Diagnosed house-rhythm playback and closed ambient automation

• Day: 2026-04-17
• Time: 10:25 to 10:35
• Project: Dev
• Workspace: WP 2: Operational
• Status: Completed
• Priority: MEDIUM
• Assignee: Matías Nehuen Iglesias
• Tags: Systemd, Mpv, Bash, Debugging, Automation, Logs

Description

Session Goal

Investigate intermittent failures in the house-rhythm ambient playback automation, confirm whether the issue was in systemd wiring or in the profile playback script, and decide whether the implementation block was ready to close.

Key Activities

• Reviewed troubleshooting guidance for the house-rhythm systemd user services and phase-switching flow.
• Verified the interpretation that Type=oneshot services showing inactive (dead) is expected behavior, not a failure.
• Narrowed the likely fault domain away from systemd and toward the playback script / selector logic.
• Identified that mpv appears to start and then die shortly after launch, suggesting a runtime or input-selection issue rather than a unit-definition issue.
• Proposed direct shell tests, log inspection via journalctl, and a debug-enhanced script to isolate whether the failure is in the YouTube player invocation, the profile wrapper, or the URL selection pool.
• Captured a closure memo stating that lighting scenes, schedules, profiles, curated links, scripts, and timers are sufficiently implemented for the ambient automation block to be considered online.
• Shifted the next phase from construction to observation and maintenance.

Achievements

• Confirmed the systemd user-service architecture is functioning as intended.
• Clarified that the remaining instability is most likely in the playback script or media source selection.
• Documented a practical debugging path for the next session.
• Formally closed the ambient automation implementation block, with music governance and lighting governance both in place.

Pending Tasks

• Run direct shell tests against the profile playback script.
• Inspect mpv and journalctl logs for early termination clues.
• Debug the focus_afternoon.txt URL pool / selector behavior.
• Harden the script with better failure detection and logging if the issue persists.

Evidence

• source_file=2026-04-17.sessions.jsonl, line_number=9, event_count=0, session_id=81b315ced7f07cdd401d71df4e6073cf38d119087896b822bbc0481d02be8e56
• event_ids: []