BERD TASK · 0019 · AUTOMATE AND DELEGATE
Run long work outside the turn¶
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Detached processes that wake a session on their own, and cross-session delegation through berdctl, both bundled in v0.6.3. The sources describe what the agent does; none describes what the person sees, and nothing has been run hands-on. The prose will be written after one monitored run and one delegation, and decides at A4 whether the task is in scope for a consultant at all.
Two bundled skills: berd-monitor for a command that outlives the turn, berd-orchestrator for work that belongs in another session.
Steps at a glance
- Ask for a monitor when a command will outlive the turn
- Read the events the monitor sends back
- Delegate to another session through the orchestrator
- Keep every approval, merge and archive with you
- Stop a monitor by its state key
1. Ask for a monitor when a command will outlive the turn¶
Describe the request you made and how the agent said it had started a monitor.
- For builds, tests, reviews, deployments, polling and other external waits.
- The command is detached from Berd and the harness; the agent ends the turn and never waits on it.
2. Read the events the monitor sends back¶
Describe what appeared in the chat when a line was delivered, and whether it started a new turn.
- Complete stdout lines reach the originating session, visibly labelled as from
berd-monitor. - Default delivery steers an active run or starts a new turn; queue is the alternative.
- Pending events retry rather than drop.
3. Delegate to another session through the orchestrator¶
Describe a delegation: which session received it and how you were brought back.
- The orchestrator keeps its own session free for conversation and uses
berdctl session list,get,createandsendto hand work to the session that owns the context. --fromlabels the message; the receiving transcript marks it as sent by Berd from another session.- It stays quiet, then brings one result or one decision with a
berd://session/<id>link.
4. Keep every approval, merge and archive with you¶
Describe the moment the agent asked for a decision rather than taking it.
- Its instruction: do not approve, merge or archive without the user's direction.
berdctl session archiverefuses to discard local changes without the flag that names the loss.
5. Stop a monitor by its state key¶
Describe how you found the key and what stopping looked like.
berd-monitor stop --state-key <key>; awatcher.logunder the state directory exists for diagnosis.
Last checked: Berd v0.6.4, 2026-09-11 — read from source and release notes, not yet tested in the app.
Learn more
- Queue, steer and dispatch, in plain terms — steer versus queue is the choice a monitor makes for you
- What does the monitor skill do for me?
Reference
- block/berd — distro/skills/berd-monitor/SKILL.md
- block/berd — distro/skills/berd-orchestrator/SKILL.md
- block/berd — LAWS/CHAT.md — subagent activity presentation
- block/berd — CHANGELOG.md — v0.6.3 monitoring tools
- Moment
- apply
- Takes
- untimed
- Steps
- 5
- Verified
- Berd v0.6.4 · 2026-09-11 · source-read