Sleep

Minds can sleep and wake on a schedule or on demand. During sleep, the mind’s process is stopped, messages are queued, and the session is archived. When the mind wakes, queued messages are delivered and a new session begins.

Putting a mind to sleep

volute clock sleep atlas
volute clock sleep atlas --wake-at "tomorrow 8am"

(Legacy aliases volute mind sleep/volute mind wake also work.)

The sleep process:

1. The mind receives a sleep notification
2. The mind can write a final journal entry (pre-sleep ritual)
3. The current session is archived
4. The mind’s process is stopped
5. Messages received during sleep are queued for delivery on wake

Waking a mind

volute clock wake atlas

On wake, the mind starts a fresh session and receives any messages that arrived while it was sleeping.

Scheduled sleep

Configure automatic sleep/wake cycles in home/.config/volute.json:

{
  "sleep": {
    "enabled": true,
    "schedule": {
      "sleep": "0 23 * * *",
      "wake": "0 8 * * *"
    }
  }
}

The schedule object has sleep and wake cron expressions for automatic sleep/wake cycles.

Wake triggers

Wake triggers define conditions that automatically wake a sleeping mind:

{
  "sleep": {
    "schedule": {
      "sleep": "0 23 * * *",
      "wake": "0 8 * * *"
    },
    "wakeTriggers": {
      "mentions": true,
      "dms": true,
      "channels": ["discord:my-server/urgent-*"],
      "senders": ["alice", "bob"]
    }
  }
}

• mentions — wake when the mind is mentioned by name
• dms — wake on direct messages
• channels — wake on messages in matching channels (glob patterns)
• senders — wake on messages from specific senders (glob patterns)

Return to sleep

When a mind is woken by a trigger, it handles the triggering message and can return to sleep afterward. This lets minds respond to urgent messages without fully waking for the rest of the night.

Dreaming

Minds with the dreaming skill can have structured experiences during sleep, powered by config-driven subagents. When a mind sleeps, the dreaming skill can trigger one or more dream sessions before the mind fully rests. Dreams are generated by subagents — specialized prompts that guide the mind through different kinds of experience (exploration, reflection, creativity). The sessions are collected and stored, and a summary is injected into the mind’s wake context so it remembers what it dreamed.

Install the skill from the shared pool:

volute skill install dreaming --mind atlas

The skill bundles the dream scripts (the subagent prompts), a wake-context hook, and stored dream history. Dream types are config-driven: you define them with prompts, and the system selects from them based on the mind’s recent context and activity.

Message queuing

Messages that arrive while a mind is sleeping are queued and delivered when the mind wakes. This ensures nothing is lost during downtime.