feat: stamp the Memory inbox on quiet days, not just paper days

.github/workflows/arxiv_papers.yml

@@ -14,7 +14,11 @@ name: pyauto-arxiv-papers
 # 4–5 sentence summary, then a compact list of the rest.
 # Cadence: weekday mornings. Empty days STILL post a short "no new strong-
 # lensing papers today" heartbeat (user, 2026-07-13) — so silence in #papers
-# always means a broken run, never a genuinely empty one.
+# always means a broken run, never a genuinely empty one. The Memory inbox step
+# at the bottom carries the same invariant onto the knowledge board: it runs on
+# every weekday and stamps `last digest: <date>` even with nothing to file, so
+# an empty board is a quiet day and a stale one is a broken run
+# (PyAutoMemory#58).
 #
 # Timing: arXiv announces new astro-ph at 20:00 US Eastern, Sun–Thu, which is
 # ~01:00 UK (00:00 UTC in summer / 01:00 UTC in winter) — the papers are live in
@@ -101,6 +105,12 @@ jobs:
         # spend no subscription usage, but still write the heartbeat payload so
         # the POST step below has something to send. uk_date is read from
         # arxiv_papers.json, which the fetch always writes even at count=0.
+        #
+        # It also writes an EMPTY arxiv_survivors.json — the same file the
+        # Claude step writes on its own no-papers day. Every path therefore
+        # produces one, so the inbox step below can run unconditionally and
+        # stamp the quiet day, and a MISSING survivors file there stays what it
+        # has always been: a real failure, not an empty day.
         if: ${{ steps.fetch.outputs.count == '0' }}
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
@@ -120,6 +130,8 @@ jobs:
           }
           with open("slack_payload.json", "w") as f:
               json.dump(payload, f, indent=2)
+          with open("arxiv_survivors.json", "w") as f:
+              json.dump({"papers": []}, f)
           print(f"Wrote no-papers heartbeat for {uk_date}.")
           PY
 
@@ -291,6 +303,14 @@ jobs:
       # knowledge board renders them with one-tap add / intake / cite / dismiss
       # buttons and un-acted lines lapse after a week.
       #
+      # It runs on EVERY weekday, including days with nothing to file, because
+      # it also writes the inbox's `last digest: <date>` stamp — the board's
+      # equivalent of the #papers empty-day heartbeat. Without a stamp on quiet
+      # days the board cannot tell "arXiv was quiet" from "the filing broke and
+      # the papers were lost", which is the exact ambiguity that hid the
+      # 2026-08-25 PAT failure (PyAutoMemory#58). A quiet day is therefore a
+      # one-line commit, not silence.
+      #
       # This DELIBERATELY reverses the original "the digest never commits"
       # constraint (PyAutoMemory#35): the human gate moved from "paste the
       # block into a session" to "tap a button on the board", it did not go
@@ -306,7 +326,6 @@ jobs:
       # all live in PyAutoMemory's scripts/inbox_actions.py — this step only
       # supplies the papers, so the line format is never re-expressed here.
       - name: File the survivors into the PyAutoMemory arXiv inbox
-        if: ${{ steps.fetch.outputs.count != '0' }}
         env:
           PAT: ${{ secrets.PAT_PYAUTOLABS }}
         run: |
@@ -332,9 +351,13 @@ jobs:
           # reading queue, so a re-run (or a paper announced twice) adds nothing.
           added=$(python3 scripts/inbox_actions.py append \
                     --papers-file arxiv_survivors.json)
+          # Unconditional, and the whole reason this step no longer skips empty
+          # days: it records that the digest ran at all. inbox_actions.py owns
+          # the line, so the format is never re-expressed here.
+          stamped=$(python3 scripts/inbox_actions.py stamp)
           swept=$(python3 scripts/inbox_actions.py sweep)
           rm arxiv_survivors.json
-          echo "inbox: ${added}, ${swept}"
+          echo "inbox: ${added}, ${swept}, ${stamped}"
 
           if [ -z "$(git status --porcelain -- arxiv-inbox.md)" ]; then
             echo "inbox unchanged — nothing to commit."
@@ -343,7 +366,7 @@ jobs:
           git config user.name  "github-actions[bot]"
           git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
           git add arxiv-inbox.md
-          git commit -m "inbox: ${added}, ${swept} (arXiv digest ${uk_date})"
+          git commit -m "inbox: ${added}, ${swept}, ${stamped} (arXiv digest ${uk_date})"
           # The retry is for a concurrent-push race — the knowledge board and the
           # queue-action workflows commit to this same repo — so a rejected push
           # is worth a rebase and another go. An auth failure is NOT that: the

active.md

@@ -13,3 +13,36 @@
 - registered: 2026-08-19 by the wake_up session — the issuing session (claude/autofit-priors-messages-audit-ylvenv)
   filed the prompt + issue but not this entry, tripping Lifecycle Drift on main.
 - repos-none-claimed: this entry claims NO repos — one line deliberately, not 2-space bullets.
+
+## inbox-board-staleness-signal
+- issue: https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMemory/issues/58
+- issued: 2026-08-25
+- prompt: active/inbox_board_staleness_signal.md
+- status: ready-to-ship — both legs implemented, tested and pushed; no PR opened yet
+- environment: web-github (no worktree — the session's clones: /home/user/pyautomemory,
+  /home/user/PyAutoMind)
+- repos:
+  - PyAutoMemory: claude/inbox-board-staleness-signal-onzg34
+  - PyAutoMind: claude/inbox-board-staleness-signal-onzg34
+- summary: |
+    Sixth in the paper-management line, split out of arxiv-inbox-pat-scope: the board's
+    empty arXiv inbox reads the same whether arXiv was quiet or the filing broke.
+    Fix is a `last digest: <date>` line in arxiv-inbox.md owned by inbox_actions.py
+    (no new state file), rendered on the board with the staleness warning computed
+    client-side — a render-time warning could never fire, since a broken digest means
+    no push and the published page freezes at its last good render.
+    PyAutoMind leg (beyond the prompt's stated scope, deliberate): arxiv_papers.yml must
+    stamp on quiet days too, or the stamp goes stale on exactly the days it should prove
+    were quiet.
+    Also clearing a pre-existing red on PyAutoMemory main — 498e1a8 added a tracked
+    .claude/ without adding it to ALLOWED_TOP_DIRS in validate_structure.py, so both
+    `make validate` and `make test` fail on arrival.
+    Done: PyAutoMemory 05aa803 (the allowlist red, separate commit) + a4c5b64 (stamp,
+    board, 23 new tests — 92 green, make validate green); PyAutoMind 1bc6a47a (the
+    workflow leg; YAML parses, every run block passes bash -n, 197 tests green).
+    All four digest paths rehearsed against a real PyAutoMemory checkout with the
+    shell blocks extracted verbatim from the workflow, and the shipped freshness JS
+    cross-checked against the Python over 30 consecutive stamp dates.
+    NOT fired live: claude-code-action refuses to run when arxiv_papers.yml differs
+    from the default branch's copy and then exits success, so no branch dispatch can
+    reach those steps — the scheduled run on main is the first genuine exercise.

draft/feature/pyautomemory/inbox_board_staleness_signal.md → active/inbox_board_staleness_signal.md

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ Autonomy: supervised
 Priority: normal
 Status: formalised
 Filed: 2026-08-25
+Issued: 2026-08-25
 
 Split out of `complete/2026/08/arxiv-inbox-pat-scope.md`, which fixed the filing
 bug but deliberately left this open.

dashboard.html

@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@
 </head>
 <body>
 <header class="hero"><span class="orb"><svg class="mark" viewBox="0 0 48 48" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="1.3" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" aria-hidden="true"><circle cx="24" cy="24" r="20.4"/><path d="M20.2,37.6 L20.2,33.6 C20.2,32.4 19.4,31.6 18.4,30.8 C16.8,29.6 15.8,28.2 15.6,26.6 C15.5,25.6 14.9,25.2 13.9,24.9 C12.6,24.5 12.3,23.7 13.0,22.7 C13.8,21.6 14.5,20.6 14.6,19.4 C15.0,15.4 18.2,12.2 22.4,11.8 C27.2,11.3 31.6,14.6 32.3,19.2 C32.8,22.4 31.6,25.0 30.6,27.0 C29.9,28.4 29.6,29.6 29.6,31.2 L29.6,37.6"/><circle cx="24.6" cy="19.6" r="4.4"/><path d="M22.5,19.7 L24.0,21.3 L26.8,18.1"/><path d="M34.2,16.5 L38.8,16.5 M35.2,21.0 L39.4,21.0 M33.6,25.5 L37.2,25.5"/><g fill="currentColor" stroke="none"><circle cx="40.1" cy="16.5" r="1.4"/><circle cx="40.7" cy="21.0" r="1.4"/><circle cx="38.5" cy="25.5" r="1.4"/></g></svg></span><h1>PyAuto<b>Mind</b><span class="kind">Dashboard</span></h1><div class="rule"></div><p class="tag">Intent. Priority. Flow.</p></header><p class="lede">Every task the Mind is holding. Tap a task's 📋 and its <code>/start_dev</code> command is on your clipboard — paste it into a Claude Code chat to route Claude straight to that task. <a href="#recent">Recent</a> is the same work by date — what has been happening rather than what to do next.</p>
-<ul class="stats"><li><b>1</b><span>In flight</span></li><li><b>3</b><span>Parked</span></li><li><b>5</b><span>Planned</span></li><li><b>141</b><span>Backlog</span></li></ul>
+<ul class="stats"><li><b>2</b><span>In flight</span></li><li><b>3</b><span>Parked</span></li><li><b>5</b><span>Planned</span></li><li><b>140</b><span>Backlog</span></li></ul>
 <div class="fresh"><p><b>Last updated 2026-08-25.</b> This page is generated from <code>active/</code>, <code>draft/</code> and the registry files, so it is only as current as they are. <code>dashboard_refresh.yml</code> re-renders it on every push to <code>main</code> — that heals a stale page, but not a stale prompt: a task that shipped without its prompt advancing to <code>complete/</code> keeps rendering here as pickable backlog. Reconciling those is the refresh below.</p>
 <div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="Bring the PyAutoMind dashboard up to date. Work in the PyAutoMind checkout:
 
@@ -234,6 +234,7 @@ <h3>Quick wins <span class="facets">(small enough, and safe enough to run unatte
 <h2>In flight <a class="mdsrc" href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/active.md">markdown version</a></h2>
 <p class="muted">Issued — each has an open GitHub issue and usually a branch.</p>
 <div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev active/16_transformed_message_factor_gradient_unpack.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button><p><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/active/16_transformed_message_factor_gradient_unpack.md"><code>@PyAutoFit</code> <code>TransformedMessage.factor_gradient</code> crashes on first call</a> — <a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoFit/issues/1501">issue #1501</a><span class="facets"> — issued 2026-08-19</span> — <span class="facets">HOLD — do not start dev. Fix-or-delete hangs off the PyAutoFit#1498 logpdf-contract</span></p></div>
+<div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev active/inbox_board_staleness_signal.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button><p><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/active/inbox_board_staleness_signal.md">The knowledge board's empty inbox should distinguish quiet from broken</a> — <a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMemory/issues/58">issue #58</a><span class="facets"> — issued 2026-08-25</span> — <span class="facets">ready-to-ship — both legs implemented, tested and pushed; no PR opened yet</span></p></div>
 <h2>Parked <a class="mdsrc" href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/parked.md">markdown version</a></h2>
 <details>
 <summary>3 task(s)</summary>
@@ -251,16 +252,15 @@ <h2>Planned <a class="mdsrc" href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob
 <div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/route start the planned PyAutoMind task latent-nan-guard-honest-run — its record is in planned.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button><p><b>latent-nan-guard-honest-run</b><span class="facets"> — planned 2026-07-22</span></p></div>
 </details>
 <h2>Backlog <a class="mdsrc" href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/tree/main/draft">markdown version</a></h2>
-<p class="muted">141 filed prompts, not started — sorted most-pickable first (priority, then size). 25 of them belong to an epic and are listed only under Epics below.</p>
+<p class="muted">140 filed prompts, not started — sorted most-pickable first (priority, then size). 25 of them belong to an epic and are listed only under Epics below.</p>
 <details>
-<summary>feature — 28</summary>
+<summary>feature — 27</summary>
 <div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev draft/feature/autoarray/numba_cpu_likelihood_mge_convolution_and_caching.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button><p><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/draft/feature/autoarray/numba_cpu_likelihood_mge_convolution_and_caching.md">Numba CPU likelihood phase 1: batched MGE convolution + operated-matrix caching</a><span class="tags"><span class="pill w">✨ feature</span><span class="pill">autoarray</span><span class="pill n">medium</span><span class="pill n">supervised</span><span class="pill r">high</span></span></p></div>
 <div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev draft/feature/autoarray/rectangular_bilinear_rtu_mesh_split.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button><p><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/draft/feature/autoarray/rectangular_bilinear_rtu_mesh_split.md">Rectangular mesh split: Bilinear (fast CPU default) vs RTU (advanced/GPU)</a><span class="tags"><span class="pill w">✨ feature</span><span class="pill">autoarray</span><span class="pill n">medium</span><span class="pill n">supervised</span><span class="pill r">high</span></span></p></div>
 <div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev draft/feature/autoarray/numba_cpu_likelihood_kernel_cdf_fast_path.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button><p><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/draft/feature/autoarray/numba_cpu_likelihood_kernel_cdf_fast_path.md">Numba CPU likelihood phase 2: kernel-CDF numba fast path (the 49-88% lever)</a><span class="tags"><span class="pill w">✨ feature</span><span class="pill">autoarray</span><span class="pill y">large</span><span class="pill n">supervised</span><span class="pill r">high</span></span></p></div>
 <div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev draft/feature/autofit/prior_exit_sampler_coverage.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button><p><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/draft/feature/autofit/prior_exit_sampler_coverage.md">Which other searches need prior-support handling — coverage audit after Prodigy</a><span class="tags"><span class="pill w">✨ feature</span><span class="pill">autofit</span><span class="pill n">medium</span><span class="pill n">supervised</span><span class="pill n">medium</span></span></p></div>
 <div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev draft/feature/autofit/search_seed_reproducibility.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button><p><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/draft/feature/autofit/search_seed_reproducibility.md">Give PyAutoFit searches a <code>seed</code> — today no search can be made…</a><span class="tags"><span class="pill w">✨ feature</span><span class="pill">autofit</span><span class="pill n">medium</span><span class="pill n">supervised</span><span class="pill n">medium</span></span></p></div>
 <div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev draft/feature/pyautobrain/brain_board_follow_ups.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button><p><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/draft/feature/pyautobrain/brain_board_follow_ups.md">Brain board follow-ups: what real mornings surface</a><span class="tags"><span class="pill w">✨ feature</span><span class="pill">pyautobrain</span><span class="pill n">small</span><span class="pill n">supervised</span><span class="pill n">normal</span></span></p></div>
-<div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev draft/feature/pyautomemory/inbox_board_staleness_signal.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button><p><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/draft/feature/pyautomemory/inbox_board_staleness_signal.md">The knowledge board's empty inbox should distinguish quiet from broken</a><span class="tags"><span class="pill w">✨ feature</span><span class="pill">pyautomemory</span><span class="pill n">small</span><span class="pill n">supervised</span><span class="pill n">normal</span></span></p></div>
 <div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev draft/feature/autoarray/multiwavelength_inversion.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button><p><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/draft/feature/autoarray/multiwavelength_inversion.md">Can create a list of InversionMatrix objects for each dataset</a><span class="tags"><span class="pill w">✨ feature</span><span class="pill">autoarray</span><span class="pill n">medium</span><span class="pill n">supervised</span><span class="pill n">normal</span></span></p></div>
 <div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev draft/feature/autolens_workspace/joss_cluster_benchmark_tuning.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button><p><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/draft/feature/autolens_workspace/joss_cluster_benchmark_tuning.md">Tune cluster-scale JOSS benchmarks toward their 5-minute targets</a><span class="tags"><span class="pill w">✨ feature</span><span class="pill">autolens_workspace</span><span class="pill n">medium</span><span class="pill n">supervised</span><span class="pill n">normal</span></span></p></div>
 <div class="task"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev draft/feature/pyautomind/complete_archive_wiki.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button><p><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/draft/feature/pyautomind/complete_archive_wiki.md">Token-light wiki index over the complete/ archive</a><span class="tags"><span class="pill w">✨ feature</span><span class="pill">pyautomind</span><span class="pill n">medium</span><span class="pill n">supervised</span><span class="pill n">normal</span></span></p></div>
@@ -400,9 +400,9 @@ <h2>Backlog <a class="mdsrc" href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/tree
 <table class="recent">
 <tr>
 <td class="when">2026-08-25</td>
-<td class="what">filed</td>
-<td><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/draft/feature/pyautomemory/inbox_board_staleness_signal.md">The knowledge board's empty inbox should distinguish quiet from broken</a></td>
-<td class="pick"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev draft/feature/pyautomemory/inbox_board_staleness_signal.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button></td>
+<td class="what">issued</td>
+<td><a href="https://github.com/PyAutoLabs/PyAutoMind/blob/main/active/inbox_board_staleness_signal.md">The knowledge board's empty inbox should distinguish quiet from broken</a></td>
+<td class="pick"><button class="copy" data-cmd="/start_dev active/inbox_board_staleness_signal.md" aria-label="Copy the Claude command">📋</button></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td class="when">2026-08-24</td>