feat: dream-cycle time budget + default per-call timeout (guard C)

Belt-and-suspenders so no dream pass can run unchecked for hours:
- llm.complete() now always bounds the OpenAI/mi50 request: default 300s +
  max_retries=0 instead of the SDK's 600s x2 (~30 min). One change bounds every
  consolidation/introspection call (profile/era/narrative/reflect/think), not
  just summaries. Live chat (chat_call*) is a separate path, unaffected.
- dream_cycle() enforces a 20-min wall-clock budget, checked between stages;
  once past it, remaining stages are skipped, it logs 'stopped early (over
  budget)', and notify.push() pings Brian. Paired with the host watchdog (A) as
  an independent fallback.

Tests: default timeout/max_retries threaded into complete(); an over-budget pass
skips later stages + pings. 178 pass, ruff clean.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_015yrEb5qpPGv2FjyxrB7LLk

lyra/dream.py

@@ -26,7 +26,8 @@ import time
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 
 from lyra import (
-    config, era, feeds, logbus, memory, narrative, poker, profile, self_state, summary, thoughts,
+    config, era, feeds, logbus, memory, narrative, notify, poker, profile, self_state,
+    summary, thoughts,
 )
 from lyra.llm import Backend
 from lyra.summary import SUMMARIZE_AFTER
@@ -34,6 +35,17 @@ from lyra.summary import SUMMARIZE_AFTER
 # A drive at/above this has built up enough to act on.
 THRESHOLD = 0.6
 
+# Wall-clock ceiling for a single pass. Every consolidation/introspection call is
+# individually bounded (llm.complete's default timeout), but this caps the whole
+# pass: once exceeded, remaining stages are skipped and Brian is pinged — so a slow
+# or wedged MI50 can never grind for hours unattended. The host watchdog (A) is the
+# independent fallback if this ever fails to fire.
+DREAM_CYCLE_BUDGET_SEC = 20 * 60
+
+
+def _over_budget(deadline: float) -> bool:
+    return time.monotonic() > deadline
+
 # How much backlog saturates each pressure (the drive reaches ~1.0 at this level).
 CONTINUITY_FULL = 4   # ripe (summary-needing) sessions
 COHERENCE_FULL = 10   # gists not yet folded into the profile
@@ -96,9 +108,12 @@ def dream_cycle(backend: Backend | None = None, force: bool = False) -> dict:
         logbus.log("error", "daily digest failed", error=str(exc)[:160])
 
     actions: list[str] = []
+    # Cap the whole pass: skip any stage we reach after the deadline (checked
+    # between stages; each call is already individually bounded).
+    deadline = time.monotonic() + DREAM_CYCLE_BUDGET_SEC
 
     # --- continuity: compact raw sessions into gists ---
-    if force or drives["continuity"] >= THRESHOLD:
+    if (force or drives["continuity"] >= THRESHOLD) and not _over_budget(deadline):
         report = summary.summarize_all(backend=backend)
         actions.append(f"consolidated {report['summarized']} sessions")
         drives["continuity"] = 0.0
@@ -108,7 +123,7 @@ def dream_cycle(backend: Backend | None = None, force: bool = False) -> dict:
         drives["coherence"] = _clamp(profile_lag / COHERENCE_FULL)
 
     # --- coherence: fold gists up into profile / eras / narrative ---
-    if force or drives["coherence"] >= THRESHOLD:
+    if (force or drives["coherence"] >= THRESHOLD) and not _over_budget(deadline):
         profile.rebuild_profile(backend=backend)
         era.rebuild_eras(backend=backend)
         narrative.rebuild_narrative(backend=backend)
@@ -124,7 +139,7 @@ def dream_cycle(backend: Backend | None = None, force: bool = False) -> dict:
             logbus.log("error", "villain merge scan failed", error=str(exc)[:200])
 
     # --- curiosity: reflect and evolve the self, then advance the thought loop ---
-    if force or drives["curiosity"] >= THRESHOLD:
+    if (force or drives["curiosity"] >= THRESHOLD) and not _over_budget(deadline):
         # reflect()/think() self-resolve to the *introspection* backend (her voice),
         # which can differ from the consolidation backend above — don't pass `backend`.
         self_state.reflect(source="dream")  # writes state + journal itself
@@ -139,6 +154,17 @@ def dream_cycle(backend: Backend | None = None, force: bool = False) -> dict:
             logbus.log("error", "thought loop failed", error=str(exc)[:200])
         drives["curiosity"] = CURIOSITY_FLOOR
 
+    if _over_budget(deadline):
+        logbus.log("error", "dream cycle over budget — stopped early",
+                   budget_min=DREAM_CYCLE_BUDGET_SEC // 60, done=actions)
+        actions.append("stopped early (over budget)")
+        notify.push(
+            "Lyra — dream cycle over budget",
+            f"A dream pass ran past {DREAM_CYCLE_BUDGET_SEC // 60} min and stopped early. "
+            "The MI50 backend may be slow or wedged — worth a look.",
+            tags="warning",
+        )
+
     if not actions:
         actions.append("rested (nothing past threshold)")
 

lyra/llm.py

@@ -19,6 +19,11 @@ class Message(TypedDict):
 
 Backend = Literal["local", "cloud", "mi50"]
 
+# Hard ceiling on any single completion so a slow/stuck backend can't hang a call
+# for the SDK's 600s x2-retry default (~30 min). Callers pass an explicit timeout
+# to override (e.g. summary.py's tighter fast-fail).
+_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 300.0
+
 
 def _approx_tok(messages: list) -> int:
     """Rough prompt size (chars/4) — enough to see what's loading a backend."""
@@ -59,9 +64,11 @@ def complete(messages: list[Message], backend: Backend = "local", model: str | N
         else:
             # MI50 box runs an OpenAI-compatible llama.cpp server; key is unused.
             client_kwargs = {"api_key": "not-needed", "base_url": cfg.mi50_base_url}
-        if timeout is not None:
+        # Always bound the request: default 300s (vs the SDK's 600s x2 retries ≈
-            client_kwargs["timeout"] = timeout
+        # 30 min that let a stuck MI50 call hang for half an hour), and disable the
-            client_kwargs["max_retries"] = 0  # caller owns retries (see summary.py)
+        # SDK's own retries so the caller owns retry/fallback policy.
+        client_kwargs["timeout"] = timeout if timeout is not None else _DEFAULT_TIMEOUT
+        client_kwargs["max_retries"] = 0
         client = OpenAI(**client_kwargs)
         create_kwargs: dict = {"model": mdl, "messages": messages}
         if max_tokens is not None:

tests/test_dream.py

@@ -77,3 +77,31 @@ def test_dream_cycle_consolidates_and_persists(lyra):
     state2 = dream.dream_cycle(force=False)
     assert state2["dream"]["cycle_count"] == 2
     assert state2["drives"]["continuity"] == 0.0
+
+
+def test_dream_cycle_stops_when_over_budget(lyra, monkeypatch):
+    memory = lyra
+    from lyra import dream, notify
+
+    for k in range(7):
+        _seed(memory, f"s{k}", 4)
+
+    # Go over budget right after the first heavy stage: first check passes
+    # (summarize runs), every check after trips.
+    checks = {"n": 0}
+
+    def fake_over(deadline):
+        checks["n"] += 1
+        return checks["n"] > 1
+    monkeypatch.setattr(dream, "_over_budget", fake_over)
+
+    pings: list = []
+    monkeypatch.setattr(notify, "push",
+                        lambda title, message, **k: pings.append((title, message)) or True)
+
+    state = dream.dream_cycle(force=True)
+    acts = state["dream"]["last_actions"]
+
+    assert any("stopped early" in a for a in acts)   # bailed
+    assert not any("reflected" in a for a in acts)   # later stage skipped
+    assert pings, "expected an over-budget ntfy push"

tests/test_llm_bounds.py

@@ -55,9 +55,12 @@ def test_cloud_threads_max_tokens_and_timeout(fake_openai):
     assert fake_openai["client"]["max_retries"] == 0
 
 
-def test_defaults_omit_cap_and_keep_current_behavior(fake_openai):
+def test_default_bounds_calls_even_without_explicit_timeout(fake_openai):
-    # No cap / timeout passed -> create() gets no max_tokens, client unbounded.
+    # No cap / timeout passed -> still bounded: 300s default + no SDK retries, so
+    # no call can silently inherit the SDK's 600s x2 (~30 min). No length cap
+    # unless asked, though.
     llm.complete([{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}], backend="mi50")
 
     assert "max_tokens" not in fake_openai["create"]
-    assert "timeout" not in fake_openai["client"]
+    assert fake_openai["client"]["timeout"] == 300
+    assert fake_openai["client"]["max_retries"] == 0