# 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>

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*Phase: 03-lifecycle-management*
*Context gathered: 2026-02-04*