feat: add RespawnController for automatic Claude Code session respawning

Implements an autonomous respawn loop that keeps Claude Code productive:
- Detects idle state by monitoring PTY for prompt character + timeout
- Sends configurable update prompt when idle (default: "update all the docs and CLAUDE.md")
- Executes /clear and /init to reset session
- Cycles automatically

New features:
- RespawnController class with state machine (watching → update → clear → init)
- REST API endpoints for respawn control (/api/sessions/:id/respawn/*)
- Web UI controls: toggle, prompt config, idle timeout settings
- SSE events for real-time respawn status updates
- Full CLAUDE.md template with Ralph Loop instructions

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
arkon
2026-01-18 07:31:19 +01:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 4.5
parent 46f97becc9
commit 675893111b
8 changed files with 2234 additions and 152 deletions
+416
View File
@@ -0,0 +1,416 @@
import { EventEmitter } from 'node:events';
import { Session } from './session.js';
/**
* Respawn sequence states
*
* The controller cycles through these states:
* WATCHING → SENDING_UPDATE → WAITING_UPDATE → SENDING_CLEAR → WAITING_CLEAR → SENDING_INIT → WAITING_INIT → WATCHING
*/
export type RespawnState =
| 'watching' // Watching for idle, ready to start respawn sequence
| 'sending_update' // About to send the update docs prompt
| 'waiting_update' // Waiting for update to complete
| 'sending_clear' // About to send /clear
| 'waiting_clear' // Waiting for clear to complete
| 'sending_init' // About to send /init
| 'waiting_init' // Waiting for init to complete
| 'stopped'; // Controller stopped
export interface RespawnConfig {
/** How long to wait after seeing prompt before considering truly idle (ms) */
idleTimeoutMs: number;
/** The prompt to send for updating docs */
updatePrompt: string;
/** Delay between sending steps (ms) */
interStepDelayMs: number;
/** Whether to enable respawn loop */
enabled: boolean;
}
export interface RespawnEvents {
stateChanged: (state: RespawnState, prevState: RespawnState) => void;
respawnCycleStarted: (cycleNumber: number) => void;
respawnCycleCompleted: (cycleNumber: number) => void;
stepSent: (step: string, input: string) => void;
stepCompleted: (step: string) => void;
error: (error: Error) => void;
log: (message: string) => void;
}
const DEFAULT_CONFIG: RespawnConfig = {
idleTimeoutMs: 5000, // 5 seconds of no activity after prompt
updatePrompt: 'update all the docs and CLAUDE.md',
interStepDelayMs: 1000, // 1 second between steps
enabled: true,
};
/**
* RespawnController manages automatic respawning of Claude Code sessions
*
* When Claude finishes working (detected by idle prompt), it:
* 1. Sends an update docs prompt
* 2. Waits for completion
* 3. Sends /clear
* 4. Sends /init
* 5. Repeats
*/
export class RespawnController extends EventEmitter {
private session: Session;
private config: RespawnConfig;
private _state: RespawnState = 'stopped';
private idleTimer: NodeJS.Timeout | null = null;
private stepTimer: NodeJS.Timeout | null = null;
private cycleCount: number = 0;
private lastActivityTime: number = 0;
private terminalBuffer: string = '';
private promptDetected: boolean = false;
private workingDetected: boolean = false;
// Terminal patterns
private readonly PROMPT_PATTERNS = [
'❯', // Standard prompt
'\u276f', // Unicode variant
'⏵', // Claude Code prompt variant
'> ', // Fallback
'tokens', // The status line shows "X tokens" when at prompt
];
private readonly WORKING_PATTERNS = [
'Thinking', 'Writing', 'Reading', 'Running', 'Searching',
'Editing', 'Creating', 'Deleting', 'Analyzing', 'Executing',
'⠋', '⠙', '⠹', '⠸', '⠼', '⠴', '⠦', '⠧', '⠇', '⠏', // Spinner chars
];
private readonly CLEAR_COMPLETE_PATTERN = /conversation cleared|cleared|❯|⏵/i;
private readonly INIT_COMPLETE_PATTERN = /initialized|analyzing|❯|⏵|CLAUDE\.md/i;
constructor(session: Session, config: Partial<RespawnConfig> = {}) {
super();
this.session = session;
this.config = { ...DEFAULT_CONFIG, ...config };
}
get state(): RespawnState {
return this._state;
}
get currentCycle(): number {
return this.cycleCount;
}
get isRunning(): boolean {
return this._state !== 'stopped';
}
private setState(newState: RespawnState): void {
if (newState === this._state) return;
const prevState = this._state;
this._state = newState;
this.log(`State: ${prevState} → ${newState}`);
this.emit('stateChanged', newState, prevState);
}
private log(message: string): void {
const timestamp = new Date().toISOString();
this.emit('log', `[${timestamp}] [Respawn] ${message}`);
}
/**
* Start watching the session for idle state
*/
start(): void {
if (!this.config.enabled) {
this.log('Respawn is disabled');
return;
}
if (this._state !== 'stopped') {
this.log('Already running');
return;
}
this.log('Starting respawn controller');
this.setState('watching');
this.setupTerminalListener();
this.lastActivityTime = Date.now();
}
/**
* Stop the respawn controller
*/
stop(): void {
this.log('Stopping respawn controller');
this.clearTimers();
this.setState('stopped');
this.session.removeAllListeners('terminal');
}
/**
* Pause respawn (keeps listening but won't trigger)
*/
pause(): void {
this.log('Pausing respawn');
this.clearTimers();
// Stay in current state but clear timers
}
/**
* Resume respawn
*/
resume(): void {
this.log('Resuming respawn');
if (this._state === 'watching') {
this.checkIdleAndMaybeStart();
}
}
private setupTerminalListener(): void {
// Clear any existing listener
this.session.removeAllListeners('terminal');
this.session.on('terminal', (data: string) => {
this.handleTerminalData(data);
});
}
private handleTerminalData(data: string): void {
this.terminalBuffer += data;
// Keep buffer manageable (last 10KB)
if (this.terminalBuffer.length > 10240) {
this.terminalBuffer = this.terminalBuffer.slice(-5120);
}
// Filter out noise - only count meaningful data as activity
// Ignore: cursor movements, color codes alone, small whitespace-only data
const meaningfulData = data
.replace(/\x1b\[[0-9;]*[HJKmsu?lh]/g, '') // Remove ANSI escape sequences
.replace(/\s+/g, '') // Remove whitespace
.trim();
const isMeaningfulActivity = meaningfulData.length > 0;
// Detect working state
const isWorking = this.WORKING_PATTERNS.some(pattern => data.includes(pattern));
if (isWorking) {
this.workingDetected = true;
this.promptDetected = false;
this.lastActivityTime = Date.now();
this.clearIdleTimer();
return;
}
// Detect prompt (idle) state
const hasPrompt = this.PROMPT_PATTERNS.some(pattern => data.includes(pattern));
if (hasPrompt) {
const wasPromptDetected = this.promptDetected;
this.promptDetected = true;
this.workingDetected = false;
if (!wasPromptDetected) {
// First time seeing prompt (or after being cleared) - log it
this.lastActivityTime = Date.now();
this.log('Prompt detected');
// Only start idle timer in watching state
if (this._state === 'watching') {
this.startIdleTimer();
}
}
// In waiting_* states, checkXxxComplete will handle the state transition
} else if (isMeaningfulActivity) {
// Meaningful activity that's not a prompt or working indicator
this.lastActivityTime = Date.now();
if (this.promptDetected && this._state === 'watching') {
// Still at prompt but got some other data - restart timer
this.startIdleTimer();
}
}
// Handle state-specific terminal data
switch (this._state) {
case 'waiting_update':
this.checkUpdateComplete(data);
break;
case 'waiting_clear':
this.checkClearComplete(data);
break;
case 'waiting_init':
this.checkInitComplete(data);
break;
}
}
private startIdleTimer(): void {
this.clearIdleTimer();
this.idleTimer = setTimeout(() => {
// Double-check we're still idle and in watching state
if (this._state === 'watching' && this.promptDetected && !this.workingDetected) {
const timeSinceActivity = Date.now() - this.lastActivityTime;
this.log(`Idle timeout fired (${timeSinceActivity}ms since last activity)`);
this.onIdleDetected();
}
}, this.config.idleTimeoutMs);
}
private clearIdleTimer(): void {
if (this.idleTimer) {
clearTimeout(this.idleTimer);
this.idleTimer = null;
}
}
private clearTimers(): void {
this.clearIdleTimer();
if (this.stepTimer) {
clearTimeout(this.stepTimer);
this.stepTimer = null;
}
}
private onIdleDetected(): void {
if (this._state !== 'watching') {
return;
}
// Start the respawn cycle
this.cycleCount++;
this.log(`Starting respawn cycle #${this.cycleCount}`);
this.emit('respawnCycleStarted', this.cycleCount);
this.sendUpdateDocs();
}
private sendUpdateDocs(): void {
this.setState('sending_update');
this.terminalBuffer = ''; // Clear buffer for fresh detection
this.stepTimer = setTimeout(() => {
const input = this.config.updatePrompt + '\n';
this.log(`Sending update prompt: "${this.config.updatePrompt}"`);
this.session.write(input);
this.emit('stepSent', 'update', this.config.updatePrompt);
this.setState('waiting_update');
this.promptDetected = false;
this.workingDetected = false;
}, this.config.interStepDelayMs);
}
private checkUpdateComplete(data: string): void {
// Update is complete when we see the prompt again after working
if (this.promptDetected && !this.workingDetected) {
// Wait a bit more to make sure it's truly done
this.clearIdleTimer();
this.idleTimer = setTimeout(() => {
if (this.promptDetected && !this.workingDetected) {
this.log('Update docs completed');
this.emit('stepCompleted', 'update');
this.sendClear();
}
}, 3000); // 3 second verification
}
}
private sendClear(): void {
this.setState('sending_clear');
this.terminalBuffer = '';
this.stepTimer = setTimeout(() => {
this.log('Sending /clear');
this.session.write('/clear\n');
this.emit('stepSent', 'clear', '/clear');
this.setState('waiting_clear');
this.promptDetected = false;
}, this.config.interStepDelayMs);
}
private checkClearComplete(data: string): void {
// Clear is fast, just wait for prompt
if (this.CLEAR_COMPLETE_PATTERN.test(data) || this.promptDetected) {
this.clearIdleTimer();
this.idleTimer = setTimeout(() => {
this.log('/clear completed');
this.emit('stepCompleted', 'clear');
this.sendInit();
}, 1000); // 1 second for clear
}
}
private sendInit(): void {
this.setState('sending_init');
this.terminalBuffer = '';
this.stepTimer = setTimeout(() => {
this.log('Sending /init');
this.session.write('/init\n');
this.emit('stepSent', 'init', '/init');
this.setState('waiting_init');
this.promptDetected = false;
this.workingDetected = false;
}, this.config.interStepDelayMs);
}
private checkInitComplete(data: string): void {
// Init completes when we see the prompt after it finishes
if (this.promptDetected && !this.workingDetected) {
this.clearIdleTimer();
this.idleTimer = setTimeout(() => {
if (this.promptDetected && !this.workingDetected) {
this.log('/init completed');
this.emit('stepCompleted', 'init');
this.completeCycle();
}
}, 3000); // 3 second verification for init
}
}
private completeCycle(): void {
this.log(`Respawn cycle #${this.cycleCount} completed`);
this.emit('respawnCycleCompleted', this.cycleCount);
// Go back to watching state for next cycle
this.setState('watching');
this.terminalBuffer = '';
this.promptDetected = false;
this.workingDetected = false;
}
private checkIdleAndMaybeStart(): void {
// Check if already idle
const timeSinceActivity = Date.now() - this.lastActivityTime;
if (timeSinceActivity > this.config.idleTimeoutMs && this.promptDetected) {
this.onIdleDetected();
}
}
/**
* Update configuration
*/
updateConfig(config: Partial<RespawnConfig>): void {
this.config = { ...this.config, ...config };
this.log(`Config updated: ${JSON.stringify(config)}`);
}
/**
* Get current configuration
*/
getConfig(): RespawnConfig {
return { ...this.config };
}
/**
* Get status information
*/
getStatus() {
return {
state: this._state,
cycleCount: this.cycleCount,
lastActivityTime: this.lastActivityTime,
timeSinceActivity: Date.now() - this.lastActivityTime,
promptDetected: this.promptDetected,
workingDetected: this.workingDetected,
config: this.config,
};
}
}