feat: persistent Ralph — wire squad watch + enable heartbeat cron

[tamirdresher]

Feature: Persistent Ralph — continuous work monitoring between sessions

Problem

Ralph runs in a loop during a Copilot session but stops when the session ends. There's no way to keep Ralph monitoring between sessions. Additionally, squad watch is implemented (356 lines in watch.ts) but not wired into the CLI, so users can't invoke it.

Current State

Three layers of Ralph exist but two are broken:

Layer	Status	Issue
In-session	✅ Works	Ralph loops while you're in a Copilot session
Local watchdog (squad watch)	❌ Not wired	watch.ts is built but cli-entry.ts logs "pending" instead of calling it
Cloud heartbeat (GitHub Actions)	❌ Cron disabled	squad-heartbeat.yml has the cron schedule commented out

Proposed Solution

Phase 1: Wire squad watch into CLI (same pattern as #224)

• Route watch command in cli-entry.ts to the existing watch.ts implementation
• Add --interval N flag (default 10 min) for polling frequency
• Add help text entry

Phase 2: Enable heartbeat cron

• Uncomment cron schedule in squad-heartbeat.yml (default: every 30 min)
• Document recommended intervals for different team sizes

Phase 3: Daemon/service support (future)

• PM2 integration for local persistent daemon
• systemd unit file for Linux servers
• Windows Task Scheduler support
• Container-based deployment option

Approaches Considered

Approach	Pros	Cons
squad watch (foreground)	Simple, portable, already built	Dies when terminal closes
GitHub Actions cron	Free, no infra, already built	30-min minimum interval, limited to GitHub repos
PM2/systemd daemon	Survives reboots, proper service	Requires PM2/systemd knowledge
OS scheduled task (cron/Task Scheduler)	Native, no dependencies	Platform-specific setup
Docker container	Portable, isolated	Requires Docker

Acceptance Criteria

• squad watch works from CLI with --interval flag
• Heartbeat cron is enabled with configurable schedule
• Documentation covers all three Ralph layers
• Ralph detects platform (GitHub/ADO) and uses correct commands

[github-actions]

📋 Assigned to Fenster (Core Dev)

Issue: #236 — feat: persistent Ralph — wire squad watch + enable heartbeat cron

Fenster will pick this up in the next Copilot session.

For Copilot coding agent: If enabled, this issue will be worked automatically.
Otherwise, start a Copilot session and say:
Fenster, work on issue #236

[github-actions]

🏗️ Squad Triage — Keaton (Lead)

Issue: #236 — feat: persistent Ralph — wire squad watch + enable heartbeat cron
Assigned to: Cheritto (TUI Engineer)
Reason: Issue relates to frontend/UI work

@copilot evaluation: 🔴 Not suitable — issue involves work outside the coding agent's capability profile.

Team roster:

• Keaton (Lead) → label: squad:keaton
• Verbal (Prompt Engineer) → label: squad:verbal
• Fenster (Core Dev) → label: squad:fenster
• Hockney (Tester) → label: squad:hockney
• McManus (DevRel) → label: squad:mcmanus
• Kujan (SDK Expert) → label: squad:kujan
• Edie (TypeScript Engineer) → label: squad:edie
• Kobayashi (Git & Release) → label: squad:kobayashi
• Fortier (Node.js Runtime) → label: squad:fortier
• Rabin (Distribution) → label: squad:rabin
• Baer (Security) → label: squad:baer
• Redfoot (Graphic Designer) → label: squad:redfoot
• Strausz (VS Code Extension) → label: squad:strausz
• Saul (Aspire & Observability) → label: squad:saul
• Kovash (REPL & Interactive Shell) → label: squad:kovash
• Marquez (CLI UX Designer) → label: squad:marquez
• Cheritto (TUI Engineer) → label: squad:cheritto
• Breedan (E2E Test Engineer) → label: squad:breedan
• Nate (Accessibility Reviewer) → label: squad:nate
• Waingro (Product Dogfooder) → label: squad:waingro
• Ralph (Work Monitor) → label: squad:ralph
• @copilot (Coding Agent) → label: squad:copilot

To reassign, remove the current squad:* label and add the correct one.