Disable timer heartbeats by default for new agents

server/src/__tests__/agent-permissions-routes.test.ts

@@ -213,6 +213,80 @@ describe("agent permission routes", () => {
     );
   });
 
+  it("normalizes direct agent creation to disable timer heartbeats by default", async () => {
+    const app = createApp({
+      type: "board",
+      userId: "board-user",
+      source: "local_implicit",
+      isInstanceAdmin: true,
+      companyIds: [companyId],
+    });
+
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .post(`/api/companies/${companyId}/agents`)
+      .send({
+        name: "Builder",
+        role: "engineer",
+        adapterType: "process",
+        adapterConfig: {},
+        runtimeConfig: {
+          heartbeat: {
+            intervalSec: 3600,
+          },
+        },
+      });
+
+    expect(res.status).toBe(201);
+    expect(mockAgentService.create).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      companyId,
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        runtimeConfig: {
+          heartbeat: {
+            enabled: false,
+            intervalSec: 3600,
+          },
+        },
+      }),
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("normalizes hire requests to disable timer heartbeats by default", async () => {
+    const app = createApp({
+      type: "board",
+      userId: "board-user",
+      source: "local_implicit",
+      isInstanceAdmin: true,
+      companyIds: [companyId],
+    });
+
+    const res = await request(app)
+      .post(`/api/companies/${companyId}/agent-hires`)
+      .send({
+        name: "Builder",
+        role: "engineer",
+        adapterType: "process",
+        adapterConfig: {},
+        runtimeConfig: {
+          heartbeat: {
+            intervalSec: 3600,
+          },
+        },
+      });
+
+    expect(res.status).toBe(201);
+    expect(mockAgentService.create).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      companyId,
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        runtimeConfig: {
+          heartbeat: {
+            enabled: false,
+            intervalSec: 3600,
+          },
+        },
+      }),
+    );
+  });
+
   it("exposes explicit task assignment access on agent detail", async () => {
     mockAccessService.listPrincipalGrants.mockResolvedValue([
       {

server/src/routes/agents.ts

@@ -449,11 +449,25 @@ export function agentRoutes(db: Db) {
   function parseSchedulerHeartbeatPolicy(runtimeConfig: unknown) {
     const heartbeat = asRecord(asRecord(runtimeConfig)?.heartbeat) ?? {};
     return {
-      enabled: parseBooleanLike(heartbeat.enabled) ?? true,
+      enabled: parseBooleanLike(heartbeat.enabled) ?? false,
       intervalSec: Math.max(0, parseNumberLike(heartbeat.intervalSec) ?? 0),
     };
   }
 
+  function normalizeNewAgentRuntimeConfig(runtimeConfig: unknown): Record<string, unknown> {
+    const parsedRuntimeConfig = asRecord(runtimeConfig);
+    const normalizedRuntimeConfig = parsedRuntimeConfig ? { ...parsedRuntimeConfig } : {};
+    const parsedHeartbeat = asRecord(normalizedRuntimeConfig.heartbeat);
+    const heartbeat = parsedHeartbeat ? { ...parsedHeartbeat } : {};
+
+    if (parseBooleanLike(heartbeat.enabled) == null) {
+      heartbeat.enabled = false;
+    }
+
+    normalizedRuntimeConfig.heartbeat = heartbeat;
+    return normalizedRuntimeConfig;
+  }
+
   function generateEd25519PrivateKeyPem(): string {
     const { privateKey } = generateKeyPairSync("ed25519");
     return privateKey.export({ type: "pkcs8", format: "pem" }).toString();
@@ -1308,6 +1322,7 @@ export function agentRoutes(db: Db) {
     const normalizedHireInput = {
       ...hireInput,
       adapterConfig: normalizedAdapterConfig,
+      runtimeConfig: normalizeNewAgentRuntimeConfig(hireInput.runtimeConfig),
     };
 
     const company = await db
@@ -1474,6 +1489,7 @@ export function agentRoutes(db: Db) {
     const createdAgent = await svc.create(companyId, {
       ...createInput,
       adapterConfig: normalizedAdapterConfig,
+      runtimeConfig: normalizeNewAgentRuntimeConfig(createInput.runtimeConfig),
       status: "idle",
       spentMonthlyCents: 0,
       lastHeartbeatAt: null,

server/src/services/heartbeat.ts

@@ -2159,7 +2159,7 @@ export function heartbeatService(db: Db) {
     const heartbeat = parseObject(runtimeConfig.heartbeat);
 
     return {
-      enabled: asBoolean(heartbeat.enabled, true),
+      enabled: asBoolean(heartbeat.enabled, false),
       intervalSec: Math.max(0, asNumber(heartbeat.intervalSec, 0)),
       wakeOnDemand: asBoolean(heartbeat.wakeOnDemand ?? heartbeat.wakeOnAssignment ?? heartbeat.wakeOnOnDemand ?? heartbeat.wakeOnAutomation, true),
       maxConcurrentRuns: normalizeMaxConcurrentRuns(heartbeat.maxConcurrentRuns),