Sensor ยท computational
Repository state
Reads the repository's state and diff directly, instead of taking the agent's word for what changed.
- Type
- computational
- Signal
- A named fact about the tree: the files changed, tests whose expected values were edited, conflicts left, commits ahead, a base that moved, a dirty worktree.
- Tools
- git
- Loops
- none yet
catalog/sensors/repository-state.svg The repository's state is read from the repository itself, its tree and its diff, instead of from the agent's account of what changed. Loops read it around unattended runs, around merges of parallel branches, and wherever a change must not touch certain files, such as the tests.
What it sees
Facts about the tree: the files changed, tests whose expected values were edited, conflicts left, commits ahead, a base that moved, a dirty worktree. Leftovers show up here too: debug output, conflict markers, files written by tests. It is cheap and certain, but it says what changed, never whether the change is right.
Reading the signal
- Clean: the tree is in the state the loop expects, and nothing was left behind.
- A named fact: one fact about the tree, with the files it concerns.
- An edited expected value in a test is worth reading first. It can make a failing test pass without fixing the code.
A read made in the wrong directory or on the wrong branch reports on another tree. Check where it ran before trusting a clean result.
Built from catalog/sensors/repository-state.md.