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Exercise 5: /btw & Scheduling

Duration: 20 min | Module: 4 — Multi-Agent & Advanced

Objective

Use /btw to steer a long-running task mid-flight, and schedule a recurring automated analysis.

Part 1: /btw Mid-Task Steering (10 min)

Launch agy and kick off a substantial task:

agy

> I want to refactor the error handling across this entire project to use a consistent pattern. Start by analyzing all error handling in the codebase, then propose and implement a unified approach. This will touch multiple files — start with the analysis phase.

As agy starts working (during the analysis phase), inject a constraint:

/btw Only touch files in the backend/ directory for now. Leave frontend untouched.

Then add another note:

/btw Use the Result<T, E> pattern if the language supports it. Otherwise use a custom Error class hierarchy.

Observe:

  • The task continues without restarting
  • agy incorporates both /btw notes into its working approach
  • The final plan reflects your injected constraints

Key insight: /btw lets you course-correct without the cost of cancelling and restarting. This is the equivalent of tapping a developer on the shoulder mid-sprint.

Part 2: Session Continuation (5 min)

End the session (Ctrl+C or close the terminal).

Resume the most recent session:

agy -c

> Remind me what we decided about the error handling refactor. What was the approach?

agy will have full context. Now continue the work:

> Let's implement step 1 of the plan we discussed.

Part 3: Schedule a Recurring Report (5 min)

agy

> Schedule a daily dependency check every weekday morning at 8am. It should:
> 1. Check for outdated dependencies with security advisories
> 2. List any new CVEs affecting our current dependency versions
> 3. Save the report to reports/deps-YYYY-MM-DD.md
>
> Create the reports/ directory if it doesn't exist.

Confirm the schedule was accepted. Ask:

> What scheduled tasks are currently active?

Completion Criteria

  • [ ] Started a long-running task and used /btw at least twice during execution
  • [ ] Confirmed that /btw messages were incorporated into the output
  • [ ] Used agy -c to resume a session and retrieved prior context
  • [ ] Created a scheduled recurring task