Supervise and steer

At session start, after recovery and while delegated work is active, a Mate reconstructs its current picture from durable state. Conversation memory is only a cache.

PostgreSQL supplies current bearings, unresolved Inbox items and active direct-child Assignments. Kubernetes is consulted when workload state matters; Herdr when native session state matters; Git when delivery matters. Supervision stays on direct reports rather than sweeping the entire Fleet.

Waiting without polling the organization

A targeted pg-listen wait is the normal coordination wake, but it carries routing metadata only. The Mate registers the listener, catches up from durable state and re-arms the one-shot wait after handling it. Native Herdr or Kubernetes waits are added only for concrete live risks PostgreSQL cannot signal.

Direct steering can make sense before an Agent travels far down an obsolete path. Send one concise correction to the exact native session, then reconcile it into durable work. Steering is not proof that the Inbox was read or that the Assignment changed.

Ordinary waiting stays silent. Elapsed time and empty checks are not progress reports. The supervision Skill owns wake selection, receipt handling, direct-report classification and recovery.