feat: watch tool — periodic command polling within workstreams (#36)

* feat: watch tool — periodic command polling within workstreams

Add a new `watch` tool that lets the model (or user) set up periodic
polling of a shell command. Results inject as synthetic user messages
that trigger LLM turns, enabling reactive workflows like PR monitoring,
CI/CD status tracking, and deployment health checks.

Key design:
- Single tool with create/list/cancel actions
- Python expression DSL for stop conditions (restricted eval)
- Server-owned WatchRunner daemon (DB-persisted, survives eviction + restart)
- Three dispatch paths: idle, busy, and evicted workstream restore
- REST API for console visibility (GET /v1/api/watches, POST cancel)
- Migration 007, 8 storage CRUD methods, 75 new tests (1383 total)

* fix: address Copilot review — condition errors, restore deadlock, docs

- Condition eval errors now deactivate the watch immediately instead
  of silently looping until max_polls
- Restored (evicted) workstreams set auto_approve=True to prevent
  approval deadlocks with no connected user
- Tool description clarifies first-poll baseline behavior for change
  detection mode
- Diagram updated: DELETE → POST /v1/api/watches/{id}/cancel
This commit is contained in:
Patrick Buckley
2026-03-10 08:18:28 -07:00
committed by GitHub
parent 7ea150fa71
commit 187d004033
22 changed files with 2543 additions and 6 deletions
+79 -3
View File
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# Tools Reference
turnstone exposes 15 built-in tools plus any number of external MCP tools to the
turnstone exposes 16 built-in tools plus any number of external MCP tools to the
LLM via the OpenAI function-calling interface. Built-in tools are defined as JSON
files under `turnstone/tools/` and loaded at startup by `turnstone/core/tools.py`.
MCP tools are discovered from configured MCP servers at startup by
@@ -46,12 +46,12 @@ schema plus turnstone-specific metadata keys:
| Name | Description |
|---------------------|-------------|
| `TOOLS` | All 15 tool definitions (sent to the model). |
| `TOOLS` | All 16 tool definitions (sent to the model). |
| `AGENT_TOOLS` | Tools with `agent: true` -- available to plan sub-agents. Read-only tools. |
| `TASK_AGENT_TOOLS` | Tools with `task_agent: true` -- available to task sub-agents. Includes write operations. |
| `AGENT_AUTO_TOOLS` | Set of tool names with `auto_approve: true` -- no user confirmation needed. |
| `TASK_AUTO_TOOLS` | Same as `AGENT_AUTO_TOOLS` (identical filter). |
| `BUILTIN_TOOL_NAMES`| Frozenset of all 15 built-in tool names. Used by tool search to distinguish always-on tools from deferrable MCP tools. |
| `BUILTIN_TOOL_NAMES`| Frozenset of all 16 built-in tool names. Used by tool search to distinguish always-on tools from deferrable MCP tools. |
| `PRIMARY_KEY_MAP` | Dict mapping tool name to its `primary_key` parameter name. |
---
@@ -422,6 +422,81 @@ Provide either `username` for user-based targeting or `channel_type` +
---
### watch
Set up periodic polling of a shell command within the current workstream.
Results are injected back into the conversation as synthetic user messages,
triggering the model to respond and act. Use for monitoring CI/CD pipelines,
PR reviews, deployments, file changes, etc.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|-------------|---------|----------|-------------|
| `action` | string | yes | `create`, `list`, or `cancel`. |
| `command` | string | create | Shell command to poll periodically. |
| `poll_every`| string | no | Poll interval as duration (`30s`, `5m`, `1h`). Default: `5m`. |
| `stop_on` | string | no | Python expression for stop condition (see below). Omit for change detection. |
| `name` | string | create | Human-readable watch name (e.g. `pr-review`). Used as identifier for cancel. |
| `max_polls` | integer | no | Max poll cycles before auto-cancel. Default: 100. |
**Actions:**
- `create` — Start a new watch. Requires approval (same as bash — runs shell
commands). Persists to the `watches` table; the server-level `WatchRunner`
daemon polls every 15 seconds for due watches.
- `list` — Show all active watches in this workstream. Auto-approved.
- `cancel` — Stop a watch by name or ID prefix. Auto-approved.
**Stop condition DSL** — The `stop_on` parameter accepts a Python expression
evaluated after each poll. Available variables:
| Variable | Type | Description |
|---------------|------------|-------------|
| `output` | `str` | stdout (+stderr) of the command. |
| `data` | `Any` | `json.loads(output)`, or `None` if not valid JSON. |
| `exit_code` | `int` | Process exit code. |
| `prev_output` | `str|None` | Previous poll's stdout (`None` on first poll). |
| `changed` | `bool` | `True` if output differs from previous poll. |
Safe builtins: `len`, `str`, `int`, `float`, `bool`, `abs`, `min`, `max`,
`any`, `all`, `isinstance`, `sorted`. No `import`, `open`, `exec`, or
`eval`. Security model: equivalent to `bash` — the model already has shell
access.
**Examples:**
```
data["state"] == "MERGED"
"error" in output
exit_code != 0
changed and "ready" in output.lower()
data.get("mergedAt") is not None
```
**Lifecycle:**
1. Model calls `watch(action="create", ...)` — persisted to SQLite.
2. `WatchRunner` daemon polls for due watches every 15s.
3. Each poll runs the command, evaluates the condition.
4. When the condition fires (or max polls reached), the result is injected
as a synthetic user message and the watch auto-cancels.
5. If the workstream was evicted, it is restored before injection.
6. Watches survive server restart (overdue watches fire once on recovery).
**Constraints:**
- Max 5 active watches per workstream.
- Poll interval: 10s24h.
- Output truncated at 64 KB.
- Max 5 consecutive watch dispatches per worker thread (depth guard).
- Duplicate names rejected within the same workstream.
- **Auto-approve**: `create` requires approval; `list` and `cancel` are auto-approved.
- **Agent availability**: Main session only — not available to plan/task sub-agents.
> See [Watch Architecture](diagrams/png/18-watch-architecture.png) for the
> full poll → evaluate → dispatch flow.
---
## Summary Table
| Tool | Category | Auto-approve | agent | task_agent | primary_key |
@@ -441,6 +516,7 @@ Provide either `username` for user-based targeting or `channel_type` +
| `recall` | Memory | Yes | No | No | `query` |
| `forget` | Memory | Yes | No | No | `key` |
| `notify` | Notify | Yes | Yes | Yes | `message` |
| `watch` | Monitor | No (create) | No | No | `command` |
| `tool_search`| Search | Yes | No | No | `query` |
---