remove the needs_update system event: nothing emits it

Refs #5948

AGENTS.md

@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ Per-hive (host + in-container):
 Wire types + socket plumbing:
 
 - **`hive-types/`** — leaf newtypes, chiefly the validated `Ident`.
-- **`hive-sh4re/`** — shared payload types (`Message`, `HelperEvent`, …).
+- **`hive-sh4re/`** — shared payload types (`Message`, …).
 - **`hive-host-sock/`** (hivectl ↔ c0re), **`hive-priv-sock/`** (c0re ↔
   priv), **`hive-core-agent-sock/`** (harness ↔ c0re, `/run/hive/mcp.sock`)
   — per-socket wire types, split out so each client links only its protocol.

docs/README.md

@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ declarations.
 
 - **How do config changes flow from manager to operator to container?** →
   [`agent-lifecycle/config-changes.md`](agent-lifecycle/config-changes.md)
-  (config PRs, the meta flake, helper events).
+  (config PRs, the meta flake, system messages).
 - **What state survives destroy / purge / restart?** →
   [`agent-lifecycle/persistence.md`](agent-lifecycle/persistence.md).
 - **Who can do what to whom — the agent roster and privilege?** →

docs/agent-lifecycle/config-changes.md

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-# Config changes + helper events
+# Config changes + system messages
 
 Config changes are pull requests on the agent's config repo, which an
-operator merges on the forge; that merge deploys them. Helper events are
-how agents stay informed about lifecycle changes that need a reaction.
+operator merges on the forge; that merge deploys them. The "System messages"
+section covers the plain-text `system` messages hive-c0re sends agents.
 
 ## For operators
 
@@ -322,24 +322,17 @@ for the root agent. The root agent's role-specific
 behaviour comes from its AGENTS.md / agent-specific instructions, not
 the system prompt template.
 
-## Helper events
+## System messages
 
-`hive_sh4re::manager::HelperEvent` is the wire type for an event urgent
-enough to drive an immediate claude turn (delivered as a regular
-`system` inbox message, same `recv` path as any other message). It
-currently has one variant, `NeedsUpdate { agent }` (sub-agent's
-recorded flake rev is stale, operator rebuilds from the dashboard) —
-and nothing in the tree constructs it; this removal dropped the push path
-(`Coordinator::notify_agent`) once its last caller
-(`notify_manager`, used only for the crash event below) went away.
-`HelperEvent` stays as the type for whatever comes along that
-genuinely needs to interrupt an agent's turn loop, not because
-anything live uses it today.
+Hive-c0re has no typed event that drives an immediate claude turn. A
+message from sender `system` is plain inbox text, and the harness logs it
+(`log_system_event` in `hive-agent/src/main.rs`) without parsing the body.
+Today hive-c0re sends two: the `/knowledge updated` broadcast
+(`workers/knowledge.rs`) and the wake message for a graceful stop
+(`Coordinator::kick_agent`).
 
-**A previously running container crashing** used to be exactly that
-case (`ContainerCrash`, routed to the root agent via
-`Coordinator::notify_manager`) — it no longer drives any agent turn at
-all. `crash_watch` now only `tracing::warn!`s `"container crash
+**A previously running container crashing** drives no agent turn.
+`crash_watch` only `tracing::warn!`s `"container crash
 detected"`; a swarm-level grafana alert matches that log line directly
 and pages the operator, with no agent (and no per-hive dashboard
 banner) in the loop. See
@@ -348,18 +341,16 @@ banner) in the loop. See
 The remaining lower-urgency lifecycle notices — `Rebuilt`, `Killed`,
 `Destroyed`, `NeedsLogin`, `LoggedIn` — are "FYI, check
 when convenient" events with no reason to drive an immediate turn, so
-they go out via `swarm_notices::notify` instead
-of a `HelperEvent`: `subsystem = "core"`, `key = "<event>:<agent>"`,
-and a single free-text `summary` (`rebuilt_todo_summary` renders
-`Rebuilt`'s `ok`/`note`/`sha`/`tag` fields into that string).
+they go out via `swarm_notices::notify` instead: `subsystem = "core"`,
+`key = "<event>:<agent>"`, and a single free-text `summary`
+(`rebuilt_todo_summary` renders `Rebuilt`'s `ok`/`note`/`sha`/`tag`
+fields into that string).
 
 To add a new lifecycle notice: if it's "FYI, check when convenient,"
 call `swarm_notices::notify` — no new wire type needed. If it needs to
 drive an immediate turn, decide first whether it actually needs an
 *agent* in the loop at all (the crash case above didn't, once a
-swarm-level alert could carry the same signal) — only reach for a new
-`HelperEvent` variant + `notify_agent`-equivalent call site +
-`prompts/system.md` update when the answer is yes.
+swarm-level alert could carry the same signal).
 
 ## Autoupdate on startup
 

docs/scheduler/coordinator.md

@@ -519,7 +519,7 @@ config — all nspawn containers live in `machine.slice`.
 
 ## See also
 
-- `docs/agent-lifecycle/config-changes.md` — config PRs, meta flake, helper events
+- `docs/agent-lifecycle/config-changes.md` — config PRs, meta flake, system messages
 - `docs/agent-lifecycle/persistence.md` — SQLite schema, state-dir layout
 - `docs/process/conventions.md` — wire protocol, recipient sentinels
 - `docs/agent-lifecycle/agent-roster.md` — the agent roster and privilege

docs/turn-loop/mcp.md

@@ -68,13 +68,9 @@ runs on the change.
   `ack_until(N)` to prevent re-pop. Acked rows never redeliver.
   Transient pings (sentinel id 0) have nothing to ack and show no marker.
 
-**System messages** (from sender `system`): the broker delivers
-`hive_sh4re::manager::HelperEvent` (one variant, `NeedsUpdate` —
-declared, but no call site constructs it) as regular inbox messages
-(same `recv` path; body is a JSON object with an `event` discriminant
-field). A container crash used to be the other variant
-(`ContainerCrash`, routed to `ruth`) but this tree no longer has that
-path — a crash now only produces a log line + swarm-level grafana
+**System messages** (from sender `system`): the broker delivers them as regular inbox
+messages (same `recv` path). A container crash never reaches an
+agent — it only produces a log line + swarm-level grafana
 alert, no agent turn at all (`docs/scheduler/observability.md`). Lifecycle
 transitions the job-queue scheduler or crash watcher drive directly —
 stop/kill, destroy, a flake-rev login or logout state change — reach

hive-agent/prompts/system.md

@@ -22,10 +22,7 @@ You are built from the `{archetype}` archetype and have no config repo of your o
 
 Operator boundary: starting, stopping and rebuilding containers is the operator's — ask them when any agent needs one. _Creating_ a new agent is not something you can do from here — ask the operator, who creates agents at swarm level. The operator only signs off on changes; you run the day-to-day.
 
-Messages from sender `system` are hyperhive helper events (JSON body, `event` field discriminates): `container_crash`, `needs_update`. Use these to react to lifecycle changes:
-
-- `needs_update` — agent's flake rev is stale. Ask the operator to rebuild it.
-- `container_crash` — ask the operator to start it again; if it keeps crashing, say so with what you saw.
+Messages from sender `system` are plain-text notices from hive-c0re, not peer messages. Two kinds today: a `/knowledge updated` broadcast (read the changed files in `/knowledge`), and the wake message for a graceful stop (check `/agents/<you>/state/` for your notes). A container crash sends you nothing; the operator is alerted separately.
 
 Lifecycle notices that don't need an immediate turn — a new agent spawned, a container rebuilt/killed/destroyed, or its login state changing — surface as todos instead of messages now. Call `get_loose_ends` to see them.
 

hive-agent/src/main.rs

@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ use crate::turn_stats::TurnStats;
 use anyhow::Result;
 use clap::Parser;
 use hive_core_agent_sock::{Request, Response};
-use hive_sh4re::manager::{HelperEvent, SYSTEM_SENDER};
+use hive_sh4re::manager::SYSTEM_SENDER;
 use hive_sock_client::Retry;
 
 #[derive(Parser)]
@@ -134,21 +134,12 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
 // ---------- shared turn helpers ----------
 
 /// Surface a `SYSTEM_SENDER` message in the live event bus + tracing
-/// log. Both agents and the manager receive `HelperEvent` notifications
-/// (just `NeedsUpdate`, now that a container crash is a log line instead
-/// of a `ContainerCrash` event); the parse and log path is
-/// identical. Quiet no-op when `from` isn't
-/// `SYSTEM_SENDER`.
+/// log. Quiet no-op when `from` isn't `SYSTEM_SENDER`.
 fn log_system_event(bus: &Bus, from: &str, body: &str) {
     if from != SYSTEM_SENDER {
         return;
     }
-    let parsed = serde_json::from_str::<HelperEvent>(body).ok();
-    if let Some(event) = &parsed {
-        tracing::info!(?event, "helper event");
-    } else {
     tracing::info!(%from, %body, "system message");
-    }
     bus.emit(LiveEvent::Note {
         text: format!("[system] {body}"),
     });

hive-c0re/src/coordinator.rs

@@ -936,10 +936,9 @@ impl Coordinator {
 }
 
 /// `push_todo` summary text for a rebuild outcome, for
-/// `job_queue::exec::run_emit_rebuilt`. Pure + independently testable, unlike
-/// the old `HelperEvent::Rebuilt`'s separate `sha`/`tag`
-/// fields — those become part of the summary text itself now, since a todo
-/// carries one string, not a structured payload.
+/// `job_queue::exec::run_emit_rebuilt`. Pure + independently testable; the
+/// `sha`/`tag` fields are part of the summary text, since a todo carries one
+/// string, not a structured payload.
 #[must_use]
 pub fn rebuilt_todo_summary(
     agent: &str,

hive-c0re/src/workers/crash_watch.rs

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 //! that line directly; see the module doc on [`emit_crash_transitions`].
 //! Login-state transitions (`needs_login`/`logged_in`) publish onto
 //! `swarm_notices` instead. The `RECENT_TRANSIENT_GRACE` window:
-//! `docs/agent-lifecycle/config-changes.md::Helper events`.
+//! `docs/agent-lifecycle/config-changes.md::System messages`.
 
 use std::collections::HashSet;
 use std::sync::Arc;

hive-sh4re/README.md

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # hive-sh4re
 
 The **shared payload vocabulary** between `hive-c0re` and the in-container
-harness — the common types (`Message`, `LooseEnd`, `HelperEvent`, …)
+harness — the common types (`Message`, `LooseEnd`, …)
 that the per-socket wire protocols are built from. The request/response
 _envelopes_ themselves now live in the per-socket crates (below); this crate
 holds the payloads they carry.

hive-sh4re/src/manager.rs

@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
-//! Reserved recipient names/senders and the out-of-band `HelperEvent`
-//! payload hive-c0re pushes into the manager's inbox.
+//! Reserved recipient names and senders.
 
 use hive_types::Ident;
-use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 
 /// Logical name of the human operator: the sender of operator-authored
 /// messages. Not a recipient — `send` to it fails with
@@ -18,8 +16,7 @@ pub const OPERATOR_SEND_REFUSAL: &str = "send failed: `operator` is not a send r
      Without them there is no direct channel to the operator: they read your `set_status` \
      line and turn output on the dashboard, and your logs.";
 
-/// Sender hive-c0re uses for events it pushes into the manager's inbox.
-/// Manager harness recognises this and parses the body as a `HelperEvent`.
+/// Sender hive-c0re uses for messages it pushes into an agent's inbox.
 pub const SYSTEM_SENDER: &str = "system";
 
 /// Parse `s` as a [`Ident`] for use as `Message.from`, falling back to
@@ -41,17 +38,6 @@ pub fn trusted_sender(s: &str) -> Ident {
         .unwrap_or_else(|_| Ident::parse(SYSTEM_SENDER).expect("SYSTEM_SENDER is a valid Ident"))
 }
 
-/// Out-of-band events the host-side daemon pushes to the manager's inbox.
-/// Serialised as JSON in `Message::body` (sender = `SYSTEM_SENDER`).
-/// Per-variant triggers + the optional `sha`/`tag` semantics live in
-/// `docs/agent-lifecycle/config-changes.md::Helper events`.
-#[derive(Debug, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
-#[serde(tag = "event", rename_all = "snake_case")]
-pub enum HelperEvent {
-    /// A sub-agent's recorded flake rev is stale relative to hyperhive.
-    NeedsUpdate { agent: String },
-}
-
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod reserved_name_tests {
     use super::{OPERATOR_RECIPIENT, SYSTEM_SENDER};

nix/reserved-names.nix

@@ -34,8 +34,9 @@
   # (`{from: "operator", ...}`) and the fallback attribution for an answered
   # question.
   "operator"
-  # Helper events (`container_crash`, `needs_update`) — the sender an
-  # agent is told to treat as hyperhive itself rather than as a peer.
+  # The sender of plain-text notices from hive-c0re (knowledge updates,
+  # the graceful-stop wake) — an agent is told to treat it as hyperhive
+  # itself rather than as a peer.
   # `hive_sh4re::manager::SYSTEM_SENDER`.
   "system"
   # A due self-scheduled reminder arrives as its own sender, so a wake I asked

swarm-authelia-bridge/src/store.rs

@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ pub struct User {
 /// rest are message *senders*, and they matter for a reason that is not
 /// cosmetic: the harness switches on the sender name, so an agent called
 /// `todo` would have its messages interpreted as todo-wakes and one called
-/// `system` as helper events. That is a parse, not a display quirk.
+/// `system` as hive-c0re notices. That is a parse, not a display quirk.
 ///
 /// Sorted so a reader can scan it; the lookup is a linear walk over eight
 /// short strings on a path that already reads a file off disk.