From f654c59dd5b6101848dbfe65eb0eeb4dba74b6df Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Hermes Agent service account
 <hermes@carousel-of-progress.local.mk-labs.cloud>
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2026 10:26:30 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] honcho: add honcho_deriver_autostart flag (default: false)

- New variable honcho_deriver_autostart controls service state/enabled
- honcho_deriver_enabled still controls whether Quadlet is created
- Default autostart=false after discovering deriver burns tokens autonomously
- Service is created but stopped/disabled; can be started manually if needed
---
 ansible/roles/honcho/defaults/main.yml |  7 +++++++
 ansible/roles/honcho/tasks/deriver.yml | 12 +++++++-----
 2 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/ansible/roles/honcho/defaults/main.yml b/ansible/roles/honcho/defaults/main.yml
index 2ace19c..4a2498f 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/honcho/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/honcho/defaults/main.yml
@@ -92,7 +92,14 @@ honcho_dialectic_model: "claude-sonnet-4-5"
 # that means short bursts of conversation can sit unprocessed forever.
 # DERIVER_FLUSH_ENABLED=true bypasses the batching threshold so each
 # message is processed promptly.
+#
+# honcho_deriver_enabled controls whether the deriver Quadlet is created.
+# honcho_deriver_autostart controls whether the service starts on boot.
+# Set autostart=false to create the service but leave it disabled — useful
+# after discovering the deriver burns tokens autonomously despite client-side
+# cadence=0 settings.
 honcho_deriver_enabled: true
+honcho_deriver_autostart: false
 honcho_deriver_workers: 1
 honcho_deriver_polling_seconds: "1.0"
 honcho_deriver_flush_enabled: true
diff --git a/ansible/roles/honcho/tasks/deriver.yml b/ansible/roles/honcho/tasks/deriver.yml
index 89749c4..16b2a34 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/honcho/tasks/deriver.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/honcho/tasks/deriver.yml
@@ -21,14 +21,16 @@
     daemon_reload: true
   when: honcho_deriver_quadlet.changed
 
-- name: Ensure Honcho deriver container is started and enabled
+- name: Ensure Honcho deriver service exists but is disabled by default
   ansible.builtin.systemd:
     name: "{{ honcho_deriver_container_name }}.service"
-    state: started
-    enabled: true
+    state: "{{ 'started' if honcho_deriver_autostart | bool else 'stopped' }}"
+    enabled: "{{ honcho_deriver_autostart | bool }}"
 
-- name: Restart Honcho deriver on Quadlet change
+- name: Restart Honcho deriver on Quadlet change (only if autostart enabled)
   ansible.builtin.systemd:
     name: "{{ honcho_deriver_container_name }}.service"
     state: restarted
-  when: honcho_deriver_quadlet.changed
+  when:
+    - honcho_deriver_quadlet.changed
+    - honcho_deriver_autostart | bool