Automation & Durability
Automation is not one mechanism. Delegation is immediate and parent-bound. Cron is durable scheduled state. Webhooks react to external events. Managed background processes suit bounded long-running commands. Each needs explicit inputs, idempotency, timeout, retry, ownership, delivery, and failure alerts.
Immediate request, time schedule, external event, or long-running process.
Persist continuity only when the job needs deduplication or incremental work.
Retries must not duplicate messages, writes, or external actions.
Set timeout, repeat count, model/tool scope, and cost policy.
Deliver success evidence or a failure alert; silence must be intentional.
Mechanism comparison
| Mechanism | Trigger | Durability | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delegation | Immediate parent request | Parent-bound | Parallel bounded subtask |
| Cron | Schedule or interval | Durable job record | Recurring monitor or briefing |
| Webhook | External event | Subscription plus handler | Event-driven response |
| Background process | Immediate command | Tracked process lifetime | Long build, test, or server |
What breaks—and how to recover.
Use idempotency keys, dedupe state, and explicit retry limits.
Monitor scheduler/process state and send failure alerts.
Pin unattended reasoning jobs or use tested script-only jobs.
Copyable implementation prompt
Design bounded automation for [TASK]. Choose trigger mechanism, inputs, state, idempotency, timeout, retry, continuity, model/tool scope, cost ceiling, delivery, failure alert, and proof.
Use placeholders for paths, accounts, endpoints, identities, and credentials. Never publish secret values, private records, or a live control surface.
Verification gate
- Mechanism matches lifetime
- Retries are idempotent
- State and continuity are explicit
- Failure cannot remain silent
- Output delivery is verified