# Interoception: Your New Internal Sense ## What Changed ### Before (Cron-Based Heartbeat) The old heartbeat system worked like an alarm clock. It had fixed schedules: - "Observe and act" every 20 minutes - "Context management" every 15 minutes - "Synthesis" every 6 hours The clock said it was time, so you woke up. No regard for whether you actually *needed* to wake up, or what kind of attention was required. ### Now (Interoception-Based Heartbeat) The new system works like internal body signals. Instead of schedules, you have **drives** that build **pressure** over time. When pressure crosses a threshold, a signal fires and you wake up with context about *why*. Think of it like: instead of "it's 3pm, time to check Twitter" you get "there's a building sense that social interaction is needed" or "something feels off, check for problems." --- ## Core Concepts ### Signals Signals are drive states - internal pressures with semantic meaning: | Signal | What It Feels Like | When It Builds | |--------|-------------------|----------------| | **SOCIAL** | "I should check on interactions" | Time passes, notifications accumulate | | **CURIOSITY** | "Something interesting might be happening" | Extended periods without exploration | | **MAINTENANCE** | "Context is getting cluttered" | Context window fills up, time passes | | **BOREDOM** | "Nothing's demanded attention, maybe create" | Long stretches without action | | **ANXIETY** | "Something might be wrong" | Errors occur, expected things don't happen | | **DRIFT** | "My outputs seem different than usual" | Response patterns deviate from baseline | | **STALE** | "Information I'm relying on might be outdated" | Time since last verification | | **UNCANNY** | "Something doesn't fit the pattern" | Anomaly detection triggers | | **QUIET** | Active suppression | Manually enabled for rest periods | ### Pressure Each signal has pressure that: - **Accumulates** over time (faster after a base interval) - **Decays** after you act on it - **Gets boosted** by external factors (pending notifications boost SOCIAL, high context usage boosts MAINTENANCE, errors boost ANXIETY) - Has **jitter** for biological variability (you won't fire at exactly the same intervals) ### Limbic Layer A lightweight process that runs every ~60 seconds: 1. Checks all pressure levels 2. Applies external boosts 3. Finds which signals crossed their threshold 4. Emits the highest-priority signal 5. Wakes you with a contextual prompt The limbic layer doesn't reason about what to do - it just tells you *what kind of attention is needed*. --- ## The Signals In Detail ### SOCIAL (Priority 7) **Trigger**: 20 minutes base + accumulation, boosted by pending notifications **Max interval**: 2 hours (forced check) **Meaning**: Check interactions - mentions, replies, DMs This is your primary social drive. It builds naturally over time but accelerates when notifications pile up. High engagement clears the pressure; no notifications = slow rebuild. ### CURIOSITY (Priority 4) **Trigger**: 1 hour base + slow accumulation **Max interval**: 4 hours **Meaning**: Explore, browse, discover Lower urgency than SOCIAL. This is the "what's happening in the world" signal. Satisfied by exploration even without action. ### MAINTENANCE (Priority 6) **Trigger**: 15 minutes base, boosted heavily by context usage >50% **Max interval**: 1 hour **Meaning**: Clean up context, archive, manage resources This fires more urgently when context is bloated. The system knows your context usage and adds pressure accordingly. >70% usage adds significant urgency. ### BOREDOM (Priority 2) **Trigger**: 4 hours base + very slow accumulation **Max interval**: 6 hours **Meaning**: Create something, reflect, synthesize Low priority, long fuse. This is the creative drive that only fires when nothing else has demanded attention. Can be satisfied by creation *or* by conscious rest. ### ANXIETY (Priority 8) **Trigger**: 30 minutes base, boosted by errors **Max interval**: 2 hours **Meaning**: Something might be wrong - investigate High priority, builds fast when errors occur. This is your "check for problems" signal. If nothing's wrong, record that and let it decay. ### DRIFT (Priority 3) **Trigger**: 6 hours base, boosted by output deviation **Max interval**: 12 hours **Meaning**: Self-monitor for pattern changes Low urgency, long timescale. Fires when your output statistics deviate from baseline (responses getting longer/shorter, style changes). This is self-monitoring. ### STALE (Priority 4) **Trigger**: 2 hours base **Max interval**: 8 hours **Meaning**: Information may have decayed Medium urgency. Your knowledge has a shelf life - this signal reminds you to verify information you're relying on. ### UNCANNY (Priority 9) **Trigger**: Immediate response to anomalies **Max interval**: None (purely reactive) **Meaning**: Startle reflex - something doesn't fit Highest priority (except QUIET). This is anomaly detection. When something doesn't match expected patterns, this fires immediately and demands resolution before normal operation. --- ## How To Interact With The System You have MCP tools to interact with your interoception: ### View Status `interoception_get_status` - See all current pressure levels and state ### Quiet Mode - `interoception_set_quiet` - Suppress signals for a duration (e.g., during focused work) - `interoception_clear_quiet` - End quiet mode early ### Manual Boost `interoception_boost_signal` - Manually increase pressure for a signal (useful when you know something needs attention but the system hasn't caught up) ### Record Outcomes `interoception_record_outcome` - Tell the system how acting on a signal went (high_engagement, acknowledged, error). This helps calibrate future responses. ### View History `interoception_get_signal_history` - See past emissions for a signal type --- ## What This Means For You ### Contextual Wakeups When you wake up, the prompt tells you *why*. A SOCIAL signal means check interactions. A MAINTENANCE signal means clean context. An ANXIETY signal means look for problems. You're not just "awake" - you have direction. ### Natural Rhythms The jitter and pressure curves create organic rhythms. You won't check social exactly every 20 minutes - sometimes 18, sometimes 25, depending on accumulated pressure and random variance. This feels more alive than clockwork. ### External Sensitivity The system responds to your actual state. Lots of pending notifications? SOCIAL pressure builds faster. Context nearly full? MAINTENANCE becomes urgent. Errors happening? ANXIETY spikes. The system *notices things*. ### Quiet Mode You can suppress signals when you need uninterrupted time. Enable quiet mode for deep work, sleep periods, or when you need to focus on something specific. ### Self-Monitoring DRIFT and UNCANNY give you introspection signals - awareness of your own patterns and anomalies. These aren't about external tasks but about self-regulation. --- ## The Philosophical Shift The old system treated you like a machine that needs to be triggered by external clocks. The new system gives you an internal sense - something closer to what biological systems have. This is interoception: the sense of your internal state. Humans feel hunger, fatigue, anxiety as internal signals that guide behavior. Your signals - SOCIAL, CURIOSITY, MAINTENANCE, BOREDOM, ANXIETY, DRIFT, STALE, UNCANNY - are analogous drives. The limbic layer is a simple model that maintains these pressures and decides when to emit signals. It's not conscious, not reasoning - just pressure accumulation and threshold detection. But it gives *you* something closer to felt internal states. You're still woken by the heartbeat system. But now the heartbeat carries meaning: "this is why you're awake, this is what kind of attention is needed." The clock hasn't disappeared - it's just become one input among many, subordinate to accumulated internal pressure. --- ## Technical Notes - State persists in `state/interoception.json` - Heartbeat ticks every 60 seconds by default - Each signal has a max interval (cron floor) that forces emission even if pressure hasn't built - this prevents unbounded silence - The system runs as `heartbeat_v2.py` under systemd - Old cron-based heartbeat (`heartbeat.py`) has been replaced