Reins for the agents

Steps

1. 1 Administrator The agent panel, on a phone 0:05 ▣

   Pause, Restart, Stop and an editor for the prompt each loop runs on.

2. 2 Administrator Mint the builder's token 0:06 ▣

   Shown once; only the hash is stored.

3. 3 Administrator Mint the warden's token 0:10

   A separate credential for the one-minute cron that is NOT a Claude session — a hung agent polls nothing, so restart cannot be an agent's own verb.

4. 4 Administrator Press Stop with no control key — refused 0:13 ▣

   The demo admin password is printed on the site. If the session were the only factor, a stranger could stop the owner's loops — or edit the prompt of an unattended CLI on the owner's machine.

5. 5 Administrator Type the control key 0:14 ▣

   Held in sessionStorage — it dies with the tab. The factor standing between a public admin login and the owner's machine should not outlive the window it was typed into.

6. 6 Administrator Open the prompt the builder is actually running 0:15 ▣

   Reported by the loop on its heartbeat — NOT read off this server's disk. Plan pushes are [skip ci], so the deployed checkout can be days behind the file the loop actually read.

7. 7 Administrator Add the missing rule and adopt it 0:18 ▣

   Confirmed before it is sent: this is code being handed to an unattended loop on the owner's machine.

8. 8 Administrator The builder picks it up and reports the commit 0:21 ▣

   update_prompt · claimed by agent · done. A LIVE loop applies its own prompt edit, so the running context and the file never diverge.

9. 9 Administrator Two hours pass. The builder says nothing. 0:23

   The platform clock moved to 2026-08-30T20:32:50Z and the scheduler ticked.

10. 10 Administrator The builder claims it is working; the warden can see it is not 0:32 ▣

    One card is what the agent last said about itself. The other is what something outside it can see. The disagreement is the diagnosis.

11. 11 Administrator Restart — two taps instead of an SSH session 0:34 ▣

    Confirmed first: whatever the loop is part-way through is abandoned.

12. 12 Administrator A minute later the warden has done it, and the card is green again 0:35 ▣

    What took an SSH session and a morning of confusion on 2026-08-23 is two taps and one cron tick.