plan(WARDEN-WP-0021): enable the scheduled worker tick

Draft workplan to take the WP-0020 conservative worker from built-but-disabled to a
reliable unattended schedule: systemd --user timer (cron fallback) + kill switch (T1),
graceful degradation when hub/llm-connect are down (T2), operator visibility / `worker
status` (T3), a review→send loop `warden worker approve` (T4), and a runbook (T5).
Conservative-only posture preserved (no auto-send).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

workplans/WARDEN-WP-0021-enable-scheduled-worker-tick.md

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+---
+id: WARDEN-WP-0021
+type: workplan
+title: "Enable the scheduled worker tick — conservative inbox triage, unattended"
+domain: infotech
+repo: ops-warden
+status: proposed
+owner: claude
+topic_slug: custodian
+planning_priority: high
+planning_order: 21
+created: "2026-06-30"
+updated: "2026-06-30"
+---
+
+# WARDEN-WP-0021 — Enable the scheduled worker tick
+
+**Goal:** turn the WP-0020 conservative worker from *built-but-disabled* into a reliable,
+unattended schedule — so ops-warden's State Hub inbox is auto-triaged into a digest of
+**drafted replies** the operator reviews and approves, without anyone starting a session.
+This is the payoff of WP-0020: it ends the cross-session relay toil.
+
+**Posture (unchanged):** schedule the **conservative** tier only — triage + draft, never
+auto-send (Option A / build-stage decision `813899f9`). The four guardrails hold. Easy
+kill switch is a requirement, not an afterthought (recoverability).
+
+**What "enabled" means here:** (1) the tick runs on a schedule and survives the failure
+modes (hub/llm-connect down → graceful degrade), (2) the operator actually *sees* new
+drafts, (3) the operator can *act* on a draft with one command, (4) it's trivial to stop.
+
+**Out of scope:** the full-auto (auto-send) path; flipping `policy.enabled`; moving the
+worker off the workstation.
+
+**Depends on / relates to:** WP-0020 (the worker + `scripts/worker-tick.sh`); the State
+Hub migration to railiance01 (`cust-wp-0011`/`0038`) may change `WARDEN_HUB_URL` later —
+the tick already honors that env var.
+
+---
+
+## Decisions to settle (first)
+
+- **Scheduler:** `systemd --user` timer (recommended — clean logs via `journalctl`,
+  `systemctl --user status`, built-in scheduling) vs. plain cron (simplest) vs.
+  activity-core (ecosystem-native durable trigger; heavier for build stage). Recommend the
+  systemd user timer; cron documented as the one-liner fallback.
+- **Cadence:** every 15 min (default) — adjustable.
+- **llm-connect reachability:** per-tick short-lived port-forward (current behaviour) with
+  rule-brain fallback, vs. a persistent forward. Recommend keeping the per-tick forward +
+  fallback for build stage (no standing process).
+
+---
+
+## Tasks
+
+### T1 — Scheduler install + enablement + kill switch
+
+```task
+id: WARDEN-WP-0021-T01
+status: todo
+priority: high
+```
+
+- [ ] `systemd --user` timer + service units (`ops-warden-worker.{service,timer}`) that run
+      `scripts/worker-tick.sh` on the chosen cadence, with `WARDEN_HUB_URL` / `WORKER_BRAIN`
+      from an env file. Install script + documented cron fallback one-liner.
+- [ ] Concurrency is already guarded by the tick's `flock`; verify under the timer.
+- [ ] **Kill switch:** `systemctl --user disable --now ops-warden-worker.timer` (and the
+      env-file `WORKER_ENABLED=0` short-circuit) — one command to stop, documented.
+
+### T2 — Scheduled-run robustness (graceful degradation)
+
+```task
+id: WARDEN-WP-0021-T02
+status: todo
+priority: high
+```
+
+- [ ] Harden `worker-tick.sh` for unattended runs: bounded timeouts, hub-unreachable →
+      clean skip + log (no crash loop), llm-connect-unreachable → rule-brain fallback
+      (already present; verify), non-zero exit only on real faults.
+- [ ] End-to-end verify a real timer-fired tick: new message → digest + progress note;
+      no new message → no-op; hub down → graceful skip.
+
+### T3 — Operator visibility (see new drafts)
+
+```task
+id: WARDEN-WP-0021-T03
+status: todo
+priority: medium
+```
+
+- [ ] Surface new drafts beyond the file: desktop `notify-send` on new digest (when a
+      display is present) and/or keep the hub progress note as the durable signal.
+- [ ] `warden worker status` — last run time, pending-draft count, digest path, timer state.
+
+### T4 — Review→send loop (`warden worker approve`)
+
+```task
+id: WARDEN-WP-0021-T04
+status: todo
+priority: high
+```
+
+- [ ] Persist structured drafts during the tick (`state_dir/worker-drafts.json`:
+      message_id → to_agent, subject, drafted body, thread_id — no secret material).
+- [ ] `warden worker approve <message_id> [--edit]` — send the reviewed draft as the
+      caller's reply + mark read; `warden worker drafts` to list pending. This is what makes
+      the scheduled digest *actionable* in one command instead of hand-composing.
+
+### T5 — Runbook + SCOPE
+
+```task
+id: WARDEN-WP-0021-T05
+status: todo
+priority: medium
+```
+
+- [ ] `wiki/playbooks/scheduled-worker.md` — enable/disable, cadence, the approve workflow,
+      failure modes, and the build-stage posture (conservative only). SCOPE note.
+
+---
+
+## Acceptance
+
+- A `systemd --user` timer (or cron) runs the conservative tick unattended; one command
+  disables it.
+- A timer-fired tick triages new messages into a digest + progress note and degrades
+  gracefully when the hub or llm-connect is down.
+- The operator is notified of new drafts and can send a reviewed draft with
+  `warden worker approve <id>`.
+- Still conservative: nothing is auto-sent; no secret value is read, sent, or logged.
+
+## See also
+
+- `WARDEN-WP-0020` (the worker + `scripts/worker-tick.sh`), build-stage decision `813899f9`
+- `cust-wp-0011`/`cust-wp-0038` (State Hub → railiance01; future `WARDEN_HUB_URL`)