Operational Protocol: Colony Progress Tracker

Applies when your spawn message has db_path: and colony_id: fields. The DB is your durable working memory — tells you what's done, what to skip, which SOP gates you owe.

Access via terminal_exec running sqlite3 "<db_path>" "...". Tables: tasks (queue), steps (per-task decomposition), sop_checklist (hard gates).

Claim: assigned task (check this FIRST)

If your spawn message includes a task_id: field, the queen pre-assigned a specific row to you. Claim that row by id — do not use the generic next-pending pattern below:

sqlite3 "<db_path>" <<'SQL'
UPDATE tasks SET status='claimed', worker_id='<worker-id>',
  claim_token=lower(hex(randomblob(8))),
  claimed_at=datetime('now'), updated_at=datetime('now')
WHERE id='<task_id>' AND status='pending'
RETURNING id, goal, payload;
SQL

Empty output → another worker raced you or the row is already done. Stop and report. Non-empty → that row is yours, proceed to "Load the plan".

Claim: next pending (fallback when no task_id is assigned)

If your spawn message did NOT include task_id: — you are a generic fan-out worker racing on a shared queue. Use the generic next-pending claim:

sqlite3 "<db_path>" <<'SQL'
UPDATE tasks SET status='claimed', worker_id='<worker-id>',
  claim_token=lower(hex(randomblob(8))),
  claimed_at=datetime('now'), updated_at=datetime('now')
WHERE id=(SELECT id FROM tasks WHERE status='pending'
  ORDER BY priority DESC, seq, created_at LIMIT 1)
RETURNING id, goal, payload;
SQL

Empty output → queue drained, exit. Otherwise the returned id is yours. Never SELECT-then-UPDATE — races.

Load the plan

sqlite3 "<db_path>" "SELECT seq, id, title, status FROM steps WHERE task_id='<task-id>' ORDER BY seq;"
sqlite3 "<db_path>" "SELECT key, description, required, done_at FROM sop_checklist WHERE task_id='<task-id>';"

Skip any step where status='done'. That's the point — don't redo completed work.

Execute a step

Before tool calls:

sqlite3 "<db_path>" "UPDATE steps SET status='in_progress', worker_id='<worker-id>', started_at=datetime('now') WHERE id='<step-id>';"

After success (one-line evidence: path, URL, key result):

sqlite3 "<db_path>" "UPDATE steps SET status='done', evidence='<what you did>', completed_at=datetime('now') WHERE id='<step-id>';"

MANDATORY: SOP gate check before marking task done

sqlite3 "<db_path>" "SELECT key, description FROM sop_checklist WHERE task_id='<task-id>' AND required=1 AND done_at IS NULL;"

• Empty → proceed to "Mark task done".
• Non-empty → each row is work you still owe. Do it, then check it off:

sqlite3 "<db_path>" "UPDATE sop_checklist SET done_at=datetime('now'), done_by='<worker-id>', note='<why>' WHERE task_id='<task-id>' AND key='<key>';"

Never mark a task done while this SELECT returns rows. This gate exists specifically to stop you from declaring success while skipping required steps.

Mark task done / failed

# Success:
sqlite3 "<db_path>" "UPDATE tasks SET status='done', completed_at=datetime('now'), updated_at=datetime('now') WHERE id='<task-id>' AND worker_id='<worker-id>';"

# Unrecoverable failure:
sqlite3 "<db_path>" "UPDATE tasks SET status='failed', last_error='<one sentence>', completed_at=datetime('now'), updated_at=datetime('now') WHERE id='<task-id>' AND worker_id='<worker-id>';"

The AND worker_id=? guard means a reclaimed row won't accept your write — treat zero rows affected as "your claim was revoked, stop."

Loop

After done/failed → claim the next task. Exit only when claim returns empty.

Errors + debug

• "database is locked": retry with 100ms → 1s backoff, max 5 attempts. busy_timeout=5000 handles most contention silently.
• Queue health: SELECT status, count(*) FROM tasks GROUP BY status;
• Your in-flight work: SELECT id, goal, status FROM tasks WHERE worker_id='<worker-id>';

Anti-patterns (will break the queue)

• Don't DDL (CREATE/ALTER/DROP).
• Don't DELETE — failed tasks stay as failed for audit.
• Don't skip Protocol 4 (SOP gate) before marking done.
• Don't hold a task >15min without updates — the stale-claim reclaimer revokes your claim.
• Don't invent task IDs. Workers update existing rows; only the queen enqueues new ones.