gh-aniketkarne-claudenightswatch/commands/start.md

description, usage, examples

description	usage	examples
Start the Claude Nights Watch daemon to begin autonomous task execution monitoring	/nights-watch start [--at TIME]	/nights-watch start /nights-watch start --at "09:00" /nights-watch start --at "2025-10-12 14:30"

Start Nights Watch Daemon

Starts the Claude Nights Watch daemon to monitor your Claude usage windows and execute tasks from task.md automatically.

Usage

/nights-watch start [OPTIONS]

Options

• --at TIME - Schedule daemon to start monitoring at a specific time
  • Format: HH:MM (today) or YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM (specific date/time)
  • Daemon will wait until scheduled time before beginning task execution

What It Does

1. Checks for required files (task.md in current directory)
2. Starts background daemon process
3. Begins monitoring Claude usage windows
4. Executes tasks when approaching the 5-hour limit
5. Logs all activity to logs/claude-nights-watch-daemon.log

Prerequisites

• task.md file must exist in current directory (create one if not present)
• rules.md file is recommended for safety constraints (optional)
• Claude CLI must be installed and configured

Examples

Start immediately:

/nights-watch start

Start at 9 AM today:

/nights-watch start --at "09:00"

Start at specific date and time:

/nights-watch start --at "2025-10-12 14:30"

Implementation

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/claude-nights-watch-manager.sh start "$@"

Safety Notice

⚠️ The daemon uses --dangerously-skip-permissions for autonomous execution. Always:

• Test tasks manually first
• Use comprehensive rules.md for safety constraints
• Monitor logs regularly
• Start with simple, non-destructive tasks

See Also

• /nights-watch stop - Stop the daemon
• /nights-watch status - Check daemon status
• /nights-watch task - View/edit current task
• /nights-watch logs - View execution logs