Ill Be Back

Keep the active OpenCode session cache warm while you are away.

ill-be-back watches the active session and starts a cache countdown after the first assistant reply. When you arm away mode with /illbeback, it sends a small keep-alive ping every time the countdown hits 0:00, until the ping limit is used. This keeps the provider prompt cache alive so your next real message reuses cached context instead of paying full input cost again.

Keep-alive pings use a fixed marker so they are never confused with your real messages:

I'll Be Back - Ping [UN1QU3M2G] n/x - REPLY: OK

Package

The npm package exports both OpenCode entrypoints:

Export	Type	Loaded via
.	runtime plugin	opencode.json
./server	runtime plugin	opencode.json
./tui	TUI sidebar	tui.json

Shared state is written to ~/.config/opencode/ill-be-back-state.json.

Install

OpenCode installs npm plugins automatically at startup.

1. Register the runtime plugin

Edit ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json:

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "plugin": ["@aundal/ill-be-back@latest"]
}

2. Register the TUI sidebar

Edit ~/.config/opencode/tui.json:

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/tui.json",
  "plugin": ["@aundal/ill-be-back@latest"]
}

3. Restart OpenCode

Plugins load at startup. Fully quit and restart.

Prefer letting an agent do this? See Install with an LLM.

Usage

Commands are registered by the TUI plugin (no commands/*.md needed):

Command	Action
/illbeback	Prompt for a ping count and arm away mode
/illbeback-toggle	Show or hide the sidebar block
/illbeback-shorttimer	Switch the title countdown between MM:SS and short form (5m)
/illbeback-test	Measure the provider cache timeout and set a safe ping interval

Sidebar

Title:

• first load: I'll Be Back (-:--)
• after first assistant reply: live countdown starts
• away mode armed: countdown resets after each ping
• state marker after the timer: ⚫ idle, 🟢 <pings left> away, 🧪 testing

Expanded rows show Session and Total net USD savings. Each ping subtracts its cache-read cost; on your first real reply after returning, the preserved-cache benefit is added back once, capped to min(pre_away_context_tokens, return_reply.tokens.cache.read).

Timeout test

/illbeback-test finds your provider's cache timeout:

1. starts at 5 minutes
2. doubles while the cache is still warm, until the first cache miss
3. bisects between last-cached and first-miss until the gap is under 10s
4. stores a safe interval = 90% of the last cached delay

After that, keep-alive pings use the measured interval instead of the 4-minute default.

Options

There is no config schema. Behavior is tuned via constants at the top of src/ill-be-back.ts:

Constant	Default	Meaning
DEFAULT_INTERVAL_SECONDS	240	Ping interval (seconds) until a timeout test measures a new one
DEFAULT_MAX_PINGS	5	Ping count used when you confirm /illbeback without a number
DEFAULT_TEST_DELAY_MINUTES	5	Starting delay for /illbeback-test
CACHE_TIMEOUT_SAFETY_FACTOR	0.9	Fraction of the last cached delay used as the safe interval
DEBUG	false	Show Last Ping / Time / Proof debug rows in the sidebar

Runtime options (no restart): the ping count in the /illbeback prompt, and the toggle / shorttimer commands. Editing constants requires a restart.

Pricing for the savings display is pulled best-effort from models.dev. If it is unreachable, savings simply show 0.00 and pings/tests still run.

Development

npm pack
npm publish --access public

Notes

• Restart OpenCode after updating plugin config or package versions.
• /illbeback only resets the away cycle; session/total counters persist in ill-be-back-state.json.
• Synthetic ping text is hidden from the model history but still warms the cache.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.