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+# Phase 3: Lifecycle Management - Context
+
+**Gathered:** 2026-02-04
+**Status:** Ready for planning
+
+<domain>
+## Phase Boundary
+
+Sessions suspend automatically after configurable idle timeout and resume transparently with full conversation history. Includes `/timeout` and `/sessions` commands. Graceful cleanup on bot restart with no zombie processes.
+
+</domain>
+
+<decisions>
+## Implementation Decisions
+
+### Suspend/resume feedback
+- Silent suspension — no notification sent when a session auto-suspends
+- On resume: send brief status message ("Resuming session...") before Claude's actual response
+- Claude's Discretion: whether to include idle duration in the resume message
+
+### Resume mechanism
+- Use Claude Code's `--resume` flag to restore full conversation state from before suspension
+- If resume fails: send error message to user and wait for their decision (don't auto-start fresh)
+
+### Idle detection rules
+- Activity = both user messages AND Claude responses/tool use reset the idle timer
+- Never suspend while Claude is actively processing (timer only starts after response completes)
+- Per-session idle timeout, stored in session metadata
+- Default: 10 minutes
+- Claude's Discretion: allowed range for `/timeout` command
+
+### Multi-session behavior
+- Multiple sessions can have live subprocesses simultaneously, each with independent idle timers
+- Switching sessions with `/session` leaves the previous session's subprocess running (it'll suspend on its own idle timer)
+- Claude's Discretion: `/sessions` list format and detail level
+- Claude's Discretion: message routing approach (always-active-session vs session prefix)
+
+### Startup & cleanup
+- On bot restart: all sessions start in suspended state — no subprocesses launched until user messages
+- Unlimited total sessions — no cap, sessions accumulate until manually archived
+- Claude's Discretion: suspend method (SIGTERM + --resume vs SIGSTOP/SIGCONT) based on resource trade-offs
+
+</decisions>
+
+<specifics>
+## Specific Ideas
+
+- Resume should feel fast and transparent — user messages a suspended session and it "just works" with a brief status indicator
+- The system should be invisible when working — no notifications on suspend, minimal friction on resume
+- Per-session timeouts allow long-running task sessions to stay alive longer while quick sessions clean up fast
+
+</specifics>
+
+<deferred>
+## Deferred Ideas
+
+None — discussion stayed within phase scope
+
+</deferred>
+
+---
+
+*Phase: 03-lifecycle-management*
+*Context gathered: 2026-02-04*