Background Tasks & Monitoring

RugvAI Labs

Pattern	Use For	Example
`run_in_background: true`	Long shell commands you'll check later	`npm run build`, `pytest --slow`, `docker build`
`Monitor`	Stream events from a long-running process	Tail logs, watch test output, observe a deploy
`ScheduleWakeup`	One-shot deferred work	"Check the build in 5 minutes", "Re-poll status"
`CronCreate`	Recurring scheduled work	"Audit dependencies every Monday 9am"

pythonrunnable cell

# Start a long process
proc = Bash(
  command="pytest tests/ -v",
  run_in_background=True
)

# Monitor its output
Monitor(
  process_id=proc.id,
  pattern="FAILED|ERROR"  # only notify on these lines
)

pythonrunnable cell

# Wait until a service is healthy, no polling tokens spent on each check
Monitor(
  command="until curl -sf localhost:3000/health; do sleep 2; done",
  description="Wait for dev server to be ready"
)

pythonrunnable cell

CronCreate(
  schedule="0 9 * * 1",  # Monday 9am
  prompt="Audit npm dependencies for new CVEs. File Linear tickets for any CRITICAL.",
  reason="Weekly security audit"
)

1. kubectl rollout status deployment/api --watch  (run_in_background + Monitor)
2. Pattern: "Error|Failed|CrashLoopBackOff"
3. On match: notify, stop, investigate
4. On success: continue with smoke tests

CronCreate(
  schedule="0 8 * * 1-5",  # weekdays at 8am
  prompt="""
    1. Run /ultrareview on the develop branch since last Friday
    2. Summarize critical findings
    3. Post to #engineering Slack via slack MCP
  """,
  reason="Daily branch quality check"
)

ScheduleWakeup(
  delaySeconds=900,  # 15 min — past cache window, but right for "settle then verify"
  reason="Verify post-deploy metrics settled",
  prompt="Query Grafana for error rate over last 15 min; compare to pre-deploy baseline; alert if elevated"
)

Action	Token Impact
`run_in_background` for a 5-min build	Saves ~5 min of waiting tokens
`Monitor` with pattern matching	Cheap — only fires on match
`ScheduleWakeup` <300s	Cache warm — cheap
`ScheduleWakeup` >300s	One cache miss + new turn cost
`CronCreate` daily	Once/day = predictable cost
Polling loop (BAD)	Burns tokens on every check

bash

# Cron job that runs Claude in headless mode for a scheduled task
0 8 * * 1-5 claude --headless --permission-mode dontAsk \
  --prompt "Run /ultrareview on develop since Friday. Post results to Slack."

Background Tasks & Monitoring

After this lesson, you will be able to:

Before You Start

#Four Background Patterns

Your Reflection

Continue Learning

Discussion

#run_in_background: Fire and Forget

Best for

Anti-pattern

#Monitor: Stream Events

#Monitor: until-loop pattern

#ScheduleWakeup: One-Shot Deferred Work

#CronCreate: Recurring Scheduled Work

Use cases

#Combining Patterns

#Pattern: Long build + parallel work

#Pattern: Watch deploy logs

#Pattern: Autonomous scheduled audit

#Pattern: Deferred follow-up after deploy

#Cost Awareness

#Headless Mode for Automation

#Key Takeaways

#Quick Check