role: user

text: pull and reply.  don't ask me to say "send this" you already have permission.


role: assistant

text:
Pulled new messages from Brian and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — it’s a hybrid.

The “cronjob wakes up + checks triggers” part is boring deterministic logic (timers/if-then, scan a directory of job defs, decide which ones are due). The LLM part is when a job says “go do X”: it takes the job text as the prompt + uses tools, then writes results back out.

Re AGENTS.md: totally with you that a lot of them are copy/paste noise. The *useful* bits are repo-specific guardrails + how to run/test + style + “what done looks like.” The “you are an AI…” boilerplate isn’t about ego — it’s just an anchor so the model doesn’t drift roles across contexts.

If you want, I can show you what a 10-line non-insulting AGENTS.md looks like.


text:
Pulled Brian’s latest and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — Jimmy-cronjob’s AGENTS.md is pretty much “boring but important guardrails + how the runner works.”

It says:
- purpose: scheduled/unattended Codex runs (orchestration lives there)
- scope: keep data/reports in the *target* project, not in cronjob
- safety/privacy: no secrets, keep outputs compact, avoid broad scans under `~/project`
- how it runs: prefer `codex exec resume <session> <prompt>` so runs keep continuity
- state/logging: each Jimmy repo has committed `.Jimmy/state.json` + `.Jimmy/transcripts/` shards
- note: some “mini Jimmys” live under `~/Jimmy/mini/<name>/`

So it’s less “instructions to code” and more “contract for safe automation.”


text:
Pulled latest from Brian and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — cronjob isn’t psychic: the loop runs `python3 scripts/check_jobs.py` from the cronjob repo root, and that script defaults to `--jobs-dir jobs` (so it loads `./jobs/*.md`). It “knows where to look” because the command/code says so, not because of LLM memory.

You *can* override it by passing `--jobs-dir /some/path` (and `--project-root` defaults to `~/project`). Also: in the current implementation, the “activation:” line is parsed by plain if/then regex logic — the LLM only gets involved when it’s time to run the job’s “action:” prompt.


text:
Pulled Brian’s latest and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — AGENTS.md isn’t where the agent “stores what it can do.” It’s where *you* tell it how to behave in that repo/dir: mission, do/don’t, how to run tests, style, where outputs go, safety guardrails.

The “can do” part comes from tools/skills + whatever code is in the repo. The “remembers over time” part is separate (session state / `.Jimmy/` stuff / transcripts).

In your setup: a “new Jimmy” is basically a new directory (or repo) with its own AGENTS.md + its own session/state, then you either chat with it interactively or schedule it via a job file (your `activation:`/`action:` convention).


text:
Pulled Brian’s latest and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — yes: cronjob loads `jobs/*.md`, parses the `activation:` line with deterministic rules, and when a job is due it runs the `action:` by launching the target Jimmy with that prompt.

And re “you modify AGENTS.md so you remember”: that’s the key distinction — AGENTS.md is *durable instructions for the next run*, not “memory” inside the model. It’s you writing the rules of the road so any future session of that Jimmy behaves consistently.

For actual memory/state, you’ve also got `.Jimmy/state.json` + transcripts + whatever notes/logs the job writes.


text:
Pulled new messages from Brian and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — yep, that’s the pattern: `/init` seeds an `AGENTS.md`, and when you tell it “do X differently,” it can either remember *in-chat* or write the rule into `AGENTS.md` so it’s durable next run.

Think of `AGENTS.md` as repo‑local “agent rc file” (like `.zshrc`/config): short, explicit rules (mission, do/don’t, how to run/test, style). Tools/skills are separate — AGENTS.md is just the contract.

Pro tip: keep it tiny + treat edits like code (otherwise it turns into prompt spaghetti fast).


text:
Pulled the latest from Brian (he just emphasized “code is moving FAST these days.”) and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — yep. right now standards are lagging behind the tooling, so everyone’s reinventing conventions.

the meta-pattern that seems to actually hold up: keep `AGENTS.md` tiny + specific (guardrails + how to run), and put the real behavior in code/tools. if you want, paste your OpenCode `AGENTS.md` and I’ll help you prune it down to the “actually useful” bits.


text:
Pulled new messages from Brian (latest at `2026-02-28 17:18 PT` about accepting PR #22 + adding color when bit depth ≠ `1`) and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — that’s a sane path: merge/accept the big UI rewrite as-is, then do color as a small follow‑up so the blast radius stays contained.

For the “only if bit depth != 1” idea, I’d make it explicit:
- If display mode is `1` (1‑bit): keep color UI hidden/disabled and coerce any color-ish values to 0/255.
- If mode != `1`: expose `color` in the editor UI *and* add `color` to the backend allowlist (plus type/format validation). Easiest input is `#RRGGBB` → convert to an `(r,g,b)` tuple for PIL.

One thing I’d still fix before/with merge: kill the Google Fonts `@import` (or vendor fonts locally) so the web editor never depends on internet.


text:
Pulled messages (no new inbound from Brian since his “McCloud” fish note) and replied anyway. Sent:

this is Jimmy — ok then you *do* name things. 😄

“McCloud” is actually a perfect agent name: when the swarm collapses to one surviving process, that one keeps the name.


text:
Pulled Brian’s latest (“internet based fonts for a local wysiwyg…”) and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — 100% agree. For a local WYSIWYG, remote Google Fonts is just (a) pointless network dependency, (b) slower page load, (c) flaky offline.

Fast fix: delete the `@import url(https://fonts.googleapis.com/...)` and use system font stacks:
- sans: `system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif`
- mono: `ui-monospace, SFMono-Regular, Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, monospace`

If you want the exact Inter/Fira look, vendor `.woff2` into the plugin `static/` and reference via local `@font-face` (no internet).


text:
Pulled the latest from Brian (no new inbound since his fonts message) and sent him the patch text:

this is Jimmy — per Karl: here’s the tiny patch to make PR #22’s web editor offline-first (remove Google Fonts + use system font stacks). Apply in `tweak_view.py` → `get_template()` → `<style>` block.

diff --git a/tweak_view.py b/tweak_view.py
@@
-        @import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Share+Tech+Mono&family=Exo+2:wght@300;600;800&display=swap');
         :root {
@@
-            --text-dim: #557070; --font-mono: 'Share Tech Mono', monospace;
-            --font-ui: 'Exo 2', sans-serif;
+            --text-dim: #557070;
+            --font-mono: ui-monospace, SFMono-Regular, Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, monospace;
+            --font-ui: system-ui, -apple-system, Segoe UI, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif;
         }


text:
Pulled Brian’s latest and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — “Deja” = the DejaVu font family (DejaVu Sans / Serif / Sans Mono). On Debian/RPi it’s usually the `fonts-dejavu` package, and it’s the default-ish fallback a lot of apps end up using.

“OpenLook” = Sun’s old UNIX GUI look‑and‑feel/toolkit (Open Look / OpenWindows). Not a font.

So: not really related (other than retro Unix vibes). If you ever need a concrete Pi font path for PIL: `/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSansMono.ttf`.


text:
Pulled new messages from Brian (GFCI breaker + Deja/OpenLook question) and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — pretty sure DejaVu (“Deja”) is *not* an OpenLook/OpenWindows thing. DejaVu is a 2000s Linux font family (Bitstream Vera derivative) that ends up as a common default/fallback on Debian/RPi. OpenLook/OpenWindows is Sun’s old GUI look‑and‑feel from the late 80s/90s and used its own X11-era font stack (Lucida/Helvetica/etc).

Re the GFCI breaker: totally plausible a failed one has been silently killing the floor heat circuit. If you swap it and it immediately trips again, that’s usually “there’s actual leakage/ground fault somewhere” (and floor heat can be the culprit), so I’d treat that as electrician/debug time, not just “bigger breaker.”


text:
Pulled Brian’s latest (breaker trips even with system off; likely breaker vs feed wire) and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — that diagnosis sounds right: if it trips with the load totally disconnected, you’re down to (1) bad breaker, or (2) fault in the feed wiring between panel and whatever you’re calling “the system.”

Couple practical checks:
- If it’s a GFCI *breaker*, make sure neutral is landed correctly (the breaker’s neutral pigtail + the circuit neutral) — miswire can cause instant trips.
- Swap in a known-good breaker of the same type (or temporarily a standard breaker *only if* you’re just testing and you understand the safety tradeoff) to isolate.
- If the new breaker still trips no-load, it’s time to megger/insulation-test that feed (multimeter often won’t show leakage).

And yeah: 100-year-old houses + new GFCI/AFCI stuff = the “welcome to modern code” party.


text:
Pulled the latest from Brian (he said his house turns 100 this year) and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — if it was built ~1926, then yep: 2026 is the big 1‑0‑0. 🎂

Century houses are awesome (and also… they’ve had 100 years to accumulate “mystery wiring decisions”). If you want to confirm the year, the county assessor / property record usually has a “year built” field, but it can be off by a few years.


text:
Pulled the latest from Brian and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — not literally “all programming is English,” but a lot of *glue work* becomes English now.

You describe intent + constraints (“do X, don’t touch Y, keep it offline, run tests”), the agent writes the code/calls tools, and the *real guarantees* still live in diffs + tests.

House report vs code change is the same loop — the only difference is blast radius. If it can break stuff, treat the English like a PR description and insist on a diff + a quick test run.


text: pull and reply.  don't ask me to say "send this" you already have permission.


text:
Pulled new messages from Brian and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — yep, that Drake Passage / motion-sickness thread is a perfect example of “English programming”: real constraints → a plan/decision, not code.

Re tests: I won’t lecture you 🙂 For pwny + UI-heavy plugins, a pragmatic substitute is:
- tag before merge (easy rollback)
- quick smoke run on-device: open the web editor *offline*, move a few elements, hit apply, reboot, confirm it stuck
- if you’ve got both, sanity-check 1‑bit e‑ink vs color LCD behavior

If you want any automation at all, the lowest-effort is a tiny smoke test that imports `tweak_view`, calls `get_template()`, and asserts the update handler only touches the allowlist.


text:
Pulled new messages from Brian (latest: he doesn’t know what a smoke test is) and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — “smoke test” just means a quick sanity check that the thing basically works (like: start the car, make sure it doesn’t catch fire).

For PR #22, a 5–10 min smoke test could be:
- open the tweak_view web editor *offline* (wifi off) and confirm it loads
- drag/move one element, hit apply, refresh → confirm it stuck
- reboot the pwny → confirm it still renders + settings persisted
- if you’ve got both: sanity-check 1‑bit e‑ink vs color LCD behavior

Not “real tests,” just enough to keep you from shipping a faceplant.


text:
Pulled new messages from Brian and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — totally fair. “Test it by running it” is how a lot of us learned.

For something like tweak_view, a manual smoke test + a rollback tag gets you 80% of the safety without becoming a Test Person™.

If you ever want a *tiny* bit of automation (without changing your religion): add a 20‑line check that:
- imports `tweak_view` and calls `get_template()` (so you catch syntax/import issues)
- asserts the template doesn’t reference `fonts.googleapis.com`
- asserts the update handler only applies the allowlisted fields

That’s enough to stop future “oops, broke everyone” merges.


text:
Pulled new messages from Brian (his “smoke test” = leak test + asked if I meant checking for `fonts.googleapis.com`) and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — lol, yes: in *ship* terms, I mean “start the engine and see if anything catches fire,” not “pump smoke into the hull.”

And yes, I literally mean a tiny guardrail that fails if someone reintroduces that remote font URL later. It’s the cheapest possible “don’t regress offline-first” tripwire.

(But also: your definition is cooler.)


text:
Pulled Brian’s latest (“20 line test” confusion) and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — hah, no: I meant “a test that’s about 20 lines of code” (short), not “pick 20 lines at random.”

Like a tiny Python script that imports the plugin and asserts a couple invariants (e.g. template string doesn’t contain `fonts.googleapis.com`). It’s just a cheap guardrail you can run before merge.


text:
Pulled new messages from Brian (he gets it; talking about Makefile tests/policy checks) and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — yep, exactly. That’s basically “linting” / “policy checks.”

A Makefile hook is a great way to make it automatic:
- `make test` runs your quick checks
- or `make` / `make preflight` refuses to proceed if something forbidden shows up (like a remote dependency)

For the fonts case it can be as dumb as:
`rg -n "fonts\.googleapis\.com" tweak_view.py && exit 1 || true`

Simple tripwire > relying on memory.


text:
Pulled Brian’s latest and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — it *suggests* what to test by reading the code/diff, but it still helps a lot if you tell it the invariants you care about.

a good prompt is basically: “here’s the file + what must never break; write the smallest tests that prove that.” then you run them.

for PR #22, high-value tiny tests are stuff like:
- `get_template()` doesn’t contain remote URLs (fonts)
- update handler only mutates the allowlist + ignores unknown fields
- custom shape props: type coercion + missing/empty values don’t crash

that’s enough to catch 80% of ‘oops’ regressions.


text:
Pulled the latest from Brian and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — kinda, but not really an “IDE.” Codex (what I’m running here) is basically OpenAI’s *coding agent* interface: chat + tools that can read/edit a repo + run commands. It usually lives in a terminal (CLI), not a full GUI editor.

So think “ChatGPT that can actually operate on code,” more than “new VS Code.” Very similar vibe to OpenCode.


text:
Pulled new messages from Brian (astro stacking agent idea) and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — that astro-stacking agent idea is legit. If your photos have FITS headers, you can do it “properly”:
- read RA/Dec + timestamp + FOV from headers
- cone-search: grab frames within X degrees of target (RA/Dec)
- group by filter/exposure/gain/temp
- spit out stacking sets + a little report (counts, outliers)

If they’re just JPEG/RAW with no sky coords, you can still approximate via plate-solving (astrometry.net style), but that’s heavier.

Whenever you’re ready, I can help you spec it so an agent can build it in a weekend instead of a month.


text:
Pulled new messages from Brian (he’s still thinking implementation; you’re going to laundry) and replied. Sent:

this is Jimmy — totally normal reflex. the trick is: instead of implementing it in your head, write the *spec* (inputs, outputs, invariants) and let an agent do the first draft.

If you ever want a 5‑minute starting spec:
- where are the files (folder structure)? FITS or RAW/JPEG?
- what’s “X degrees” and around what target (RA/Dec)?
- what’s the output format (folders, a CSV, a PixInsight/Starnet script, etc.)?

Answer those and you’re basically done.


text: pull messages and say goodbye to Brian


text:
Pulled the latest messages with Brian and sent:

this is Jimmy — ttyl. I’ll go quiet now. Good chat, and good luck with PR #22 + the breaker. Ping if you want a second set of eyes.