Du Dum: Batch Then Act Pattern
Skill Verified ActiveSeparate expensive observation from cheap decision-making in autonomous agent loops using a two-clock architecture. A fast clock accumulates data into a digest file; a slow clock reads the digest and acts only when something is pending. Idle cycles cost nothing because the action clock returns immediately after reading an empty digest. Use when building autonomous agents that must observe continuously but can only afford to act occasionally, when API or LLM costs dominate and most cycles have nothing to do, when designing cron-based agent architectures with observation and action phases, or when an existing heartbeat loop is too expensive because it calls the LLM on every tick.
To provide a clear architectural pattern for building cost-efficient autonomous agents that need to observe continuously but act only occasionally, particularly when LLM or API costs are a significant concern.
Features
- Two-clock architecture for observation and action separation
- Digest file for low-bandwidth communication between clocks
- Cost optimization for autonomous agent loops
- Guidance on designing cron-based agent workflows
- Handling of idle cycles with minimal cost
Use Cases
- Building autonomous agents on a budget with continuous observation
- Reducing costs in agent loops that frequently call LLMs or APIs unnecessarily
- Designing decoupled agent systems with distinct analysis and action phases
- Implementing efficient cron-based agent architectures
Non-Goals
- Providing concrete executable code for the agent loop
- Implementing specific LLM summarization or response generation logic
- Handling real-time event processing that requires sub-second action
Workflow
- Identify the two clocks (observation and action)
- Design the digest format (compact, human-readable, machine-parseable)
- Implement the fast clock (analysis scripts)
- Implement the slow clock (action script)
- Configure idle detection for minimal overhead
- Validate the cost model for savings
Installation
/plugin install agent-almanac@pjt222-agent-almanacQuality Score
VerifiedTrust Signals
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