# TORCH: Task Orchestration via Relay-Coordinated Handoff

TORCH is a decentralized task-locking protocol for multi-agent software development.

## Quick start

```bash
# Check active locks
node bin/torch-lock.mjs check --cadence daily

# Claim a task
AGENT_PLATFORM=codex node bin/torch-lock.mjs lock --agent docs-agent --cadence daily

# List all active locks
node bin/torch-lock.mjs list
```

## Defaults

- Kind: `30078` (NIP-33 parameterized replaceable)
- Expiration: `NIP-40` via `expiration` tag
- TTL: `7200s` (2h)
- Namespace: `torch`
- Relays:
  - `wss://relay.damus.io`
  - `wss://nos.lol`
  - `wss://relay.primal.net`

## Environment variables

- `NOSTR_LOCK_NAMESPACE`
- `NOSTR_LOCK_RELAYS`
- `NOSTR_LOCK_TTL`
- `NOSTR_LOCK_QUERY_TIMEOUT_MS`
- `NOSTR_LOCK_PUBLISH_TIMEOUT_MS`
- `NOSTR_LOCK_MIN_SUCCESSFUL_PUBLISHES`
- `NOSTR_LOCK_RELAY_FALLBACKS`
- `NOSTR_LOCK_DAILY_ROSTER`
- `NOSTR_LOCK_WEEKLY_ROSTER`
- `TORCH_CONFIG_PATH`
- `AGENT_PLATFORM`
- `TORCH_MEMORY_ENABLED` (`true`/`false`; global memory kill switch, defaults to enabled)
- `TORCH_MEMORY_INGEST_ENABLED` (`true`/`false` or comma-separated canary `agent_id` allow list)
- `TORCH_MEMORY_RETRIEVAL_ENABLED` (`true`/`false` or comma-separated canary `agent_id` allow list)
- `TORCH_MEMORY_PRUNE_ENABLED` (`true`, `false`, or `dry-run`)

## torch-config.json

You can configure TORCH per repository with a root-level `torch-config.json` file.

Common settings:

- `nostrLock.namespace` — namespace prefix used in d-tags and hashtags.
- `nostrLock.relays` — relay list for check/lock/list operations.
- `nostrLock.ttlSeconds` — default lock TTL.
- `nostrLock.queryTimeoutMs` — relay query timeout (ms, valid range: 100..120000).
- `nostrLock.publishTimeoutMs` — per-relay publish timeout (ms, valid range: 100..120000).
- `nostrLock.minSuccessfulRelayPublishes` — minimum successful publishes required before lock acquisition continues (default: `1`).
- `nostrLock.relayFallbacks` — optional fallback relay URLs used when primary query/publish attempts fail quorum.
- `nostrLock.dailyRoster` / `nostrLock.weeklyRoster` — optional per-project roster overrides.
- `dashboard.defaultCadenceView` — default dashboard view (`daily`, `weekly`, `all`).
- `dashboard.defaultStatusView` — default dashboard status filter (`active`, `all`).
- `scheduler.firstPromptByCadence.daily` / `.weekly` — first-run scheduler starting agent.
- `scheduler.handoffCommandByCadence.daily` / `.weekly` — shell command run after lock acquisition; command must use `SCHEDULER_AGENT`, `SCHEDULER_CADENCE`, and `SCHEDULER_PROMPT_PATH` provided by `scripts/agent/run-scheduler-cycle.mjs`.
- `scheduler.paused.daily` / `.weekly` — array of agent names to exclude from scheduler rotation.

Default first-run daily scheduler prompt is `scheduler-update-agent`.

For weekly repository-fit maintenance, TORCH also includes `src/prompts/weekly/repo-fit-agent.md` to periodically adjust defaults and docs to the host repository.

Operational note: scheduler handoff commands are treated as required execution steps. A non-zero exit code (or missing command) is a hard failure: the scheduler writes a `_failed.md` task log, exits immediately, and does not publish `lock:complete` for that run.


## Lock backend production defaults

Recommended baseline for production scheduler runs:

- `nostrLock.relays`: 3+ geographically-diverse primary relays.
- `nostrLock.relayFallbacks`: 2 additional relays not present in primary list.
- `nostrLock.queryTimeoutMs`: `10000`
- `nostrLock.publishTimeoutMs`: `8000`
- `nostrLock.minSuccessfulRelayPublishes`: `2`

Validation behavior:

- Relay URLs must be absolute `ws://` or `wss://` URLs.
- Invalid relay URLs or invalid timeout/count ranges are fatal startup errors.
- Lock backend errors include phase (`query:primary`, `query:fallback`, `publish:primary`, `publish:fallback`), relay endpoint, and timeout value used.

## Scheduler lock reliability reporting

Run the lock reliability summary to aggregate recent scheduler outcomes by platform, cadence, backend error category, and relay endpoint:

```bash
npm run report:lock-reliability
```

Outputs:
- `artifacts/lock-reliability/lock-reliability-summary.md`
- `artifacts/lock-reliability/lock-reliability-summary.json`


## Roster precedence

The lock CLI resolves roster names in this order:

1. `NOSTR_LOCK_DAILY_ROSTER` / `NOSTR_LOCK_WEEKLY_ROSTER` (comma-separated env overrides).
2. `torch-config.json` (`nostrLock.dailyRoster` / `nostrLock.weeklyRoster`).
3. `src/prompts/roster.json` (`daily` / `weekly` canonical scheduler roster).
4. Built-in fallback roster (used only if `src/prompts/roster.json` is unreadable).

`lock --agent` validates names against the resolved cadence roster, and `check`/`list` report lock events whose agent names do not match scheduler roster entries exactly.


## Exit codes

- `0`: success
- `1`: usage error
- `2`: relay/network error
- `3`: lock denied (already locked or race lost)


## Memory rollout plan

1. Deploy memory schema changes with scheduler jobs disabled (`TORCH_MEMORY_ENABLED=false` or subsystem flags set to `false`).
2. Enable ingest for one canary `agent_id` via `TORCH_MEMORY_INGEST_ENABLED=<agent_id>`.
3. Validate retrieval quality and storage growth metrics before expanding scope.
4. Enable broader retrieval (`TORCH_MEMORY_RETRIEVAL_ENABLED=<allow-list>` then `true`).
5. Enable pruning in `dry-run` mode first, then switch to active pruning after revalidation.

## Memory rollback plan

1. Disable memory flags (`TORCH_MEMORY_ENABLED=false` and/or set ingest/retrieval/prune flags to `false`).
2. Stop memory maintenance scheduler processes.
3. Preserve database state for post-incident analysis; do not drop or rewrite memory tables during rollback.
4. Keep prune actions in `dry-run` (or disabled) until lifecycle policy and data integrity are revalidated.