Auto-conversation: Director sends 10 autonomous messages with increasing delay

Director asks progressively (status, progress, errors, ETA, resources...)
starting at 5s intervals, slowing by 1s each step until stopping at 10
messages. AgentNode responds via Groq immediately. Human input pauses
the auto-conversation and resumes after the response.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: darkspock

website/src/components/OrchestraNetwork.astro

@@ -160,7 +160,9 @@
     chatInput.value = '';
     addMessage('human', text);
     chatHistory.push({ role: 'user', content: `Human operator: ${text}` });
-    callGroq();
+    // Pause auto-conversation while human is talking, resume after response
+    if (autoTimer) { clearTimeout(autoTimer); autoTimer = null; }
+    callGroq(true);
   });
 
   // --- Chat ---
@@ -171,6 +173,39 @@
   let chatHistory: { role: string; content: string }[] = [];
   let chatAbort: AbortController | null = null;
   let chatBusy = false;
+  let autoTimer: ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | null = null;
+  let autoStep = 0;
+  const MAX_AUTO = 10;
+  const BASE_DELAY = 5000; // 5s, then 6s, 7s...
+
+  // Pre-written Director prompts for autonomous conversation
+  const directorPrompts = [
+    (name: string) => `${name}, report your current status.`,
+    (name: string) => `What's your progress percentage?`,
+    (name: string) => `Any errors or warnings to report?`,
+    (name: string) => `How many records have you processed so far?`,
+    (name: string) => `What's your estimated time to completion?`,
+    (name: string) => `Are there any dependencies blocking you?`,
+    (name: string) => `Check your resource usage — CPU and memory.`,
+    (name: string) => `Summarize your output so far.`,
+    (name: string) => `Any anomalies detected in this batch?`,
+    (name: string) => `Wrapping up. Final status before I move to the next AgentNode.`,
+  ];
+
+  function scheduleAutoMessage() {
+    if (autoTimer) clearTimeout(autoTimer);
+    if (autoStep >= MAX_AUTO || !chatOpen || chatNodeIdx < 0) return;
+    const delay = BASE_DELAY + autoStep * 1000; // 5s, 6s, 7s, ...
+    autoTimer = setTimeout(() => {
+      if (!chatOpen || chatNodeIdx < 0 || chatBusy) return;
+      const info = nodeInfo[chatNodeIdx];
+      const prompt = directorPrompts[autoStep](info.name);
+      autoStep++;
+      addMessage('director', prompt);
+      chatHistory.push({ role: 'user', content: `Director: ${prompt}` });
+      callGroq(true);
+    }, delay);
+  }
 
   function openChat(idx: number) {
     chatNodeIdx = idx;
@@ -182,28 +217,28 @@
     chatMessages.innerHTML = '';
     chatHistory = [];
     chatBusy = false;
+    autoStep = 0;
+    if (autoTimer) { clearTimeout(autoTimer); autoTimer = null; }
     tooltip.style.opacity = '0';
 
     // Initial Director message
-    const directorMsg = idx === 0
-      ? 'Orchestra "product-cleanup" is active. 3 AgentNodes running, 2 idle. Awaiting validator results.'
-      : `${info.name}, report your current status.`;
-
+    const directorMsg = directorPrompts[0](info.name);
+    autoStep = 1;
     addMessage('director', directorMsg);
 
-    // Set up system context and get first response
     chatHistory = [
-      { role: 'system', content: info.context + ' You are in a live orchestra chat. The AI Director just asked for your status. A human operator may also join the conversation. Respond concisely in 1-2 sentences.' },
-      { role: 'user', content: directorMsg },
+      { role: 'system', content: info.context + ' You are in a live orchestra chat. The AI Director coordinates you. A human operator may also join. Always respond in character, concisely in 1-2 sentences. Vary your responses — mention specific numbers, progress, issues.' },
+      { role: 'user', content: `Director: ${directorMsg}` },
     ];
-    callGroq();
+    callGroq(true);
   }
 
   function closeChat() {
     chatOpen = false;
     chatPanel.style.display = 'none';
     chatNodeIdx = -1;
     chatBusy = false;
+    if (autoTimer) { clearTimeout(autoTimer); autoTimer = null; }
     if (chatAbort) { chatAbort.abort(); chatAbort = null; }
   }
 
@@ -229,7 +264,7 @@
 
   function esc(s: string) { return s.replace(/</g, '&lt;').replace(/>/g, '&gt;'); }
 
-  async function callGroq() {
+  async function callGroq(continueAuto = false) {
     if (chatBusy) return;
     chatBusy = true;
     if (chatAbort) chatAbort.abort();
@@ -253,6 +288,8 @@
       const reply = data.choices?.[0]?.message?.content || 'No response.';
       addMessage('agent', reply);
       chatHistory.push({ role: 'assistant', content: reply });
+      // Schedule next autonomous Director message
+      if (continueAuto) scheduleAutoMessage();
     } catch (e: any) {
       typing.remove();
       if (e.name !== 'AbortError') addMessage('system', 'Connection error. Is the backend running?');