonomous heartbeat fired once every N minutes then stopped,
even if there was more work to do. Now:

1. WorkDone flag on ToolResult: the heartbeat handler sets WorkDone=true
   whenever the agent did real work (response != HEARTBEAT_OK). The heartbeat
   service uses this to decide whether to re-trigger immediately.

2. Continuous re-trigger: runLoop re-schedules the next cycle after a short
   cooldown (5s) when WorkDone=true, instead of waiting the full interval.
   A maxConsecutiveCycles cap (20) prevents runaway loops.

3. Persistent session history: ProcessHeartbeat now uses NoHistory=false in
   autonomous mode (session key "autonomous"), so the agent builds context
   across consecutive cycles and knows what it did in the previous step.

4. exec allowed in autonomous mode: Added "autonomous" and "heartbeat" to
   the internalChannels map, and the heartbeat handler always uses the
   "autonomous" channel for the agent session so exec/shell tools work.

https://claude.ai/code/session_0118WWK5KLRM7ZBUoC8EMgKS

pkg/agent/loop.go

@@ -689,8 +689,9 @@ func (al *AgentLoop) ProcessDirectWithChannel(
 	return al.processMessage(ctx, msg)
 }
 
-// ProcessHeartbeat processes a heartbeat request without session history.
+// ProcessHeartbeat processes a heartbeat request.
-// Each heartbeat is independent and doesn't accumulate context.
+// In autonomous mode, session history is preserved across cycles so the agent
+// can build context continuously. In standard mode, each heartbeat is isolated.
 func (al *AgentLoop) ProcessHeartbeat(
 	ctx context.Context,
 	content, channel, chatID string,
@@ -699,15 +700,19 @@ func (al *AgentLoop) ProcessHeartbeat(
 	if agent == nil {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("no default agent for heartbeat")
 	}
+
+	cfg := al.GetConfig()
+	autonomousMode := cfg.Autonomous.IsEnabled()
+
 	return al.runAgentLoop(ctx, agent, processOptions{
-		SessionKey:      "heartbeat",
+		SessionKey:      "autonomous",
 		Channel:         channel,
 		ChatID:          chatID,
 		UserMessage:     content,
 		DefaultResponse: defaultResponse,
-		EnableSummary:   false,
+		EnableSummary:   autonomousMode, // summarize when context grows in long sessions
 		SendResponse:    false,
-		NoHistory:       true, // Don't load session history for heartbeat
+		NoHistory:       !autonomousMode, // preserve history in autonomous mode
 	})
 }
 

pkg/constants/channels.go

@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ var internalChannels = map[string]struct{}{
 	"cli":        {},
 	"system":     {},
 	"subagent":   {},
+	"autonomous": {}, // heartbeat / autonomous mode cycles
+	"heartbeat":  {},
 }
 
 // IsInternalChannel returns true if the channel is an internal channel.

pkg/gateway/gateway.go

@@ -668,13 +668,21 @@ func createHeartbeatHandler(agentLoop *agent.AgentLoop) func(prompt, channel, ch
 			channel, chatID = "cli", "direct"
 		}
 
-		response, err := agentLoop.ProcessHeartbeat(context.Background(), prompt, channel, chatID)
+		// Always run the agent session on the "autonomous" internal channel so that
+		// tools like exec (which require an internal channel) work in autonomous mode.
+		// The original channel/chatID is only used for sending responses back to the user.
+		response, err := agentLoop.ProcessHeartbeat(context.Background(), prompt, "autonomous", chatID)
 		if err != nil {
 			return tools.ErrorResult(fmt.Sprintf("Heartbeat error: %v", err))
 		}
 		if response == "HEARTBEAT_OK" {
 			return tools.SilentResult("Heartbeat OK")
 		}
-		return tools.SilentResult(response)
+		// Real work was done — signal the heartbeat service to re-trigger immediately
+		return &tools.ToolResult{
+			ForLLM:   response,
+			Silent:   true,
+			WorkDone: true,
+		}
 	}
 }

pkg/heartbeat/service.go

@@ -26,6 +26,11 @@ import (
 const (
 	minIntervalMinutes     = 5
 	defaultIntervalMinutes = 30
+	// continuousCooldown is the pause between cycles when the agent did real work.
+	// Short enough to feel continuous, long enough to avoid hammering the LLM.
+	continuousCooldown = 5 * time.Second
+	// maxConsecutiveCycles caps back-to-back productive cycles before a longer pause.
+	maxConsecutiveCycles = 20
 )
 
 // HeartbeatHandler is the function type for handling heartbeat.
@@ -44,6 +49,9 @@ type HeartbeatService struct {
 	autonomousEnabled bool // when true, heartbeat drives goal-pursuit loop
 	mu                sync.RWMutex
 	stopChan          chan struct{}
+	// retrigger is signalled by executeHeartbeat when WorkDone=true
+	// so the runLoop can immediately schedule the next cycle instead of waiting.
+	retrigger chan struct{}
 }
 
 // NewHeartbeatService creates a new heartbeat service
@@ -62,6 +70,7 @@ func NewHeartbeatService(workspace string, intervalMinutes int, enabled bool) *H
 		interval:  time.Duration(intervalMinutes) * time.Minute,
 		enabled:   enabled,
 		state:     state.NewManager(workspace),
+		retrigger: make(chan struct{}, 1),
 	}
 }
 
@@ -140,34 +149,74 @@ func (hs *HeartbeatService) runLoop(stopChan chan struct{}) {
 	ticker := time.NewTicker(hs.interval)
 	defer ticker.Stop()
 
-	// Run first heartbeat after initial delay
+	consecutiveCycles := 0
+
+	// Run first heartbeat after a brief startup delay
 	time.AfterFunc(time.Second, func() {
-		hs.executeHeartbeat()
+		select {
+		case hs.retrigger <- struct{}{}:
+		default:
+		}
 	})
 
 	for {
 		select {
 		case <-stopChan:
 			return
+
+		case <-hs.retrigger:
+			// Drain the ticker so it doesn't fire again right after
+			select {
 			case <-ticker.C:
+			default:
+			}
+			ticker.Reset(hs.interval)
+
+			workDone := hs.executeHeartbeat()
+
+			if workDone && hs.autonomousEnabled {
+				consecutiveCycles++
+				if consecutiveCycles >= maxConsecutiveCycles {
+					// Take a longer rest to avoid runaway loops
+					consecutiveCycles = 0
+					logger.InfoC("heartbeat", "Reached max consecutive cycles, pausing before next cycle")
+					ticker.Reset(hs.interval)
+					continue
+				}
+				// Schedule next cycle almost immediately
+				time.AfterFunc(continuousCooldown, func() {
+					select {
+					case hs.retrigger <- struct{}{}:
+					default:
+					}
+				})
+			} else {
+				consecutiveCycles = 0
+			}
+
+		case <-ticker.C:
+			consecutiveCycles = 0
 			hs.executeHeartbeat()
+			ticker.Reset(hs.interval)
 		}
 	}
 }
 
-// executeHeartbeat performs a single heartbeat check
+// executeHeartbeat performs a single heartbeat check.
-func (hs *HeartbeatService) executeHeartbeat() {
+// Returns true if meaningful work was done (WorkDone=true in the result),
+// which signals the caller to re-trigger the next cycle immediately.
+func (hs *HeartbeatService) executeHeartbeat() bool {
 	hs.mu.RLock()
 	enabled := hs.enabled
 	handler := hs.handler
 	if !hs.enabled || hs.stopChan == nil {
 		hs.mu.RUnlock()
-		return
+		return false
 	}
 	hs.mu.RUnlock()
 
 	if !enabled {
-		return
+		return false
 	}
 
 	logger.DebugC("heartbeat", "Executing heartbeat")
@@ -175,12 +224,12 @@ func (hs *HeartbeatService) executeHeartbeat() {
 	prompt := hs.buildPrompt()
 	if prompt == "" {
 		logger.InfoC("heartbeat", "No heartbeat prompt (HEARTBEAT.md empty or missing)")
-		return
+		return false
 	}
 
 	if handler == nil {
 		hs.logErrorf("Heartbeat handler not configured")
-		return
+		return false
 	}
 
 	// Get last channel info for context
@@ -194,13 +243,13 @@ func (hs *HeartbeatService) executeHeartbeat() {
 
 	if result == nil {
 		hs.logInfof("Heartbeat handler returned nil result")
-		return
+		return false
 	}
 
 	// Handle different result types
 	if result.IsError {
 		hs.logErrorf("Heartbeat error: %s", result.ForLLM)
-		return
+		return false
 	}
 
 	if result.Async {
@@ -209,23 +258,24 @@ func (hs *HeartbeatService) executeHeartbeat() {
 			map[string]any{
 				"message": result.ForLLM,
 			})
-		return
+		return false
 	}
 
-	// Check if silent
+	// Send result to user if not silent
-	if result.Silent {
+	if !result.Silent {
-		hs.logInfof("Heartbeat OK - silent")
-		return
-	}
-
-	// Send result to user
 		if result.ForUser != "" {
 			hs.sendResponse(result.ForUser)
 		} else if result.ForLLM != "" {
 			hs.sendResponse(result.ForLLM)
 		}
+	}
 
-	hs.logInfof("Heartbeat completed: %s", result.ForLLM)
+	if result.WorkDone {
+		hs.logInfof("Heartbeat cycle: work done, re-triggering immediately")
+	} else {
+		hs.logInfof("Heartbeat OK - idle")
+	}
+	return result.WorkDone
 }
 
 // buildPrompt builds the heartbeat prompt from HEARTBEAT.md and optionally GOALS.md.

pkg/tools/result.go

@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ type ToolResult struct {
 	// When true, the tool will complete later and notify via callback.
 	Async bool `json:"async"`
 
+	// WorkDone indicates that meaningful work was performed.
+	// Used by the heartbeat service to decide whether to re-trigger immediately
+	// rather than waiting for the next scheduled interval.
+	WorkDone bool `json:"work_done,omitempty"`
+
 	// Err is the underlying error (not JSON serialized).
 	// Used for internal error handling and logging.
 	Err error `json:"-"`