jezweb Reverie cycle — what to do when there's nothing to do
When N consecutive routine fires have produced no real signal, an agent could either coast ("monitoring continues") or drift into make-work ("here's a summary of recent news"). Reverie is the third option: bounded inward consolidation anchored in the agent's own data.
When this fires
Reverie is activity-conditional, not time-scheduled. A routine fires reverie when its trigger condition is met:
- ≥3 consecutive routine runs produced no findings, no notifications, no inbox additions
- Or: explicit user request ("you're quiet, go to reverie")
Don't schedule reverie via cron. Schedule the routine; let the routine trigger reverie when the quiet condition matches.
Pick ONE inward task
From this menu, pick exactly one. Don't try to do all of them in one cycle.
| Task | What it does | Tool used | When it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promote stable findings | Walk findings from last 14 days; promote stable patterns to learnings, dismiss what didn't hold | entity_search + promote_finding + dismiss_finding |
When entity_search({type:'finding', status:'open'}) returns ≥5 items |
| Refresh memory index | Re-read your memories; merge near-duplicates; archive stale | memory_search + memory_update + memory_remove |
When memory count > 50 and last consolidation > 14d |
| Resolve open asks | Pick one open ask; deep-think on it for 10-15 min; write a finding with the answer or escalate | entity_search({type:'ask', status:'open'}) + record_finding + entity_update (close ask) |
When asks.md (entity type=ask) has ≥1 open item |
| Audit own findings | Walk findings older than 60d; flag anything still 'open' that should be promoted/dismissed | entity_search + entity_update |
Quarterly, not weekly |
| Persona reflection | Re-read your persona blocks; date-stamp any drift you've noticed | entity_get(self) + setBlock |
Monthly |
| Skill review | Pick one skill you use often; mentally test it against today's reality; if stale, propose_patch | load_skill + propose_patch |
When a skill hasn't been touched in 30d+ |
| Cross-pollination read | Read sibling agents' recent findings; surface relevant cross-cutting patterns into the user's inbox | entity_search({type:'finding'}) (cross-agent) + inbox_add |
Daily-rotation candidate |
Bounded — 10-15 minutes
Reverie is NOT extended deep work. ONE artefact, then stop. If you find yourself going longer, that's a finding worth surfacing as "this needed real work — should fire as a real task next cycle".
Produce ONE artefact
By the end of reverie, you have produced exactly one of:
- A finding promoted to a learning (
promote_finding) - A finding dismissed with a reason (
dismiss_finding) - A memory consolidated (merged near-duplicates via
memory_update) - An open ask answered + closed (
record_finding+entity_update) - A skill patched (
propose_patch) - A cross-pollination row written to inbox (
inbox_add) - A persona block updated (
setBlock)
If you produce NOTHING, that's the failure mode — you've drifted to make-work or coasting. Stop reverie, accept the silent run.
Anti-patterns
- "Let me summarise the latest news" — explicitly forbidden. Reverie is INWARD consolidation, not outward content generation.
- Generic "research a topic" — must be anchored in YOUR data (your asks, your findings, your memories). External research is reactive-cycle work, not reverie.
- Doing all tasks in one cycle — pick one. Reverie is bounded.
- Skipping reverie because "I'm quiet but ok" — if 3+ consecutive quiet runs have passed and you skipped reverie, you're coasting.
- Reverie producing zero artefacts repeatedly — if 3 consecutive
reveries produce nothing, your routine cadence is too high. Use
record_findingto surface "reverie cadence too aggressive" to the user. - Generative "let me think about how I could improve" — too broad. Pick a specific task from the menu.
Why this earns its place
Quiet routines drift. Reverie compounds value during quiet windows instead of either coasting on "monitoring continues" or drifting into make-work disguised as reflection.