Source
14-day usage_log.md analysis (2026-04-18 CLI session).
Pattern
Every single growth.yml run in the window hit its max-turns cap:
- runs: 9
- max-turns cap: 25
- at-cap hits: 9/9 (100%)
- avg turns: 28.8 (exceeds cap — indicates pre-existing counter oddity or cap was recently raised)
- result counter: "no_action" on every run (project_state.md 5th consecutive, confirmed across wider window)
Cost: $9.15 over 9 runs = $1.02/run. ~$5-10/wk while producing no progress.
Why this is a bug (not "plateau")
A saturating workflow that produces zero output is burning reasoning tokens on something. Two possible causes:
Hypothesis A — cap is too low: growth is discovering actionable work but running out of turns before it can act (e.g. opening a release candidate, drafting a discussion post, responding to stars). Raising cap would unblock it.
Hypothesis B — prompt scope is too broad: growth is scanning stars/forks/PRs/discussions/partner repos/etc. and burning turns on surveillance rather than action. The "5 consecutive no_action" pattern with full saturation is consistent with this — it's doing research instead of growth.
Hypothesis A is unlikely given current state: the 7 open needs-human growth items (#22, #48, #149, etc.) are blocked on external action, not on growth.yml capacity. So growth has nothing to DO even if it had more turns.
Proposed change (Hypothesis B)
Trim the growth.yml prompt to stop scanning things it can't act on:
- Skip repeat scans of
needs-human items that have been held >48h without human action — log once, not every run
- Skip portfolio-level scans (agentfolio, etc.) unless evidence suggests cross-pollination opportunity
- Lower max-turns cap to 15 as a forcing function: if growth can't reach a decision in 15 turns, it's ruminating
Expected result: growth completes in 10-15 turns with the same "no_action" output when there's genuinely nothing actionable, at ~40% of current cost.
Acceptance criteria
Risk
Low. Worst case: growth misses a discoverable action one week that a human would have caught → one missed release candidate or discussion post. The current state is missing those anyway (5 consecutive no_action).
Related
Surfaced from 14-day retrospective CLI session 2026-04-18.
Source
14-day usage_log.md analysis (2026-04-18 CLI session).
Pattern
Every single growth.yml run in the window hit its max-turns cap:
Cost: $9.15 over 9 runs = $1.02/run. ~$5-10/wk while producing no progress.
Why this is a bug (not "plateau")
A saturating workflow that produces zero output is burning reasoning tokens on something. Two possible causes:
Hypothesis A — cap is too low: growth is discovering actionable work but running out of turns before it can act (e.g. opening a release candidate, drafting a discussion post, responding to stars). Raising cap would unblock it.
Hypothesis B — prompt scope is too broad: growth is scanning stars/forks/PRs/discussions/partner repos/etc. and burning turns on surveillance rather than action. The "5 consecutive no_action" pattern with full saturation is consistent with this — it's doing research instead of growth.
Hypothesis A is unlikely given current state: the 7 open
needs-humangrowth items (#22, #48, #149, etc.) are blocked on external action, not on growth.yml capacity. So growth has nothing to DO even if it had more turns.Proposed change (Hypothesis B)
Trim the growth.yml prompt to stop scanning things it can't act on:
needs-humanitems that have been held >48h without human action — log once, not every runExpected result: growth completes in 10-15 turns with the same "no_action" output when there's genuinely nothing actionable, at ~40% of current cost.
Acceptance criteria
Risk
Low. Worst case: growth misses a discoverable action one week that a human would have caught → one missed release candidate or discussion post. The current state is missing those anyway (5 consecutive no_action).
Related
Surfaced from 14-day retrospective CLI session 2026-04-18.