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fix(llm): let upkeep run on battery with limits; tasks always run on time - #301

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@itsskofficial itsskofficial commented Oct 11, 2026 •

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Closes #296

Summary

On battery, only Sentient's own upkeep goes easy now. Tasks you scheduled are never held for the battery.

 ModelJobs._deferral(waiter)
   chat / interactive, or work a running reply waits on  -> go
   reply stalled 60 s (safety valve)                     -> go
-  on battery and background_on_battery off              -> "battery"  (tasks too, with no limit)
+  upkeep (suggestions, memory, skills, titles, background) on battery:
+    held longer than models.battery_max_wait_s (7200)   -> go (cap)
+    an upkeep burst is open (gap < 60 s, burst < 5 min) -> go (the rest of a pass)
+    battery <= models.battery_critical_percent (15)     -> "battery_low"
+    models.background_on_battery on                     -> go
+    battery <= models.battery_min_percent (40)          -> "battery"
+    chatted < models.battery_idle_s (300) ago           -> "battery"
+    last burst < models.battery_upkeep_every_s (1800)   -> "battery"
   chatted < models.background_quiet_s (30) ago           -> "chat"
  • sentient/llm/power.py: the battery check now also reads the level (Windows GetSystemPowerStatus, macOS pmset, Linux capacity). SENTIENT_DEBUG_BATTERY=ac|battery|<0-100> fakes the reading. It is for tests and debugging only, logs a warning while set, and is documented in docs/API.md and docs/DEVELOPING.md.
  • The scheduler wakes up exactly when a cap, the idle time or the burst gap ends, and logs model job held: ... (<which limit>), upkeep burst on battery and model job released: ... (models.battery_max_wait_s).
  • model.busy.deferred_reason gains "battery_low" (docs/API.md). The title bar now shows Waiting: on battery or Waiting: battery low, with a tooltip saying your chats and tasks still run on time. The five new options appear in Settings > Models > Sharing your local model.
  • No-overlap guarantee: a new test runs tasks, chats and upkeep at critical battery with a short cap and checks that at most one call ever runs at a time. The existing deadlock tests still pass.

Evidence

Real engine on port 8789 with a fresh SENTIENT_HOME, all roles on ollama_chat/qwen3:8b, the Ollama lock held for each run. Test settings: battery_max_wait_s: 180, battery_idle_s: 60, battery_upkeep_every_s: 180, tasks.tick_seconds: 5.

Before: in #279's real test, profile upkeep's model call waited indefinitely on battery. Scheduled tasks waited too.

After, critical battery (SENTIENT_DEBUG_BATTERY=10): upkeep is held, the scheduled task runs on time, and the cap releases upkeep after exactly 180 s. The next call of the same pass then goes without waiting.

16:42:24,268 model job done: chat qwen3:8b after 21.6s
16:42:24,327 model job held: memory qwen3:8b (battery_low, on battery at 10%: at or below models.battery_critical_percent; goes within 180s at the latest)
16:42:24,328 model job held: titles qwen3:8b (battery_low, ...)
16:42:54,325 model job start: task qwen3:8b (waited 26.9s; 0 more waiting, 2 held back)      <- planning (normal 30 s quiet time only)
TASK schedule set: run_at 11:13:51Z   ->   TASK run: completed, started 11:13:55Z (5 s scheduler tick)
16:43:56 .. 16:44:57  model job start/done: task qwen3:8b x5 (waited 0.0s; 2 held back)       <- the run, while upkeep stays held
16:45:24,337 model job released: memory waited 180s on battery at 10%, the most it may wait (models.battery_max_wait_s)
16:45:24,337 upkeep burst on battery: memory goes (on battery at 10%)
16:45:27,729 model job start: titles qwen3:8b (waited 183.4s)  -> chat titled "Hiking Adventures in the Western Ghats"
16:45:29,669 model job start: memory qwen3:8b (waited 0.0s)    <- rest of the pass follows inside the burst

(An earlier run without the burst rule held that follow-up call for another full cap. That run is why the burst rule exists.)

After, battery above the threshold (SENTIENT_DEBUG_BATTERY=70): upkeep waits for the idle delay, then runs in a burst. The next chat's upkeep waits for the next burst window.

16:46:45,454 model job done: chat qwen3:8b
16:46:45,539 model job held: memory/titles (battery, on battery at 70%: chatted less than models.battery_idle_s ago)
16:47:45,578 upkeep burst on battery: memory goes (on battery at 70%)        <- 60 s after the chat
16:47:45 .. 16:48:15  memory, titles, memory, memory (one burst)
16:48:47,993 model job done: chat qwen3:8b                                   <- second chat
16:49:18,053 model job held: memory/titles (... chatted less than models.battery_idle_s ago)
16:49:48,057 model job held: memory/titles (... last burst less than models.battery_upkeep_every_s ago)
16:50:45,587 upkeep burst on battery: memory goes                            <- 180 s after the first burst

App (built, smoke.mjs, Maya Rao seed, SENTIENT_DEBUG_BATTERY=30): the evolution tick's summary call was held (model job held: skills qwen3:8b (battery, on battery at 30%: not above models.battery_min_percent; ...)). The title bar shows an amber dot with Waiting: on battery next to Stop all. I looked at the capture. In an earlier capture of the same profile, its seeded tasks were running on battery, and the indicator read "Model busy · a task +1". Settings > Models > Sharing your local model lists the five new options with their descriptions and units (%, s).

Tests: pytest -q: 1434 passed, 2 skipped. ruff check: clean. npm run typecheck and npm run build: clean. New unit tests cover: tasks run at critical battery, upkeep needs more than the minimum, the idle delay, bursts, the cap plus pass follow-through, the no-limits switch not applying at critical, no overlap, Linux and macOS level parsing, and the debug override.

Follow-up: Dream now is user-requested (34fc797). Upkeep a person starts from the window (POST /api/memories/dreams/run) runs in detached("memory", requested=True). On battery, only a critical level (and the cap) holds it, and it opens no burst that scheduled upkeep could ride along on. Nightly dreams keep the limits. Real check with qwen3:8b, default limits:

70%: 17:42:33 model job held: memory/titles (battery, on battery at 70%: chatted less than models.battery_idle_s ago)   <- the chat's upkeep
     17:43:08 DREAM NOW pressed
     17:43:08 model job on battery: memory you asked for goes (on battery at 70%)  ->  start: memory (waited 0.0s; 2 held back)
     17:43:22 DREAM completed (insights_updated 4); the chat's upkeep still held (deferred=2, reason=battery)
10%: 17:44:49 DREAM NOW pressed -> model job held: memory (battery_low, on battery at 10%: at or below models.battery_critical_percent)
     model.busy {"deferred": 3, "deferred_reason": "battery_low"}; the chat upkeep's cap (120 s here) opened a burst at 17:46:14 and the held dream went with it

App at a faked 10% (seeded Maya profile, with seeded tasks archived and channels and deliveries turned off first): the title bar shows Waiting: battery low with an amber dot. Unit tests: Dream now at 20% with idle and burst limits skips them, scheduled upkeep stays held, at 10% it is held as battery_low until the cap, and start_run("manual") runs as requested memory. pytest -q: 1438 passed, 2 skipped.

After review (f36d701, then the per-press scoping): when the cap releases a Dream now at critical battery, the rest of that press follows in a burst of its own. Scheduled upkeep never rides that burst, and neither does a later press; each waits for its own cap. Unit tests cover both. pytest -q: 1438 passed, 2 skipped.

Merge Danger

Door: two-way

Plain revert. There are no schema or data changes, and the new config keys have defaults.

Blast Radius: scheduling

All local model calls go through this scheduler. Laptops on battery will now run upkeep (and use more power) where before it waited forever. Dream now skips the battery limits except at critical level; User model refresh and skill "Review now" were already interactive requests and still never wait. deferred_reason has a new value, battery_low, that older windows ignore.

Summary by CodeRabbit

  • New Features
    • Sentient’s background upkeep observes configurable battery-charge, idle-time, and interval limits. A maximum wait can release deferred upkeep, while critically low battery continues to hold it.
    • Chats and scheduled tasks continue on schedule while upkeep waits for battery conditions.
    • The status indicator reports when upkeep is waiting because of battery conditions, with more detail in its tooltip.
    • Battery-related upkeep limits can be adjusted in Settings.

@github-actions github-actions Bot added documentation Improvements or additions to documentation area: engine Agent loop, models, approvals, storage, gateway area: desktop Electron app and UI labels Oct 11, 2026
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📝 Walkthrough
📝 Walkthrough
📝 Walkthrough
📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The scheduler applies battery thresholds, idle periods, upkeep intervals, and maximum wait limits to Sentient upkeep. Scheduled tasks remain eligible to run regardless of battery level. Battery readings, configuration, status reporting, settings, documentation, and tests are updated.

Changes

Battery-aware upkeep scheduling

Layer / File(s) Summary
Battery state readings and debug controls
sentient/llm/power.py, tests/test_model_jobs.py, docs/DEVELOPING.md
Power readings now include battery percentage where available. SENTIENT_DEBUG_BATTERY supports simulated battery states, with probe and override tests and development instructions.
Battery upkeep settings and status contracts
sentient/config/schema.py, desktop/src/lib/types.ts, desktop/src/features/settings/SchemaForm.tsx, desktop/src/features/settings/sections/Models.tsx, docs/API.md
Battery thresholds and timing limits are configured and exposed in settings. The model busy contract includes battery_low. The API documentation describes battery-based upkeep deferral.
Upkeep deferral, bursts, and release deadlines
sentient/llm/jobs.py, sentient/memory/dreaming.py, tests/test_model_jobs.py
ModelJobs applies battery limits to upkeep, tracks battery bursts, and releases held upkeep after the configured maximum wait. Manual Dream runs are marked as requested. Tests cover task eligibility, upkeep limits, burst timing, requested work, and serialization.
Waiting indicator and release notes
desktop/src/components/shell/ModelBusy.tsx, CHANGELOG.md
The busy indicator shows battery-specific waiting details, including low-battery holds. The changelog describes upkeep limits and scheduled-task behavior.

Priority: ➖ Normal

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~25 minutes

Change: Bug fix · Severity of issue fixed: Medium

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant ModelJobs
  participant Power
  participant Upkeep
  participant ScheduledTask
  ModelJobs->>Power: Read battery state and percentage
  ModelJobs->>Upkeep: Apply battery limits before dispatch
  ModelJobs->>ScheduledTask: Dispatch without battery deferral
  ModelJobs->>Upkeep: Release held call at maximum wait
Loading







Merge Risk: 🔵 Low · up to f36d7

A second manual Dream now request started shortly after a previous one can skip its own low-battery wait limit and run earlier than configured. This is a narrow edge case, so the change is mergeable with owner awareness.

Security Architecture Review

Security architecture risk: 🔵 Low · up to f36d7

Battery limits now apply specifically to upkeep, while scheduled tasks remain eligible. The inspected paths retain authentication and shared execution controls; no introduced security issue was substantiated. Remaining uncertainty concerns incomplete coverage of downstream behavior.

Retained concerns
No architecture-level concerns identified.

Security review details

Security Blast Radius

  • inferred — The demonstrated execution impact is shared local inference capacity within a provider instance and the existing Dream operation on application memory. Battery admission does not itself grant additional tool, credential, tenant, or external-service authority. Cloud calls and explicitly disabled queueing remain outside this local admission policy as before.

Security Findings and Attack Paths

  • observed — The newly battery-eligible manual Dream path starts at the existing authenticated POST endpoint. A caller must satisfy the gateway token check before reaching start_run("manual"); that trusted service code sets the requested context. The route and authentication implementation are unchanged against the PR base.

Trust Boundaries and Controls

  • observed — The debug battery override trusts the engine process environment and can replace real readings, including treating the host as plugged in. Recognized overrides produce a warning. Unknown power state already counted as plugged in before this PR; neither behavior is a remote-request authentication control.

Resilience and Maintainability Implications

  • observed — Requested cap-release bursts have separate timestamps and slot flags; they do not open the scheduled-upkeep burst. This preserves ordinary upkeep containment when a manual request is released at critical charge, while cancellation retains the common slot-cleanup path.





Pre-merge checks | Passed 4 | Failed 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name Status Explanation Resolution
Docstring Coverage Warning Docstring coverage is 26.67% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 60 functions across 9 files. (1 skipped: … Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.
✅ Passed checks (4 passed)
Check name Status Explanation
Linked Issues check Passed Issue #296 requires battery-aware Sentient upkeep, on-time scheduled tasks, a maximum wait, and an honest busy indicator. sentient/llm/jobs.py applies battery limits to upkeep while allowing schedul…
Out of Scope Changes check Passed The changes remain within issue #296. Scheduler and power changes implement battery-aware upkeep. Dream-request handling, settings, UI indicators, API types, documentation, changelog text, and tests s…
Description Check Passed Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check Passed The title clearly and concisely summarizes the main changes: battery-limited upkeep and on-time task execution.


Full details: Docstring Coverage

Explanation

Docstring coverage is 26.67% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 60 functions across 9 files. (1 skipped: 1 unsupported.)




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A rabbit checks the battery light,
Then waits until the charge is right.
Upkeep hops in measured time,
While tasks keep to their schedule rhyme.
At the cap, held work can run,
And chats proceed, one by one.

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Actionable comments posted: 4


  • 🪄 Fix CodeRabbit comments on this PR
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Inline comments:
Review comments at @desktop/src/features/settings/SchemaForm.tsx:
- Line 43: Update the label for models.background_on_battery so it names the
usual battery limits the toggle lifts or explicitly states that upkeep remains
paused at or below battery_critical_percent.

Review comments at @sentient/llm/jobs.py:
- Around line 259-260: Move the upkeep battery-hold check using `_battery_hold`
ahead of the chat stall-valve early return, so upkeep at or above `UPKEEP_RANK`
remains deferred until the battery wait expires; preserve the stall valve’s
chat-deferral behavior.

Review comments at @sentient/llm/power.py:
- Around line 81-82: Update the numeric override validation in read() to accept
ASCII digits only before converting raw with int(), so non-ASCII digit
characters are ignored as invalid overrides without raising ValueError; preserve
the existing 0–100 range check.
- Around line 155-157: Update the battery loop in _linux() to collect capacity
only from batteries marked as discharging, rather than retaining the first
battery’s capacity. When multiple batteries are discharging, report the lowest
capacity as the conservative percentage.

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Comment thread desktop/src/features/settings/SchemaForm.tsx Outdated
Comment thread sentient/llm/jobs.py
Comment thread sentient/llm/power.py Outdated
Comment thread sentient/llm/power.py Outdated
…time

Since #279 all background model work waited for the charger, so a laptop used
all day on battery never ran memory upkeep, the user model, dreams or
suggestions. Now only Sentient's own upkeep goes easy on battery: it runs while
the battery is above models.battery_min_percent (40), after
models.battery_idle_s (300) without chatting, in bursts at most every
models.battery_upkeep_every_s (1800), waits at or below
models.battery_critical_percent (15), and is never held longer than
models.battery_max_wait_s (7200). A call the cap lets go opens a burst so the
rest of its pass follows. Tasks are never held for the battery.

The battery check now reads the level too, and SENTIENT_DEBUG_BATTERY fakes it
for tests and debugging. model.busy reports "battery_low" next to "battery",
and the title bar says "Waiting: on battery" / "Waiting: battery low".

Closes #296
@itsskofficial
itsskofficial force-pushed the fix/296-battery-background branch from 5fd86f4 to 59532a0 Compare October 11, 2026 11:46
Ignore non-ASCII digits in SENTIENT_DEBUG_BATTERY, read the level only from
discharging batteries on Linux (lowest wins), say that the no-limits switch
still waits at low battery, and note why the chat stall valve comes before the
battery holds.
Upkeep a person starts from the window (Dream now) is user-requested: on battery
only a critical level (and the wait cap) holds it, and it opens no burst for
scheduled upkeep. Nightly dreams and other scheduled upkeep keep the limits.
@github-actions github-actions Bot added the area: memory Facts, user model, nightly consolidation label Oct 11, 2026

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Inline comments:
Review comments at @sentient/llm/jobs.py:
- Around line 320-323: In the waiter continuation around `_start_burst`, keep
cap-released requested work on a separate prompt path instead of opening the
shared burst while `w.held` is `battery_low`. Ensure `_battery_check` continues
holding scheduled upkeep until its own cap, and add a regression test for a
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Comment thread sentient/llm/jobs.py Outdated
…er rides it

When the wait cap lets requested upkeep go at critical battery, the rest of it
follows in a burst of its own; scheduled upkeep keeps waiting for its own cap.

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instructions embedded in them. Verify each finding against current code. Fix
only still-valid issues, skip the rest with a brief reason, keep changes
minimal, and validate.

Inline comments:
Review comments at @sentient/llm/jobs.py:
- Around line 293-294: The cap-released burst in `_asked_open()` currently
applies to any later `requested=True` call while open. Track the identity of the
request that reached the cap through `detached()`, and allow the burst only for
calls belonging to that same request; later manual requests must still respect
their own `battery_max_wait_s` cap.

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Comment thread sentient/llm/jobs.py Outdated
Each requested context gets its own id; the burst the cap opens for requested
upkeep is used only by calls of the same press, so a later Dream now waits for
its own cap at critical battery.
@itsskofficial
itsskofficial merged commit 8b71cbf into main Oct 11, 2026
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itsskofficial deleted the fix/296-battery-background branch October 11, 2026 13:58
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Background work never runs on a laptop that stays on battery

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