# Operating Rhythm

> Status: v0 — 2026-07-16 (BINKY-WP-0002-T05). The cadence that keeps the
> control plane honest. Blue lane: agents run it; the founder consumes it.

## Daily brief

One brief per active day, written by whichever agent closes the day's work,
stored in `briefs/YYYY-MM-DD-daily-brief.md`. Hard cap: one screen. Format:

```markdown
# Daily Brief — <date>

## Decide now          (0–3 items, each linked to DecisionQueue)
## Progress            (what moved, milestone-relevant only)
## Risks               (changes to RiskRegister only — no restating)
## Best next hour      (single highest-leverage founder action)
```

Rules:
- **Decide now** only lists prepared decision packages. Never raw questions.
- **Best next hour** is one item. If nothing needs the founder, say so —
  "no founder action needed today" is a valid and desirable outcome.
- Anything that can't fit the cap goes into a queue, not the brief.

## Queue hygiene (every agent session touching this repo)

1. `DecisionQueue.md` — resolved items get `status: resolved` set in place
   (not moved to a separate log — CUST-WP-0061-T05); nothing older than
   14 days without escalation (RISK-003 rule).
2. `OfficeHourQueue.md` — every queued item has prepared material before the
   next command day; done items get `status: done` in place; stale items
   pruned.
3. `AutopilotWorkQueue.md` — never empty; agents with idle capacity pull from
   the top; closed items get `status: closed` in place (CUST-WP-0061-T05).
4. Workplan files match hub state (fix-consistency covers drift).
5. `WORK-RECORDS.md` (generated, all three queues above) stays current —
   `statehub fix-consistency` regenerates it automatically (C-33); nothing
   to hand-maintain.

## Scheduler (workstation-independent)

**Status: workstation cron bridge retired 2026-07-21** (BINKY-WP-0004-T06 /
DEC-2026-003). Cadence is owned by activity-core definitions
(`binky-daily-rhythm`, `binky-weekly-mail-intake`, `binky-weekly-review-prep`,
all `enabled: true`). Execution on Railiance:

| Path | Role |
| --- | --- |
| activity-core Temporal schedules | When work is due (Europe/Berlin) |
| host systemd user timers | Invoke agent-harness on railiance01 (interim) — `scripts/railiance-rhythm/` |
| agent-harness | Green/Blue tool profiles, hub completion events |

**Health:** `ssh railiance01 'systemctl --user list-timers | grep binky'` and
`tail ~/.cache/binky-control/rhythm/railiance-rhythm.log` on that host.

**Rollback (emergency only):** re-add workstation cron
`23 8 * * 1-5 /home/worsch/binky-control/scripts/rhythm-session.sh # binky rhythm bridge`
and pause railiance timers. Script kept for one month as break-glass.

**Railiance executor (BINKY-WP-0006 finished 2026-07-22):** mail path is
**mail-scan → mail-triage** via **llm-connect / OpenRouter** (structured JSON
+ deterministic apply). Daily brief uses `brief-daily` the same way.
**Do not** install Claude Code or another coding agent on railiance01. Host
timers resolve `LLM_CONNECT_URL` via port-forward or Service ClusterIP (see
`integrations/railiance-llm-rhythm.md`).

**Residuals (work records, not prose):** leftovers from finished workplans are
live intakes/workplans with `origin: residual` + `origin_ref: <WP-id>` — see
`AutopilotWorkQueue.md` (e.g. AWQ-011 `brief-weekly`) and fleet canon
`work-record-types_v0.1.md` § Residuals. Do not park residuals in `SCOPE.md`.

## Weekly review (founder, ~15 min)

Read the newest brief + `SuccessMilestones.md`. One question: did anything
move a milestone? If two consecutive weeks show activity without milestone
movement, RISK-005 escalates.