Nudge Sync

Lightweight synchronous signaling for multi-agent orchestration. Each agent has a single nudge file that is overwritten on every new nudge -- latest wins, no accumulation. Agents check their nudge file on every state poll, making this the fastest communication channel in the chipset.

Purpose

Nudge is the low-bandwidth, urgent signal channel in the Gastown chipset -- the SMI (System Management Interrupt) equivalent. It carries health checks from the witness, stall recovery prompts, and urgent coordination signals. Unlike mail (which accumulates), nudge is intentionally ephemeral: only the latest nudge matters.

The witness uses nudge to implement Gastown's Deacon heartbeat pattern. When an agent has hooked work but hasn't reported activity, the witness sends a nudge asking "are you working?" If the agent doesn't respond within the nudge interval, the witness escalates to the mayor via mail.

Filesystem Contract

.chipset/state/nudge/{agent-id}/latest.json

Each agent has a dedicated nudge directory containing exactly one file: latest.json. This file is overwritten on every new nudge. Reading the file always returns the most recent nudge (or null if no nudge has been sent).

Example paths: