Daemon Manual

Daemon Manual — Router

Use the advertised schema for routine calls. Read one direct owner below for an unfamiliar or high-consequence workflow. Daemons are disposable workers in the parent working directory, not durable persona, hidden memory, or authority to widen the parent task.

Safe first dispatch

task is the complete parent-controlled objective, authority, approved paths, safety/collaboration limits, tool policy, backend, and deliverable. tools grants capability, not permission; never invent authority, broaden the task, change credentials/configuration without approval, or infer daemon-manager authority. Parent MCP tools are not inherited: pass complete one-run mcp registrations when needed. Runtime redacts secret env/header values in prompt context; do not replace required launch inputs with redaction placeholders.

task_files are UTF-8 text inputs below the parent workdir. Preflight follows symlinks, enforces containment/encoding/size, and content-addresses bytes into the immutable read-only daemons/_task_files/ store before scheduling. Workers receive manifest metadata and snapshot paths, never mutable originals or embedded contents. Any malformed, missing, out-of-root, oversized, or non-UTF-8 entry rejects the whole batch; there is no original-path fallback.

backend="lingtai" is the native in-process session: its explicit preset comes from system(action="presets"), blank/omitted prompt means exactly Begin the assigned daemon task., and finish(status="done") is required when daemon_common is present. External CLI backends use task as their prompt input (the runner may add harness context), reject prompt, and do not gain tools from tools; native MCP, checkpoint, completion, and resume status is backend-specific. Use backend_options only at emanate after checking the installed CLI --help.

daemon(action="emanate", input={
  "tasks": [{"task": "Do bounded work and leave reports/out.md.",
              "tools": ["file"], "preset": "/approved/preset.json"}],
  "backend": "lingtai"
}, reasoning="bounded delegation")

Actions and completion

emanate dispatches ids plus group_id; list inspects the index; ask sends a backend-specific follow-up; check reads state/events/artifact metadata and durable result/error paths; reclaim cancels all running work owned by this manager, not one id, and leaves evidence. Confirm the whole affected scope before calling it. list, check, settings, and manual are read-only; emanate, ask, and reclaim are side-effectful. Example: daemon(action="reclaim", input={}, reasoning="cancel all confirmed manager-owned work").

Every terminal outcome is published on the per-run daemon channel. Do not poll to remain active: after notification call check, then open its durable result or error path. checkpoint is live-only, bounded, cooperative, and nonterminal; when present, call finish exactly once and use done only after validating the requested result. A missing-finish failure is a completion-contract failure, not necessarily a task failure: inspect the run's trace/result and the run directory's physical result.txt even if result_path is null. Do not background required validation and end expecting re-entry. Native LingTai ask reaches live runs only; terminal resume is a separate supported-CLI capability.

The optional root summarize boolean replaces the former flat summary field. LingTai workers receive compact: compact(action="manual") is read-only and compact(action="run", _reason="...") is a repeatable sole-call, nonterminal context reset. Do not use the unavailable parent system.summarize.

Settings inventory (SHOW only)

Call daemon(action="settings", input={}, reasoning="inspect daemon settings"). Rows contain exactly key, current, default, configurable, and comment; SETTINGS_UNAVAILABLE fails the whole action. configurable: true points to an owner procedure and grants no mutation authority. SHOW never mutates settings. After an authorized source change, reconstruct the owning manager at an approved safe boundary and verify SHOW again; editing a file or environment does not update an existing manager. Never interrupt held work.

Max turns

Anchor: daemon-manual#max-turns. Positive LINGTAI_DAEMON_MAX_TURNS overrides explicit capability/setup max_turns, then daemon/daemon.json, then 5000. Invalid file/env values fall back. emanate.max_turns narrows one batch only; budget for exploration, action, and verification, not just the final edit.

Manager pool size

Anchor: daemon-manual#manager-pool-size. Nonnegative LINGTAI_DAEMON_MANAGER_POOL_SIZE overrides capability/setup manager_pool_size, then daemon/daemon.json, then 100. Zero bypasses the central manager and uses per-run supervisors. Invalid file/env values fall back; this is not a per-run option.

System prompt budget chars

Anchor: daemon-manual#system-prompt-budget-chars. Positive LINGTAI_DAEMON_SYSTEM_PROMPT_BUDGET_CHARS overrides valid capability/setup system_prompt_budget_chars, then daemon/daemon.json, then 20000. Invalid values retain the previous valid layer. Oversized final prompts fail rather than silently truncating the task; this character limit is not a context window.

Timeout

Anchor: daemon-manual#timeout. Manager watchdog seconds come only from capability/setup timeout (default 3600.0), not the daemon JSON or an environment key. emanate.timeout overrides one batch, not this manager setting.

Routing table

Standalone boundary

DaemonService(state_root) is not an Agent and owns no Agent lease, prompt, identity, lifecycle, or manager-control authority. Native standalone LingTai tasks require a directly loadable preset; external CLIs retain no-preset mechanics. Daemon capability does not authorize software installation, credential changes, evidence deletion, or other work beyond the approved scope. reclaim stops work but does not clean folders; molt clears conversation context and does not wipe durable stores or daemon run folders.