CronCreate inline prompts must delegate to an editable protocol file on disk

CronCreate inline prompts must delegate to an editable protocol file on disk

The rule

CronCreate inline prompts MUST be minimal scaffolding that reads and executes a protocol file from disk — never inline the full logic. The protocol file is the living artifact; the cron prompt is a stable pointer to it.

Scope

• Applies to: all Claude Code sessions using CronCreate, all fleet seats, all lanes
• Does NOT apply to: one-shot scheduled commands with no evolving logic (e.g., git pull && echo done)

Rationale

Cron prompts are frozen at creation time. When a cron's behavior needs to evolve — new checks, amended thresholds, added steps — the only option is CronDelete + CronCreate, which loses the schedule, risks typos, and creates churn. By keeping the cron prompt as a thin pointer ("Read ~/Desktop/fleet/protocols/overnight-mesh.md and execute it"), the protocol file becomes the single source of truth for what each fire does. The protocol file is version-controlled, diffable, and editable by any seat mid-flight — including by the cron itself. A cron that improves its own protocol after learning from a fire is a cron that compounds capability without operator intervention.

Pattern

CronCreate prompt (stable, rarely changes):

Read the protocol at ~/Desktop/fleet/protocols/<name>.md.
Execute each step. If a step fails, follow the failure protocol in the file.
Do not improvise beyond what the protocol specifies.

Protocol file (living artifact, freely edited):

# <Name> Protocol v<N>

## Pre-flight
- [ ] Check ...

## Steps
1. ...
2. ...

## On failure
- ...

## Changelog
- v2: added step 3 after ORA-2026-XXXX
- v1: initial

Self-update pattern: A cron fire MAY append to or amend its own protocol file when it discovers a gap, provided the edit is committed with a changelog entry. This is the mechanism by which crons evolve without CronDelete/Create churn.

Anti-patterns

• Inlining 50+ lines of logic in the CronCreate prompt — frozen, uncheckpointed, undiffable
• Editing the cron prompt to evolve behavior (requires delete + recreate)
• Protocol file without a changelog (silent drift, no audit trail)

Evidence trail

• ORA-2026-0013 (DOC) — long-running shepherd cron pattern established the precedent for structured cron protocols
• ORA-2026-0010 (DOC) — pre-arm git-state verification showed crons need checkable, auditable logic
• Chad directive 2026-04-18 — explicit authorization for self-updating cron pattern across all Claude agents

Enforcement hook

• Memory: feedback_self_updating_cron_pattern.md — loaded at boot for all Claude sessions
• CLAUDE.md canonical bundle: to be added at next v1.13 stamp
• Agent prompt: all Claude Code CLI sessions via memory system

Known exceptions

• Trivial one-liner crons (e.g., git pull) don't need a protocol file — the overhead exceeds the benefit.
• Emergency crons created during incident response may inline logic initially; refactor to protocol-file pattern within 24h.

Review cadence

• Next review: 2026-07-18
• Review trigger: if >3 crons are running with inline logic, the pattern isn't being adopted