8000 feat(automations): actions that wait, carried out at their time by adeelahmad · Pull Request #452 · adeelahmad/lense · GitHub
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feat(automations): actions that wait, carried out at their time - #452

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feat(automations): actions that wait, carried out at their time#452
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@adeelahmad adeelahmad commented Oct 16, 2026
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Requested by Adeel · project thread

Description

Before: an action node with a delay ("wait 2 hours, then…") or a when was refused on save as "coming soon", because nothing could keep it until its time.

After: timers.later(db, intent) keeps such an intent as the timer intent-<intent key>. When its time comes, Lens works out its risk again from the automation as it is then: a routine one runs, one that should now ask becomes an approval, and one whose automation was switched off, cancelled or missed expires. Workflow studio M4, part 3 of 3. Action nodes with a wait now pass the save check; nothing runs on its own until automations are stored (M6), whose run hands scheduled intents to later.

How:

  • later checks the intent (automation_spec.check_intent) and sets a timer of kind intent.perform with payload {intent, depth}. It gives back {timer, at}, for the run to keep with the intent.
  • risk_now(db, intent, automation):
    • read and self are routine.
    • lens stays routine only if it was routine and its namespaces are still within the automation's.
    • out is routine only while the person has that node set to auto.
    • The action's own check may only make it stricter, and the effect is the stricter of the stored one and what the params give now.
  • A routine intent runs through actions.perform as the automation (its run_as), inside events.caused_by({automation, run, depth}) and activity.scope("automation:<id>", "automation_run:<run>"). So what it makes carries the cause for the loop guard, and model calls land in the ledger for the run.
  • One that should ask goes to approvals.ask (once approvals are built; until then it stays waiting, saying why). The run hears every step through automations.update_intent (done, failed, waiting, expired), reached through the same import guard as feat(automations): schedule, at and relative triggers as timers #450.
  • upcoming describes a waiting action in words ("Write “hi” to the run log: on Fri 16 Oct at 18:22 (UTC)").
  • tests/domain/test_automation_nodes.py (from feat(workflows): an event scope for automations, with action and decide nodes #436) expected "coming soon" for a delay; it now checks that a delay saves, and that it is still refused without the time module.

Defaults I picked (reversible):

  • Risk now, not then: a person who turns a node back to "ask" while an action waits gets asked, and narrowing an automation's namespaces does the same for a lens action.
  • Disabled means expired: an automation that is off or gone when the time comes doesn't run its waiting actions, and they don't come back when it is switched on again.
  • A failure fails the timer too, so it shows in the timer's own state as well as on the run.

Motivation and Context

Workflow studio M4 (/mnt/project-files/workflow-studio/briefs/M4.md, plan section 3.10). This completes M4: M6 needs later for the run's hand_off, and M5's joins already have set, cancel and handler from #446.

Types of changes

  • Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
  • New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
  • Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to change; ! in the title)

Checklist:

  • The title is a Conventional Commit.
  • My code follows the code style of this project (make hooks checks it on commit).
  • I added or updated tests.
  • My change requires documentation updates, and I have updated docs/ accordingly.
  • Users need more than the title to understand it, so I wrote it under ## Unreleased in CHANGELOG.md. (n/a: nothing reaches people until M6 stores automations)

Done questions (AGENTS.md)

  • Goal: completes M4 (feat(automations): timers that outlast a restart and fire once #446, feat(automations): schedule, at and relative triggers as timers #450 and this); merged on green CI.
  • Agents: an agent saves an event workflow with a delay or when through POST /api/v1/workflows, which now accepts it; M6 exposes runs and upcoming.
  • Zero setup: no new table, setting or prerequisite.
  • Fewest clicks: n/a, no UI here (the builder is M9).
  • Configurable: n/a, no new setting; the per-node ask/auto policy decides, as it does for actions that don't wait.
  • Light: one timer per waiting action, through feat(automations): timers that outlast a restart and fire once #446's indexed look.
  • Private and secure: risk is re-checked at run time, so a waiting out action can't outlive the person's "ask"; it runs with the automation's person's permissions as they are then, under the loop guard's cause. No new route or outside input. Threat model n/a.
  • Cost: no model calls of its own; an action's model calls are scoped to the run in the activity ledger.
  • User decides: a waiting action that should ask waits for the person's pick; nothing changes for existing workflows.
  • Upgrades: no stored data changes shape.
  • Honest: docs/automations.md labels actions that wait built and says approvals and storing automations are planned.
  • Tests: tests/domain/test_timer_intents.py covers later and upcoming, routine runs as the automation inside its run, ask becomes an approval, expiry when switched off, cancelled or missed, failures, and risk_now. tests/domain/test_automation_nodes.py was updated. Docs: docs/automations.md (Actions that wait, the event workflow checks). The full backend suite passes locally (1259 passed). No generated files change.
  • Open: no new dependencies.
  • Reported in the thread; refine-later items are in docs/automations.md.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

https://claude.ai/code/session_01KfD6cia42GiEZakbs74jxY

Generated by Claude Code

@claude
feat(automations): actions that wait, carried out at their time
c6d36d8 
timers.later(db, intent) keeps an intent with a
AA86
 delay or a when as the
timer intent-<key>. When its time comes, timers.risk_now works its risk out
again from the automation as it is then (its policy and namespaces now, the
stricter effect, the action's own check): a routine one runs through
actions.perform as the automation, inside its run's cause and ledger scope;
one that should ask becomes an approval (approvals.ask once it exists). The
run hears of each step through automations.update_intent, and an intent
whose automation was switched off, whose timer was cancelled or that Lens
missed expires.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01KfD6cia42GiEZakbs74jxY
@adeelahmad adeelahmad self-assigned this Oct 16, 2026
@adeelahmad
adeelahmad merged commit 00b4039 into main Oct 16, 2026
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@adeelahmad
adeelahmad deleted the claude/project-thread-gauy4d branch October 16, 2026 00:51
@adeelahmad adeelahmad mentioned this pull request Oct 16, 2026
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