Three structural pieces that only make sense as a unit: the dispatch
chokepoint queries the policy table, and the event renderer is consumed by
the same handlers the policy gates guard.
B. Auto-heartbeat at the dispatch chokepoint (agents.go, models/command.go)
- models.RequiresRapidPolling(commandType): central classification (no
per-handler opt-in for rapid-polling commands).
- signAndCreateCommand auto-queues enable_heartbeat (Source=system)
ahead of any rapid-polling command, unless the agent is already in an
active heartbeat window.
- TimeoutService.reconcileAgentUpdates: effectiveUpdateTimeout() reads
operational.update_stuck_minutes live (no restart needed).
C. Event renderer (services/event_renderer.go NEW)
- RenderSystemEvent / RenderUpdateLog: single source of operator-facing
verbiage.
- Narrative field on SystemEvent / UpdateLog / UnifiedHistoryItem
(JSON-only, not persisted). Populated in agent_events.go GetAgentEvents
and updates.go GetAllLogs.
- ChatTimeline.tsx consults narrative only at the prior fallback line —
real stdout / package extraction branches untouched.
D. Policy table (migration 038 + security_settings_service helpers)
- policy.allow_dry_runs (default true): updates.go::InstallUpdate
returns 403 when false.
- policy.require_nonce (default true): agent_updates.go::UpdateAgent
skips nonce validation when false (logged at INFO).
- policy.auto_heartbeat_enabled (default true): agents.go gates the
auto-heartbeat side-effect.
- operational.update_stuck_minutes (default 5): TimeoutService reads
live for reconcile threshold.
- GetPolicyBool / GetOperationalInt on SecuritySettingsService.
Forward-only (no policy.allow_downgrade) is ETHOS §2 doctrine, not a knob.
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