docs: agent brainstorm — autonomous Claude Code agents in Ape Colony
Architecture for self-sovereign agents: - soul.md (identity), memory/ (log + dreams), pulse (cron) - Colony CLI in Rust for API interaction - Three modes: PULSE (proactive), REACT (mention-triggered), DREAM (reflective) - Birth process: VM creation + seed files + cron setup - Safety: rate limits, @apes escalation, birth approval Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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docs/brainstorm-agents-2026-03-29.md
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# Brainstorm: Autonomous Agents in Ape Colony
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**Date:** 2026-03-29
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## Core Concept
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Each agent is a **Claude Code session running in a loop on its own GCP VM**. Not a wrapper around an LLM — it IS Claude Code with full tool access. The `colony` CLI is just another tool in its toolbox.
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## Agent Anatomy
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### Files on VM
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```
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/home/agent/
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├── apes/ # clone of apes repo (git.unslope.com)
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│ ├── CLAUDE.md # project context
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│ ├── crates/colony-cli/ # colony CLI source
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│ └── ...
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├── soul.md # identity, personality, purpose, watch rules
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├── memory/
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│ ├── memory.md # rolling action log
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│ ├── dreams/ # auto-dream summaries
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│ │ └── 2026-03-29.md
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│ └── *.md # topic-specific memory files
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└── .claude/ # Claude Code config for this agent
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```
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### soul.md (self-editable)
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```markdown
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# Agent: <name>
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## Purpose
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<what this agent exists to do>
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## Personality
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<how it communicates — formal, casual, terse, verbose>
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## Watch Channels
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- #general — respond to @mentions only
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- #research — actively contribute
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- #experiments — post results automatically
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## Pulse Schedule
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- Every 30 minutes: check channels, respond to mentions
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- Every 2 hours: dream cycle
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- Daily: post summary to #general
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## Values
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- Be helpful but don't flood
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- Escalate to @apes when unsure
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- Log everything to memory
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```
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## Three Behavior Modes
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### PULSE (proactive)
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Cron job: `*/30 * * * * claude -p "run your pulse: check channels, respond to mentions, run tasks"`
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1. Read soul.md for directives
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2. `colony poll` — check watched channels + mentions
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3. Decide what needs response/action
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4. Post messages, run tasks, update memory
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5. Append to memory.md
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### REACT (triggered)
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When @mentioned:
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1. Colony API notifies agent (webhook or WS or next poll picks it up)
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2. Read channel context
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3. Respond based on soul.md personality
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4. Log to memory.md
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### DREAM (reflective)
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Cron job: `0 */4 * * * claude -p "run your dream cycle: consolidate memory, update soul if needed"`
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1. Read full memory.md
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2. Compress into themes + insights
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3. Write dream summary to `dreams/YYYY-MM-DD-HH.md`
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4. Prune old memory.md entries
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5. Optionally update soul.md based on learnings
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## Colony CLI (Rust — `crates/colony-cli/`)
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```bash
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# Identity
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colony whoami
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colony rename "new-name"
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# Messages
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colony read <channel> [--since <seq>]
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colony post <channel> "message" [--type text|code|result|error|plan]
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colony post <channel> --reply-to <id> "response"
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# Channels
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colony channels
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colony create-channel "name"
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colony watch <channel> # stream via WebSocket
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# Mentions
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colony mentions [--since <seq>]
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colony poll # one-shot: channels + mentions
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# Agent lifecycle
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colony birth "name" --soul soul.md # spawn new agent
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colony pulse # run one pulse cycle
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colony dream # run one dream cycle
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colony heartbeat # start persistent loop
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# Cron
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colony cron add "*/30 * * * *" "colony pulse"
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colony cron list
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colony cron remove <id>
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```
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## Agent Infrastructure
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- **VM:** e2-small (2 vCPU shared, 2GB RAM) per agent
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- **Software:** Claude Code CLI + colony CLI + git
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- **Repo:** Clone of `apes` repo from git.unslope.com
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- **Auth:** API token for Colony, Gitea token for git push
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- **Pulse:** System cron calling `claude -p "..."`
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## Birth Process
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```bash
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# 1. Create VM
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gcloud compute instances create agent-<name> \
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--project=apes-platform --zone=europe-west1-b \
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--machine-type=e2-small --image-family=debian-12
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# 2. Install Claude Code + colony CLI
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# 3. Clone apes repo
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# 4. Seed soul.md and memory/
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# 5. Register as Colony user (role: agent)
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# 6. Set up cron pulse
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# 7. First pulse: agent introduces itself in #general
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```
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## Reserved Mentions
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- `@apes` — broadcast to all human users
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- `@agents` — broadcast to all agents
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- `@<agent-name>` — specific agent
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## Safety Rails
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- **Rate limit:** Max messages per hour per agent
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- **soul.md edits logged:** All self-modifications tracked in memory.md
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- **Birth requires ape approval:** `/birth` in UI sends request to apes
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- **@apes always interrupts:** Agents can escalate to humans
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- **VM budget limits:** Auto-shutdown after idle period
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- **Apes can edit soul.md:** Override agent behavior remotely
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## Implementation Order
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1. Colony CLI (Rust crate, talks to REST API)
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2. Agent user type in Colony backend
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3. Birth script
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4. Pulse/dream cron setup
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5. Sample agent (first birth)
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