the status dot was on the wrong axis

a commander watching its folder perfectly showed AMBER, titled "Armed, not
currently running", because green was keyed on `running` — which is an
agent TURN in progress, not the loop. so the healthy steady state, which is
what a commander is in for weeks at a time, was painted as the failure
colour and the owner reasonably concluded nothing was watching.

the failure amber was designed for could not happen either: watcherArmed is
computed from the live pid, so a dead loop turns it off rather than leaving
the pair mismatched.

the server now reports `watcherRunning` separately — the loop pid is alive,
right now — which is what makes the distinction available at all. green is
watching, amber is a row that says armed while its loop is gone, grey is a
commander that never watched.

and the flow: after arming, do not wait for the backlog. the pipeline was
proved on one item, so the rest working is expected rather than news — say
it is armed and move to the next question. a failure in the backlog is
worth saying; a success is not. then ask what comes next, because a watcher
that quietly does one job is a complete answer and the conversation should
offer it rather than assume it.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Officer-Session: 656f5c85-e49a-4f1f-b9f3-042a04b4d043

src/servers/api/command-hq/directory.ts

@@ -351,8 +351,12 @@ export function commanderClaudeMd(params: CommanderClaudeMdParams): string {
     'broken on its first day.',
     '',
     'Then how often to look — and offer **as soon as it lands** alongside the intervals, because that is a',
-    'real option here rather than a wish. Categories and dispatching come later still, one at a time, and',
-    'most commanders never need either.',
+    'real option here rather than a wish.',
+    '',
+    'Once it is armed, the conversation is not over: ask what should happen next. Filing what it produces',
+    'into categories, doing something with a result beyond keeping it, or nothing at all — leaving it as a',
+    'watcher that quietly does one job is a complete answer and often the right one. Ask, one at a time,',
+    'rather than deciding for them that there is nothing more to discuss.',
     '',
     '**Never arm a watcher before the owner has agreed what it does.** Arming ahead of that is arming a',
     'guess, and a wrong condition either never fires or fires constantly — either way it is found out days',
@@ -367,6 +371,14 @@ export function commanderClaudeMd(params: CommanderClaudeMdParams): string {
     'knows how to handle items it has not seen — that is the whole of what a watcher is — so handing it the',
     'backlog costs nothing and hands the owner a running commander in the time one item takes.',
     '',
+    '**Then keep talking. Do not wait for the backlog to finish.** You proved the pipeline on one item, so',
+    'the rest working is expected rather than news — say it is armed and move straight to the next',
+    'question. No sleeping, no polling a log, no "I will confirm once it is done". The owner does not need a',
+    'progress report on work they already know succeeds.',
+    '',
+    'If something DOES go wrong in the backlog, that is worth saying — in the conversation if it is still',
+    'open, or as a notification if it is not. A failure is news. A success is not.',
+    '',
     'Once the job is settled, write it into this file, replacing this section: what you watch for, what you',
     'do about it, and which numbers were guesses. The next session should read the answer, not the',
     'questions.',

src/servers/api/command-hq/router.ts

@@ -274,6 +274,9 @@ commandHqRouter.get('/commanders', async (ctx) => {
       // on `dirName`, not the transcript id: the pid file lives in this commander's OWN `state/`, not
       // beside the transcript.
       watcherArmed: row.watcherArmed || liveLoopPid(who.email, row.dirName) !== null,
+      // Whether the LOOP is alive right now, separate from `running` (an agent turn in progress) and from
+      // `watcherArmed` (which is also true for a row that says armed but whose loop has gone).
+      watcherRunning: liveLoopPid(who.email, row.dirName) !== null,
       watcherArmedAt: row.watcherArmedAt,
       watcherStoppedAt: row.watcherStoppedAt,
       watcherLastFiredAt: lastFiredByRow.get(row.id) ?? null,
@@ -457,6 +460,7 @@ commandHqRouter.get('/commanders/:sessionId', async (ctx) => {
     tagIds: tagsByRow.get(row.id) ?? [],
     running,
     watcherArmed: row.watcherArmed || liveLoopPid(who.email, row.dirName) !== null,
+    watcherRunning: liveLoopPid(who.email, row.dirName) !== null,
     watcherArmedAt: row.watcherArmedAt,
     watcherStoppedAt: row.watcherStoppedAt,
     watcherLastFiredAt: lastFiredByRow.get(row.id) ?? null,