Inspired by Amp: cron self-context — context_from='self' gives recurring jobs run-to-run continuity
Amp's 'Right on Schedule' (Jul 21 2026) lets scheduled agents wake up with their saved context and continue where they left off. Hermes cron jobs run in isolated sessions with per-run amnesia; the existing context_from chain mechanism only referenced OTHER jobs. This adds the special value 'self' (and treats a job's own literal id the same way): the job's most recent output is injected with continuity framing so recurring scouts/monitors dedupe against what they already reported and continue where they left off. - cron/scheduler.py: resolve 'self'/own-id in _build_job_prompt with continuity framing instead of upstream-job framing - tools/cronjob_tools.py: allow 'self' through create/update validation (can't be validated against the store — the job doesn't exist yet at create time); schema description documents the value - tests: 6 new tests incl. sabotage-verified failures without the fix - docs: self-context section in cron.md
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Teknium
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@@ -3550,6 +3550,16 @@ def _build_job_prompt(
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if isinstance(context_from, str):
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context_from = [context_from]
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for source_job_id in context_from:
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# "self" resolves to the job's own id: the job wakes up with its
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# most recent output injected, giving recurring jobs continuity
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# across runs (dedupe against what was already reported, continue
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# where the last run left off) without touching session history.
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is_self = False
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if isinstance(source_job_id, str) and source_job_id.strip().lower() == "self":
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source_job_id = str(job.get("id") or "")
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is_self = True
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elif source_job_id == job.get("id"):
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is_self = True
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# Guard against path traversal — valid job IDs are 12-char hex strings
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if not source_job_id or not all(c in "0123456789abcdef" for c in source_job_id):
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logger.warning(
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@@ -3577,13 +3587,24 @@ def _build_job_prompt(
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if len(latest_output) > _MAX_CONTEXT_CHARS:
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latest_output = latest_output[:_MAX_CONTEXT_CHARS] + "\n\n[... output truncated ...]"
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if latest_output:
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prompt = (
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f"## Output from job '{source_job_id}'\n"
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"The following is the most recent output from a preceding "
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"cron job. Use it as context for your analysis.\n\n"
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f"```\n{latest_output}\n```\n\n"
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f"{prompt}"
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)
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if is_self:
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prompt = (
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"## Your previous run's output\n"
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"The following is this job's most recent output from its "
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"previous run. Use it for continuity: avoid repeating what "
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"was already reported, and continue where the last run "
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"left off.\n\n"
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f"```\n{latest_output}\n```\n\n"
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f"{prompt}"
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)
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else:
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prompt = (
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f"## Output from job '{source_job_id}'\n"
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"The following is the most recent output from a preceding "
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"cron job. Use it as context for your analysis.\n\n"
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f"```\n{latest_output}\n```\n\n"
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f"{prompt}"
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)
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has_injected_data = True
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else:
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continue # silent skip — empty output
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@@ -217,3 +217,103 @@ class TestUpdateContextFrom:
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assert reloaded["context_from"] == [job_a["id"]]
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class TestSelfContext:
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"""The special 'self' value injects the job's OWN previous output.
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Inspired by Amp's "Right on Schedule" (agents wake up with their saved
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context and continue where they left off): recurring jobs get run-to-run
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continuity without touching session history.
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"""
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def test_self_injects_own_previous_output(self, cron_env):
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from cron.jobs import create_job, OUTPUT_DIR
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from cron.scheduler import _build_job_prompt
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job = create_job(
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prompt="Scan for news", schedule="every 1h", context_from="self"
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)
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out_dir = OUTPUT_DIR / job["id"]
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out_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
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(out_dir / "2026-08-01_10-00-00.md").write_text(
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"Reported: story A, story B", encoding="utf-8"
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)
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prompt = _build_job_prompt(job)
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assert "Reported: story A, story B" in prompt
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assert "previous run" in prompt.lower()
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# Self-context uses continuity framing, not the upstream-job framing.
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assert f"Output from job '{job['id']}'" not in prompt
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def test_self_case_insensitive(self, cron_env):
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from cron.jobs import create_job, OUTPUT_DIR
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from cron.scheduler import _build_job_prompt
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job = create_job(
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prompt="Scan", schedule="every 1h", context_from="SELF"
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)
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out_dir = OUTPUT_DIR / job["id"]
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out_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
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(out_dir / "2026-08-01_10-00-00.md").write_text("prev", encoding="utf-8")
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prompt = _build_job_prompt(job)
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assert "prev" in prompt
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def test_self_silent_skip_on_first_run(self, cron_env):
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from cron.jobs import create_job
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from cron.scheduler import _build_job_prompt
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job = create_job(
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prompt="Scan for news", schedule="every 1h", context_from="self"
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)
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# No output yet (first run) — base prompt intact, no placeholder.
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prompt = _build_job_prompt(job)
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assert "Scan for news" in prompt
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assert "previous run" not in prompt.lower()
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def test_own_id_treated_as_self(self, cron_env):
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"""Passing the job's literal id gets the continuity framing too."""
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from cron.jobs import create_job, update_job, get_job, OUTPUT_DIR
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from cron.scheduler import _build_job_prompt
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job = create_job(prompt="Scan", schedule="every 1h")
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update_job(job["id"], {"context_from": [job["id"]]})
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job = get_job(job["id"])
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assert job is not None
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out_dir = OUTPUT_DIR / job["id"]
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out_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
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(out_dir / "2026-08-01_10-00-00.md").write_text("prev output", encoding="utf-8")
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prompt = _build_job_prompt(job)
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assert "prev output" in prompt
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assert "previous run" in prompt.lower()
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def test_tool_create_accepts_self(self, cron_env):
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from tools.cronjob_tools import cronjob
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from cron.jobs import get_job
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import json
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result = json.loads(cronjob(
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action="create",
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prompt="Scan for news",
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schedule="every 1h",
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context_from="self",
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))
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assert result["success"] is True
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job_id = result["job_id"]
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assert get_job(job_id)["context_from"] == ["self"]
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def test_tool_update_accepts_self(self, cron_env):
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from cron.jobs import create_job, get_job
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from tools.cronjob_tools import cronjob
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import json
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job = create_job(prompt="Scan", schedule="every 1h")
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result = json.loads(cronjob(
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action="update",
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job_id=job["id"],
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context_from="self",
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))
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assert result["success"] is True
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assert get_job(job["id"])["context_from"] == ["self"]
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+12
-1
@@ -1220,6 +1220,11 @@ def cronjob(
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from cron.jobs import get_job as _get_job
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refs = [context_from] if isinstance(context_from, str) else context_from
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for ref_id in refs:
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# "self" is resolved to the job's own id at run time —
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# it can't be validated against the store (the job does
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# not exist yet at create time).
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if isinstance(ref_id, str) and ref_id.strip().lower() == "self":
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continue
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if not _get_job(ref_id):
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return tool_error(
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f"context_from job '{ref_id}' not found. "
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@@ -1500,6 +1505,9 @@ def cronjob(
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if refs:
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from cron.jobs import get_job as _get_job
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for ref_id in refs:
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# "self" resolves to the job's own id at run time.
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if ref_id.lower() == "self":
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continue
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if not _get_job(ref_id):
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return tool_error(
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f"context_from job '{ref_id}' not found. "
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@@ -1649,7 +1657,10 @@ Scheduling from cron-run sessions is disabled by default and enabled via cron.al
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"Optional job ID or list of job IDs whose most recent completed output is "
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"injected into the prompt as context before each run. "
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"Use this to chain cron jobs: job A collects data, job B processes it. "
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"Each entry must be a valid job ID (from cronjob action='list'). "
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"The special value 'self' injects this job's OWN previous output, giving "
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"recurring jobs continuity across runs (dedupe against what was already "
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"reported, continue where the last run left off). "
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"Each other entry must be a valid job ID (from cronjob action='list'). "
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"Note: injects the most recent completed output — does not wait for "
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"upstream jobs running in the same tick. "
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"On update, pass an empty array to clear."
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@@ -629,14 +629,32 @@ cronjob(
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|--------|---------|
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| Single job ID (string) | `context_from="a1b2c3d4"` |
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| Multiple job IDs (list) | `context_from=["job_a", "job_b"]` |
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| The special value `self` | `context_from="self"` |
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Outputs are concatenated in the order listed.
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**Self-context: continuity across runs**
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`context_from="self"` injects the job's *own* most recent output into each run. Recurring jobs normally start every run with amnesia — a news scout re-reports the same stories, a monitor re-alerts on the same condition. With self-context, the job wakes up seeing what it reported last time and can dedupe and continue where it left off:
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```python
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cronjob(
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action="create",
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prompt="Scan HN and arXiv for new agent-tooling papers. Report only items NOT already covered in your previous run's output.",
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schedule="every 6h",
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context_from="self",
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name="Agent Tooling Scout",
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)
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```
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The first run has no previous output, so the prompt runs as-is. On later runs the previous output is prepended with continuity framing ("avoid repeating what was already reported"). You can combine it with upstream jobs: `context_from=["self", "<other_job_id>"]`.
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**When to use it:**
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- Multi-stage pipelines (collect → filter → format → deliver)
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- Dependent tasks where step N's work depends on step N−1's output
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- Fan-out/fan-in patterns where one job aggregates results from several others
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- Recurring scouts/monitors that should dedupe against their own previous report (`context_from="self"`)
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## Provider recovery
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