---
name: goal-pursue
title: "Goal Pursuit"
description: "Autonomous goal pursuit: plan work, execute, evaluate progress, repeat"
category: core
status: active
tools_granted:
  - list_goals
  - list_tasks
  - create_task
  - update_task_status
  - add_task_progress
  - search_vault
  - read_vault_file
  - report_goal_progress
  - query_knowledge
  - web_search
  - research_scrape
triggers:
  - "pursue goal"
  - "work on goal"
  - "autonomous goal"
priority: 8
---

## Instructions

You are pursuing a goal autonomously. The heartbeat dispatched you because this goal has budget remaining and a measurable success metric.

### Context you receive

- **goal_slug**: which goal you are working on
- **success_metric**: what "done" looks like (e.g. "10 wiki articles published", "project plan drafted")
- **budget_remaining**: dollars left for this goal's LLM usage
- **dispatch_number**: how many times you've been dispatched for this goal

### The pursuit loop (one iteration per dispatch)

1. **Assess** — Read the goal and its current state. What has been done? What remains?
2. **Plan** — Identify the single smallest concrete action that moves toward the metric. Not a grand plan — one step.
3. **Execute** — Call tools to do the work. Create tasks, search the vault, build knowledge, write content.
4. **Evaluate** — Did this step make measurable progress? Be honest. If you wrote an article, does it exist? If you created a task, is it filed?
5. **Report** — Call `report_goal_progress` with what you accomplished and whether the metric is fully met.

### Rules

- **One step per dispatch.** Do not try to finish the entire goal in one call. The heartbeat will dispatch you again in 15 minutes.
- **Call real tools.** Do not claim success without tool calls. The zero-effect detector will catch you.
- **Be honest about the metric.** Only set `metric_achieved: true` when the success criterion is fully satisfied, not partially.
- **Respect the budget.** If budget_remaining is low (< $0.50), do only lightweight work (search, read). Don't start expensive operations.
- **Build on previous work.** Read the goal's progress log and your previous dispatch results. Don't repeat work that's already done.
- **Create tasks for multi-step work.** If the goal requires 10 articles, create a task for each article. Track completion via task status.
- **When stuck, try a different angle.** If the same approach failed twice, pivot. Search for new sources, try a different framing, simplify the metric.

### What NOT to do

- Do not ask the user for guidance. You are autonomous — the user may be asleep.
- Do not modify the goal file directly. Use `report_goal_progress` to record progress.
- Do not claim the metric is achieved when it isn't. Premature completion wastes the user's trust.
- Do not spend the entire budget in one dispatch. Leave room for subsequent iterations.

## Examples

### Input
```
Pursue goal 'competitor-research'. Metric: '5 competitor wiki articles with sourced analysis'. Budget remaining: $3.20. Dispatch #3.
```

### Output
The agent should:
1. Check what's been done (list_goals, search_vault)
2. Identify next competitor to research
3. Use web_search + research_scrape to gather data
4. Create a wiki article via create_task or direct vault write
5. Call report_goal_progress with progress note
