clock.yml

name: clock

# Starts the daily jobs at the right minute (qtrade/clock.py): GitHub's own schedules for this
# repository fire late or not at all. A clock run stays up ~5.5 hours and dispatches each job
# once per slot; before it ends it starts the next clock, so one is always running. The hourly
# schedule is only a watchdog that restarts the chain if it ever breaks.

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "3 * * * *"
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      successor:
        description: "started by the previous clock (never stands aside)"
        default: "false"

permissions:
  contents: read
  actions: write                  # dispatches the jobs and the next clock

jobs:
  clock:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    timeout-minutes: 350
    env:
      GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
    steps:
      - name: Stand aside if a clock is already running
        id: check
        run: |
          # the previous clock starts this one while it is itself still finishing, so it would always look
          # "running": a successor never stands aside (on 2026-10-30 the chain died exactly that way)
          if [ "${{ inputs.successor }}" = "true" ]; then echo "run=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"; exit 0; fi
          RUNNING=$(gh run list -R "${{ github.repository }}" --workflow clock.yml --status in_progress \
                    --json databaseId -q "[.[] | select(.databaseId != ${{ github.run_id }})] | length")
          if [ "${RUNNING:-0}" -gt 0 ]; then echo "a clock is running - nothing to do"; echo "run=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
          else echo "run=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"; fi
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        if: steps.check.outputs.run == 'true'
      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
        if: steps.check.outputs.run == 'true'
        with:
          python-version: "3.11"
          cache: pip
      - if: steps.check.outputs.run == 'true'
        run: pip install -r requirements.txt
      - name: Tick
        if: steps.check.outputs.run == 'true'
        run: python -m qtrade.clock --hours 5.5
      - name: Start the next clock
        if: always() && steps.check.outputs.run == 'true'
        run: |
          gh workflow run clock.yml -R "${{ github.repository }}" --ref "${{ github.ref_name }}" -f successor=true
          echo "next clock started"