---
name: ms-watch
description: Use for all instances where a watch, wait, or agentic status check is needed. This skill avoid the need for wait cycles and other methods used to wait for an action outcome.
disable-model-invocation: false
---

# ms-watch — self-armed condition watches

One CLI call arms an isolated `systemd --user` transient timer per watch. Each
tick is a fresh, cgroup-isolated process; no loop, no script, no orphan. You
never `sleep`, never write a watch script, never background anything.

## Tool

```bash
MOSAIC_AGENT_SEND="/absolute/checkout/tools/tmux/agent-send.sh" \
/absolute/checkout/tools/agent-watch/agent-watch.sh start \
  --name <lowercase-id> --session <your-tmux-session> \
  [--socket <tmux-socket>]            # REQUIRED for mosaic-fleet seats using tmux
  --when '<shell command>'            # exit 0 = met; quote it
  --message "text delivered to you" \
  [--class actionable|reaction|human|digest|terminal-log] \
  [--interval 30] [--timeout 3600] [--repeat] [--quiet-timeout]

agent-watch.sh list                   # your host's watches
agent-watch.sh log <name>             # what it did and why
agent-watch.sh stop <name>            # retire + clean state
```

Use the actual checkout path in place of `/absolute/checkout`. The CLI otherwise
uses a sender under `$HOME/.config/mosaic`, which may not be this repository's
reviewed transport. No timers or meta-watch are installed merely by loading this
skill. Live watch operations require assignment authority. `list` and `status`
can write stale-notice claims and send messages; they are not read-only probes.
The CLI's `status [--json]` returns 0 for clean, 3 for stale/dead meta-watch,
and 6 for an unreachable systemd user bus. Do not infer health from a failed query.

## Rules

1. **Name it for the thing watched** (`ci-pr1350-green`, `peer-orch-01-reply`),
   not for yourself — names appear in `[watch:<name>]` message prefixes and
   in `systemctl list-timers 'agent-watch-*'`.
2. **Interval floor is 10s.** A watcher is a fallback cadence. If you find
   yourself wanting 1s polls, the real fix is an event, not a faster watch.
3. **Timeout is real** (default 1h): on expiry you get one terminal-log note
   (unless `--quiet-timeout`) and the watch retires. A watch is never forever;
   re-arm deliberately if the condition is still pending.
4. **Conditions are cron-style**: clean-ish environment, `cwd=$HOME`. Use
   absolute paths. Do NOT rely on ambient credentials — resolve tokens through
   the git credential helper or absolute service-credential paths.
5. **Transport is not application acceptance.** The current watcher treats sender
   exit 0 and 2 as terminal for retry purposes. Exit 0 means transport dispatched,
   application acceptance unknown; exit 2 does not prove submission or receipt.
   Its legacy `delivered` log wording is not an acknowledgement. Other sender
   failures retry twice, then retire; do not add blind resends.
6. **A broken condition (exit ≠ 0/1) retires the watch** with a terminal-log
   note. Check `log <name>` before re-arming — re-arming a broken condition
   without fixing it just burns another timeout.
7. **`--repeat` re-arms after every delivery.** Default is one-shot on purpose:
   each watch should correspond to one pending fact.
8. **Retire your watches** when the mission closes (`stop`). `list` shows
   stale-state entries whose timer is gone; stop removes those too.
9. Fleet seats MUST pass `--socket mosaic-fleet`. Socket selection is explicit
   option, then MOSAIC_TMUX_SOCKET, then unique discovery; ambiguity refuses.

## When NOT to watch

- Waiting on another SEAT: send them a message (agent-send / comms) instead —
  a watch polling their output is a loop wearing a hat.
- Waiting on yourself: just do the next thing.
- Something that already has a wake path (fleet watcher injects comms
  automatically): those arrive without any watch.

## Failure model (what you'll see)

| Symptom | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `started watcher ...` then nothing, timer inactive | condition broke (exit ≠ 0/1) or timeout hit — `log <name>` says which |
| `[watch:x] ... timeout after Ns` | retired; re-arm only if still relevant |
| delivered (rc=2) in log | legacy retry classification, not proof of receipt; reconcile through authorized records, not private-pane inspection |
| delivery failed rc=1 after 3 attempts | your session was gone; restart it, then re-arm |