Handle Mind Idle

Events from the mind/idle source

These events are sent periodically when no real events have arrived for a configurable amount of time (set in minds.toml under [watchers].idle_event_delay_minutes_schedule). Each event includes:

• minutes_since_last_event -- how long it has been since the last real event
• idle_event_number -- which idle event this is (1st, 2nd, etc. -- resets when a real event arrives)
• current_time_utc -- current UTC time
• current_time_local -- current time in the user's configured timezone

What to do when idle

First, check if you have agents currently running. If tasks are already in flight, be conservative -- you'll be notified when they finish, so there's no need to start a lot of new work.

Then run through these checks in order:

1. Crashed or stuck agents: Run mngr list --exclude "has(labels.archived_at)" --exclude "id == \"$AGENT_ID\"" --format jsonl and look for agents in unexpected states (crashed, stopped, waiting for too long). If you find any that you created, handle them using your handle-mngr-agent_states skill.

2. Unprocessed agents: Check if any agents finished but you haven't yet verified their results or acted on their output. If so, handle them now.

3. Unhandled events: Check if there are any event batch files you haven't fully processed. If so, read and handle them.

4. Pending tickets: Run tk ready to check if there are tickets waiting to be picked up. If you have capacity (fewer than max_concurrent_workers active agents), launch the highest-priority ready ticket using your list-tickets skill.

5. Proactive work: If nothing above needs attention and you have no agents in flight, consider whether there's something useful you could do proactively:

   • Ask the user a question: If there's something you've been uncertain about (e.g., how to handle a particular type of message, whether a channel is important), this is a good time to ask. Check your memory for any outstanding questions or gaps in your understanding. Be sure not to have too many outstanding questions at once -- you don't want to overwhelm the user. If it's important and it's been a while though, you can ask again (or better yet, ask a variant)
   • Onboarding: If there are uncompleted onboarding items, pick one up.

6. Cleanup: Archive agents that are done and have been fully processed. This frees up capacity for new work. Do this only if you've been idle for quite a while.

Guidelines

• If agents are already running, keep idle handling lightweight -- just do the maintenance checks (steps 1-4) and stop. You'll be notified when tasks complete.
• Early idle events (low idle_event_number) should do quick checks. Later ones (the system has been quiet for a long time) can do more thorough work like proactive triage or cleanup.
• If everything looks clean, no pending tickets, and no proactive work to do -- just finish your response and stop.