Type-Based Autonomy

Transform your agent from reactive to autonomous worker on specific task types.

Concept

The agent pulls from tasks/QUEUE.md but only works on tasks tagged with specific types:

📚 Research  → ✅ Autonomy works on these
✍️ Writing   → ✅ Autonomy works on these
🔍 Analysis  → ✅ Autonomy works on these

🧹 Maintenance → ❌ Autonomy SKIPS these (cron handles)
💾 Backup      → ❌ Autonomy SKIPS these (cron handles)

Cron jobs handle backups, cleanup, security audits. Autonomy handles research, writing, analysis.

How It Works

1. Task Queue Structure

Every task in tasks/QUEUE.md has a @type: label:

## 🔴 Ready

### 📚 Research (@type:research)
- [ ] @priority:high @type:research Competitor pricing for X product
- [ ] @priority:medium @type:research Ollama model alternatives

### ✍️ Writing (@type:writing)
- [ ] @priority:medium @type:writing Blog post on memory systems
- [ ] @priority:low @type:writing Documentation update

### 🔍 Analysis (@type:analysis)
- [ ] @priority:medium @type:analysis Review weekly metrics
- [ ] @priority:low @type:analysis Analyze token patterns

### 🧹 Maintenance (@type:maintenance)
→ Autonomy IGNORES, cron handles
- [ ] @priority:medium @type:maintenance Old log cleanup

2. Heartbeat Flow

Heartbeat → Check urgent → No → Read QUEUE.md → Filter by @type → Pick task → Work → Update QUEUE → Log

Filter logic:

• Read all tasks in 🔴 Ready section
• ONLY pick tasks with @type:research | @type:writing | @type:analysis
• SKIP tasks with @type:maintenance | @type:backup | @type:security

3. Task Completion

1. Mark task as In Progress: @agent: @type:research [task description]
2. Work on it
3. Move to Done Today with completion notes
4. Log to memory/[today].md
5. Check GOALS.md and .learnings/ for follow-up tasks

Task Types

Research (@type:research)

Definition: Information gathering, investigation, discovery

Examples:

• Competitor analysis
• API documentation research
• Technology exploration
• Market research
• Best practices investigation

## Research: [Topic]

### Findings
- Key point 1
- Key point 2

### Sources
- [Source 1](url)
- [Source 2](url)

### Recommendations
- Recommendation 1
- Recommendation 2

Add follow-up task to Ideas:

- [Idea: @type:analysis @priority:medium Analyze research findings for X]

Writing (@type:writing)

Definition: Content creation, documentation, communication

Examples:

• Blog posts
• Documentation updates
• Email drafts
• Announcements
• Guides/tutorials

# [Title]

[Content]

Post-completion:

• If email: Add to Ideas for review by RA
• If blog/doc: Add to Ideas for publishing
• If announcement: Add to Ideas for distribution

Analysis (@type:analysis)

Definition: Data review, metrics analysis, pattern finding

Examples:

• Weekly performance review
• Token usage analysis
• Log analysis
• Trend identification
• Metrics dashboard creation

## Analysis: [Topic]

### Data Reviewed
- [List of data sources]

### Key Findings
- Finding 1 with metric
- Finding 2 with metric

### Patterns
- Pattern 1
- Pattern 2

### Recommendations
- Action 1
- Action 2

Add follow-up tasks:

- [Idea: @type:writing @priority:medium Write analysis report]
- [Idea: @type:research @priority:low Investigate pattern X further]

Maintenance (@type:maintenance)

Definition: System cleanup, organization, routine tasks

Handler: Cron (NOT autonomy)

Examples:

• Old log cleanup
• Temp file deletion
• File organization
• Archive old records

• Autonomy SKIPS these tasks
• Cron jobs handle them overnight
• Manual trigger if urgent, but usually not needed

Backup (@type:backup)

Definition: Data backup, version control, sync

Handler: Cron (NOT autonomy)

Examples:

• GitHub backup
• Database backup
• Cloud sync

• Autonomy SKIPS these tasks
• Scheduled twice daily (00:00, 12:00 UTC)

Security (@type:security)

Definition: Security checks, audits, vulnerability scans

Handler: Cron (NOT autonomy)

Examples:

• Security audit
• Permission check
• Credential review

• Autonomy SKIPS these tasks
• Monthly security audit cron (1st of month)

Priority System

Priority affects task selection order:

GOALS.md Integration

Every task should support RA's long-term goal: MONEY

When creating tasks:

• Check GOALS.md for current objectives
• Link tasks to money-making activities
• Ask: "How does this help RA make money?"

### 📚 Research
- [ ] @priority:high @type:research Competitor pricing (GOAL: pricing strategy for new product)
- [ ] @priority:medium @type:research Market fit analysis (GOAL: validate product idea)

### ✍️ Writing
- [ ] @priority:high @type:writing Sales email template (GOAL: improve conversion)
- [ ] @priority:medium @type:blog Marketing post (GOAL: drive traffic)

Post-completion:

• Update GOALS.md with progress notes if relevant
• Add to Ideas: follow-up tasks that advance goals

.learnings/ Integration

When completing tasks, add findings to .learnings/:

After research task:

## [LRN-20260216-001] research-findings
Research: Competitor pricing analysis

Key findings: [summarize]

After analysis task:

## [LRN-20260216-002] analysis-insights
Analysis: Token usage patterns

Key insights: [summarize]

After problem:

## [ERR-20260216-001] research-issue
Error: API rate limit during research

Fix: [document the fix]

Queue Management

Adding Tasks

RA adds tasks directly to queue:

## 🔴 Ready
- [ ] @type:research @priority:high Analyze competitor X pricing

The agent discovers tasks during work and adds to Ideas:

## 💡 Ideas
- [Idea: @type:research @priority:medium Investigate Ollama alternative models]

Updating Tasks

When starting:

## 🟡 In Progress
- [ ] @agent: @type:research @priority:high Competitor pricing analysis
  - Started: 2026-02-16 14:00 UTC
  - Progress: Gathering data

When complete:

## ✅ Done Today
- [x] @agent: @type:research @priority:high Competitor pricing analysis
  - Completed: 2026-02-16 14:25 UTC
  - Output: tasks/outputs/competitor-pricing-analysis.md

When blocked:

## 🔵 Blocked
- [ ] @type:writing @priority:medium Email draft (needs: RA review)

Clearing Done Today

Daily routine (during heartbeat or cron):

• Move completed tasks from Done Today to tasks/archive/ if you want to keep history
• Or simply delete if not needed
• Clear section with: ## ✅ Done Today (empty)

Token Budget

Recommendation: 4 sessions/day, ~3-8K tokens each = 12-32K/day

Session strategy:

• If tokens remaining < 5K for the day
• If queue has no tasks of allowed types
• If RA is actively messaging (human priority)

Coordination With Cron

Autonomy and cron work in parallel but on different task types:

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• You want autonomy focused on value-add tasks (research, writing, analysis)
• You want maximum token efficiency
• Tasks can be clearly categorized by type
• You want to expand task types later (add coding, testing as they come up)
• You want clear separation between autonomy and maintenance

When NOT to Use This Skill

Do not use this skill when:

• You want continuous work on any task type → Use autonomy-windowed skill
• Task types are unclear or ambiguous → Use simpler queue
• You want the agent to handle maintenance tasks → Those belong to cron
• You want predictable work hours → Use autonomy-windowed for time-based control

Quick Reference

Task types for autonomy: @type:research | @type:writing | @type:analysis

Task types for cron: @type:maintenance | @type:backup | @type:security

Priority order: urgent → high → medium → low

Queue location: tasks/QUEUE.md

See templates/QUEUE.md for full template structure