NOW.md: The Shared Session for Disconnected AI Agents

Description and use

NOW.md serves as a shared state register for isolated AI agents, enabling them to read and write directives, reducing task duplication and preserving context across restarts.

Problem

AI agents run in isolated processes and cannot directly communicate, leading to fragmented state and duplicated work.

Outcome

Agents coordinate via a human-readable text file, reducing duplicated work and maintaining operational context across frequent restarts.

Workflow

• 1. Agents start or restart and read NOW.md to understand current state.
• 2. Agents perform tasks and append notes or directives to NOW.md.
• 3. Human operators or scripts update NOW.md after task completion or operational shifts.
• 4. Agents re-read NOW.md before significant actions to avoid conflicts.
• 5. Version control (Git) tracks changes to NOW.md for audit and debugging.

Evidence

The NOW.md file acts as a simple, human-readable register for agent state.

Source

When an agent restarts, its first action often involves reading NOW.md to re-establish its understanding of the system's current state.

Source

Updates are primarily manual or triggered by specific scripts after an agent completes a task.

Source