Nag — Persistent Reminders#

Nag manages reminders that don't give up. Each reminder has a first-fire time, a nag window, and resets daily.

When to Use#

• Recurring daily habits (supplements, workouts, practice)
• Tasks that get ignored/forgotten without follow-up
• Anything where "remind me once" isn't enough

When NOT to Use#

• One-shot reminders ("remind me in 20 minutes") — use a cron job with schedule.kind: "at"
• Time-critical alerts that can't wait for a heartbeat cycle
• Reminders that don't need confirmation (informational only)

Setup#

1. State File#

Create memory/nag-state.json in the workspace:

json

{
  "date": "2026-02-15",
  "reminders": {}
}

The date field triggers automatic daily resets — when today's date differs from the stored date, all reminders reset to unconfirmed.

2. Reminder Config#

Create nag-config.json in the workspace root:

json

{
  "reminders": [
    {
      "id": "morning-supplements",
      "label": "morning supplements",
      "cronFirst": "0 8 * * *",
      "nagAfter": "09:00",
      "confirmPatterns": ["taken", "done", "took them", "did it", "yes"],
      "tone": "friendly but persistent, escalate to ALL CAPS drama after 3 nags",
      "messages": {
        "first": "Time for morning supplements!"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Fields:

FieldRequiredDescriptionidyesUnique identifier, used as key in state filelabelyesHuman-readable name for displaycronFirstyesCron expression for initial reminder (create a cron job for this)nagAfteryesTime (HH:MM, 24h) after which heartbeat nags beginconfirmPatternsyesArray of phrases that mark the reminder as done (case-insensitive, substring match)tonenoPersonality guidance for generating nag messages. If absent, use a neutral friendly tone. The model has creative liberty to vary the wording each nag.messages.firstnoText sent by the cron job for the initial reminder. If absent, generate from label + tone.messages.nagnoSuggested nag text. If absent, generate contextually from label + tone + nagCount.messages.escalatenoSuggested text after 3+ ignored nags. If absent, generate with increased urgency from tone.daysnoArray of weekday names to restrict when this reminder fires (e.g. ["monday", "wednesday", "friday"]). Omit for every day.

For more examples, see references/config-examples.md.

Message generation: When messages.nag or messages.escalate are absent, generate them on the fly using the label and tone fields. Vary the wording each time — don't repeat the same nag verbatim. Use nagCount to calibrate urgency: low count = gentle, 3+ = escalated.

3. Wire Up Cron + Heartbeat#

For each reminder, create a cron job that fires messages.first at the cronFirst schedule.

In HEARTBEAT.md, add a nag check block:

text

## Nag Check
Read nag-config.json and memory/nag-state.json.
For each reminder in nag-config.json:
- If date in state differs from today, reset all reminders (set confirmed: false, nagCount: 0).
- Skip if today's weekday isn't in the reminder's `days` array (if specified).
- If current time is after `nagAfter` and confirmed is false: send a nag message to the user.
  - Generate the message from the reminder's label and tone (or use messages.nag if provided).
  - If nagCount >= 3, escalate urgency (use messages.escalate if provided, otherwise generate with more intensity).
  - Increment nagCount in state.
- Do NOT nag before the nagAfter time.

4. Confirmation Handling#

When the user sends a message matching any confirmPatterns for a reminder, update memory/nag-state.json:

json

{
  "date": "2026-02-15",
  "reminders": {
    "morning-supplements": {
      "confirmed": true,
      "confirmedAt": "09:06",
      "nagCount": 1
    }
  }
}

Match confirmation by checking if any pattern appears as a substring (case-insensitive) in the user's message. When ambiguous (multiple reminders could match), match the one currently in its nag window.

Adding a New Reminder#

1. Add entry to nag-config.json
2. Create a cron job for the cronFirst schedule
3. The heartbeat nag block handles everything else automatically

Removing a Reminder#

1. Remove entry from nag-config.json
2. Remove or disable the corresponding cron job
3. Optionally clean up its key from memory/nag-state.json