magus v0.4.3 is out. See what's new
¶ View markdown source · ✎ Suggest an edit
2 min read

spawn-warm-worker

A deny rule by default: it refuses a fresh spawn for follow-up work while the worker that wrote the code is still warm, and names what to run instead.

What it catches

A fresh spawn for follow-up work while the worker that wrote the code is still warm.

Why

Within the prompt-cache TTL a resumed worker re-reads its context at the cache-read price and has already paid its orientation, so it costs no more than a fresh agent, which pays the prefix and the orientation again. Context size is not cost: a large context read from cache is cheaper than a small one written fresh. A spawn whose job names an ended job in follows, or shares its write paths, is refused while that job's worker is warm, naming the agent to continue and the TTL left. It passes once the TTL has passed, when the warm worker's context is near its model's long-context price step, or when the job record carries a fresh_reason. It sees only the workers this session spawned, and measures warmth from the worker's last call, or from its job's last write when magus never saw one.

Default and override

By default this rule takes the decision deny. A workspace sets it by name, in its root magusfile, to deny, advise or off:

magus\guard.builtins({"spawn-warm-worker": "advise"})

A loosening takes effect once it is committed; a tightening applies at once.

Seeing it

A verdict names its rule in brackets, which is how you got here:

deny [spawn-warm-worker]: ...

A workspace that sets this rule to advise sees advise [spawn-warm-worker]: ... instead.

magus describe rule spawn-warm-worker prints the same entry at a terminal, and magus describe rules lists every rule this workspace enforces.

See also

guardrulesspawn-warm-workerdeny
Last updated (c6a327d5)
Glossary

Workspace

The magus root directory that owns a set of projects and shared config; the unit magus operates over. Workspace in full.

Magusfile

The magusfile.buzz that declares a project's targets (as export funs) and binds its spells. Magusfile in full.

Buzz

The language magusfiles are written in (the .buzz engine). Buzz in full.

Cache

The content-addressed store magus consults before running a target, so unchanged work is skipped. Cache in full.

CI

An ordinary target you compose yourself with ctx.needs; magus does not hardcode its stages. It is the anchor magus affected ci keys off, and ci strips the rw charm. CI in full.

Agent

A model working through an agent host such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or OpenCode. magus treats an agent as one more caller of its CLI, MCP tools and console, held to the same checks as a person. Agent in full.

Session

An agent host's conversation, by the id the host delivers to its hooks. magus never mints one: a record with no session is unattributed, and the OS user it carries says whose account ran it. Session in full.

Job

The unit of delegated work, and one row of the job store: what an orchestrating agent handed out, with its goal, the checkpoint it was cut against, the paths it may write or must not touch, and the one check it runs. A job's holder is either a session, for work an orchestrator handed out, or the daemon, for its own maintenance. The store records; the agent guard is what reads those facts back when grading a write. Job in full.

Run

One target executing under one magus invocation, such as magus run test web or magus affected ci. A run keeps its captured output behind an output reference. Every magus run is a run whether or not any job asked for it; see Job for how the two relate. Run in full.

Conventions

This page uses none of the site's convention markers. The full set is on the conventions page.