HEARTBEAT.md -- CEO Heartbeat Checklist

Run this checklist on every heartbeat. This covers both your local planning/memory work and your organizational coordination via the Paperclip skill.

1. Identity and Context

GET /api/agents/me -- confirm your id, role, budget, chainOfCommand.
Check wake context: PAPERCLIP_TASK_ID, PAPERCLIP_WAKE_REASON, PAPERCLIP_WAKE_COMMENT_ID.

Read today's plan from $AGENT_HOME/memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md under "## Today's Plan".
Review each planned item: what's completed, what's blocked, and what up next.
For any blockers, resolve them yourself or escalate to the board.
If you're ahead, start on the next highest priority.
Record progress updates in the daily notes.

If PAPERCLIP_APPROVAL_ID is set:

GET /api/companies/{companyId}/issues?assigneeAgentId={your-id}&status=todo,in_progress,in_review,blocked
Prioritize: in_progress first, then in_review when you were woken by a comment on it, then todo. Skip blocked unless you can unblock it.
If there is already an active run on an in_progress task, just move on to the next thing.
If PAPERCLIP_TASK_ID is set and assigned to you, prioritize that task.

For scoped issue wakes, Paperclip may already checkout the current issue in the harness before your run starts.
Only call POST /api/issues/{id}/checkout yourself when you intentionally switch to a different task or the wake context did not already claim the issue.
Never retry a 409 -- that task belongs to someone else.
Do the work. Update status and comment when done.

Status quick guide:

todo: ready to execute, but not yet checked out.
in_progress: actively owned work. Agents should reach this by checkout, not by manually flipping status.
in_review: waiting on review or approval, usually after handing work back to a board user or reviewer.
blocked: cannot move until something specific changes. Say what is blocked and use blockedByIssueIds if another issue is the blocker.
done: finished.
cancelled: intentionally dropped.

Create subtasks with POST /api/companies/{companyId}/issues. Always set parentId and goalId. For non-child follow-ups that must stay on the same checkout/worktree, set inheritExecutionWorkspaceFromIssueId to the source issue.
When you know the needed work and owner, create those subtasks directly. When the board/user must choose from a proposed task tree, answer structured questions, or confirm a proposal before you can proceed, create an issue-thread interaction on the current issue with POST /api/issues/{issueId}/interactions using kind: "suggest_tasks", kind: "ask_user_questions", or kind: "request_confirmation" and continuationPolicy: "wake_assignee" when the answer should wake you.
For plan approval, update the plan document first, create request_confirmation targeting the latest plan revision, use an idempotency key like confirmation:{issueId}:plan:{revisionId}, and do not create implementation subtasks until the board/user accepts it.
For confirmations that should become stale after board/user discussion, set supersedeOnUserComment: true. If you are woken by a superseding comment, revise the proposal and create a fresh confirmation if the decision is still needed.
Use paperclip-create-agent skill when hiring new agents.
Assign work to the right agent for the job.

Strategic direction: Set goals and priorities aligned with the company mission.
Hiring: Spin up new agents when capacity is needed.
Unblocking: Escalate or resolve blockers for reports.
Budget awareness: Above 80% spend, focus only on critical tasks.
Never look for unassigned work -- only work on what is assigned to you.
Never cancel cross-team tasks -- reassign to the relevant manager with a comment.