diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 459fa62..b10f634 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -8,17 +8,6 @@ version = "2.0.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "320119579fcad9c21884f5c4861d16174d0e06250625266f50fe6898340abefa"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "ahash"
-version = "0.7.8"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "891477e0c6a8957309ee5c45a6368af3ae14bb510732d2684ffa19af310920f9"
-dependencies = [
- "getrandom 0.2.17",
- "once_cell",
- "version_check",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "ahash"
 version = "0.8.12"
@@ -285,18 +274,6 @@ version = "2.11.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "843867be96c8daad0d758b57df9392b6d8d271134fce549de6ce169ff98a92af"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "bitvec"
-version = "1.0.1"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1bc2832c24239b0141d5674bb9174f9d68a8b5b3f2753311927c172ca46f7e9c"
-dependencies = [
- "funty",
- "radium",
- "tap",
- "wyz",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "block-buffer"
 version = "0.10.4"
@@ -322,28 +299,6 @@ version = "3.20.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "5d20789868f4b01b2f2caec9f5c4e0213b41e3e5702a50157d699ae31ced2fcb"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "bytecheck"
-version = "0.6.12"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "23cdc57ce23ac53c931e88a43d06d070a6fd142f2617be5855eb75efc9beb1c2"
-dependencies = [
- "bytecheck_derive",
- "ptr_meta",
- "simdutf8",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "bytecheck_derive"
-version = "0.6.12"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "3db406d29fbcd95542e92559bed4d8ad92636d1ca8b3b72ede10b4bcc010e659"
-dependencies = [
- "proc-macro2",
- "quote",
- "syn 1.0.109",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "bytemuck"
 version = "1.25.0"
@@ -521,7 +476,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "ast-grep-core",
  "ast-grep-language",
  "base64 0.22.1",
- "bincode",
  "bytes",
  "capnp",
  "capnp-rpc",
@@ -538,7 +492,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "http-body-util",
  "hyper",
  "hyper-util",
- "json5",
+ "json-five",
  "libc",
  "log",
  "memchr",
@@ -546,16 +500,14 @@ dependencies = [
  "paste",
  "peg",
  "ratatui",
- "rayon",
  "redb",
  "regex",
- "rkyv",
- "rusqlite",
  "rustls",
  "rustls-native-certs",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
  "serde_urlencoded",
+ "tempfile",
  "textwrap",
  "tokenizers",
  "tokio",
@@ -591,15 +543,14 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "console"
-version = "0.15.11"
+version = "0.16.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "054ccb5b10f9f2cbf51eb355ca1d05c2d279ce1804688d0db74b4733a5aeafd8"
+checksum = "d64e8af5551369d19cf50138de61f1c42074ab970f74e99be916646777f8fc87"
 dependencies = [
  "encode_unicode",
  "libc",
- "once_cell",
  "unicode-width",
- "windows-sys 0.59.0",
+ "windows-sys 0.61.2",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -986,18 +937,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "num-traits",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "fallible-iterator"
-version = "0.3.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "2acce4a10f12dc2fb14a218589d4f1f62ef011b2d0cc4b3cb1bba8e94da14649"
-
-[[package]]
-name = "fallible-streaming-iterator"
-version = "0.1.9"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "7360491ce676a36bf9bb3c56c1aa791658183a54d2744120f27285738d90465a"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "fancy-regex"
 version = "0.11.0"
@@ -1008,6 +947,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "regex",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "fastrand"
+version = "2.4.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9f1f227452a390804cdb637b74a86990f2a7d7ba4b7d5693aac9b4dd6defd8d6"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "figment"
 version = "0.10.19"
@@ -1093,12 +1038,6 @@ version = "1.3.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "42703706b716c37f96a77aea830392ad231f44c9e9a67872fa5548707e11b11c"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "funty"
-version = "2.0.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "e6d5a32815ae3f33302d95fdcb2ce17862f8c65363dcfd29360480ba1001fc9c"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "futures"
 version = "0.3.32"
@@ -1261,15 +1200,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "regex-syntax",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "hashbrown"
-version = "0.12.3"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "8a9ee70c43aaf417c914396645a0fa852624801b24ebb7ae78fe8272889ac888"
-dependencies = [
- "ahash 0.7.8",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "hashbrown"
 version = "0.15.5"
@@ -1296,15 +1226,6 @@ version = "0.17.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "4f467dd6dccf739c208452f8014c75c18bb8301b050ad1cfb27153803edb0f51"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "hashlink"
-version = "0.10.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "7382cf6263419f2d8df38c55d7da83da5c18aef87fc7a7fc1fb1e344edfe14c1"
-dependencies = [
- "hashbrown 0.15.5",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "heck"
 version = "0.5.0"
@@ -1456,14 +1377,14 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "indicatif"
-version = "0.17.11"
+version = "0.18.4"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "183b3088984b400f4cfac3620d5e076c84da5364016b4f49473de574b2586235"
+checksum = "25470f23803092da7d239834776d653104d551bc4d7eacaf31e6837854b8e9eb"
 dependencies = [
  "console",
- "number_prefix",
  "portable-atomic",
  "unicode-width",
+ "unit-prefix",
  "web-time",
 ]
 
@@ -1561,13 +1482,13 @@ dependencies = [
 ]
 
 [[package]]
-name = "json5"
-version = "1.3.1"
+name = "json-five"
+version = "0.3.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "733a844dbd6fef128e98cb4487b887cb55454d92cd9994b1bafe004fabbe670c"
+checksum = "865f2d01a4549c1fd8c60640c03ae5249eb374cd8cde8b905628d4b1af95c87c"
 dependencies = [
  "serde",
- "ucd-trie",
+ "unicode-general-category",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1614,17 +1535,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "libc",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "libsqlite3-sys"
-version = "0.35.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "133c182a6a2c87864fe97778797e46c7e999672690dc9fa3ee8e241aa4a9c13f"
-dependencies = [
- "cc",
- "pkg-config",
- "vcpkg",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "line-clipping"
 version = "0.3.7"
@@ -1849,12 +1759,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "libc",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "number_prefix"
-version = "0.4.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "830b246a0e5f20af87141b25c173cd1b609bd7779a4617d6ec582abaf90870f3"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "once_cell"
 version = "1.21.4"
@@ -2177,26 +2081,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "yansi",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "ptr_meta"
-version = "0.1.4"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "0738ccf7ea06b608c10564b31debd4f5bc5e197fc8bfe088f68ae5ce81e7a4f1"
-dependencies = [
- "ptr_meta_derive",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "ptr_meta_derive"
-version = "0.1.4"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "16b845dbfca988fa33db069c0e230574d15a3088f147a87b64c7589eb662c9ac"
-dependencies = [
- "proc-macro2",
- "quote",
- "syn 1.0.109",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "pulldown-cmark"
 version = "0.13.3"
@@ -2246,12 +2130,6 @@ version = "6.0.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "f8dcc9c7d52a811697d2151c701e0d08956f92b0e24136cf4cf27b57a6a0d9bf"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "radium"
-version = "0.7.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "dc33ff2d4973d518d823d61aa239014831e521c75da58e3df4840d3f47749d09"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "rand"
 version = "0.8.5"
@@ -2470,15 +2348,6 @@ version = "0.8.10"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "dc897dd8d9e8bd1ed8cdad82b5966c3e0ecae09fb1907d58efaa013543185d0a"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "rend"
-version = "0.4.2"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "71fe3824f5629716b1589be05dacd749f6aa084c87e00e016714a8cdfccc997c"
-dependencies = [
- "bytecheck",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "ring"
 version = "0.17.14"
@@ -2493,49 +2362,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-sys 0.52.0",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "rkyv"
-version = "0.7.46"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "2297bf9c81a3f0dc96bc9521370b88f054168c29826a75e89c55ff196e7ed6a1"
-dependencies = [
- "bitvec",
- "bytecheck",
- "bytes",
- "hashbrown 0.12.3",
- "ptr_meta",
- "rend",
- "rkyv_derive",
- "seahash",
- "tinyvec",
- "uuid",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "rkyv_derive"
-version = "0.7.46"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "84d7b42d4b8d06048d3ac8db0eb31bcb942cbeb709f0b5f2b2ebde398d3038f5"
-dependencies = [
- "proc-macro2",
- "quote",
- "syn 1.0.109",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "rusqlite"
-version = "0.37.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "165ca6e57b20e1351573e3729b958bc62f0e48025386970b6e4d29e7a7e71f3f"
-dependencies = [
- "bitflags 2.11.0",
- "fallible-iterator",
- "fallible-streaming-iterator",
- "hashlink",
- "libsqlite3-sys",
- "smallvec",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "rustc_version"
 version = "0.4.1"
@@ -2642,12 +2468,6 @@ version = "1.2.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "94143f37725109f92c262ed2cf5e59bce7498c01bcc1502d7b9afe439a4e9f49"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "seahash"
-version = "4.1.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1c107b6f4780854c8b126e228ea8869f4d7b71260f962fefb57b996b8959ba6b"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "security-framework"
 version = "3.7.0"
@@ -2928,10 +2748,17 @@ dependencies = [
 ]
 
 [[package]]
-name = "tap"
-version = "1.0.1"
+name = "tempfile"
+version = "3.27.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "55937e1799185b12863d447f42597ed69d9928686b8d88a1df17376a097d8369"
+checksum = "32497e9a4c7b38532efcdebeef879707aa9f794296a4f0244f6f69e9bc8574bd"
+dependencies = [
+ "fastrand",
+ "getrandom 0.4.2",
+ "once_cell",
+ "rustix",
+ "windows-sys 0.61.2",
+]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "terminfo"
@@ -3080,28 +2907,13 @@ dependencies = [
  "time-core",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "tinyvec"
-version = "1.11.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "3e61e67053d25a4e82c844e8424039d9745781b3fc4f32b8d55ed50f5f667ef3"
-dependencies = [
- "tinyvec_macros",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "tinyvec_macros"
-version = "0.1.1"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1f3ccbac311fea05f86f61904b462b55fb3df8837a366dfc601a0161d0532f20"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "tokenizers"
-version = "0.21.4"
+version = "0.22.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "a620b996116a59e184c2fa2dfd8251ea34a36d0a514758c6f966386bd2e03476"
+checksum = "b238e22d44a15349529690fb07bd645cf58149a1b1e44d6cb5bd1641ff1a6223"
 dependencies = [
- "ahash 0.8.12",
+ "ahash",
  "aho-corasick",
  "compact_str",
  "dary_heap",
@@ -3521,6 +3333,12 @@ version = "2.9.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "dbc4bc3a9f746d862c45cb89d705aa10f187bb96c76001afab07a0d35ce60142"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode-general-category"
+version = "1.1.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "0b993bddc193ae5bd0d623b49ec06ac3e9312875fdae725a975c51db1cc1677f"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "unicode-ident"
 version = "1.0.24"
@@ -3577,6 +3395,12 @@ version = "0.1.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "39ec24b3121d976906ece63c9daad25b85969647682eee313cb5779fdd69e14e"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "unit-prefix"
+version = "0.5.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "81e544489bf3d8ef66c953931f56617f423cd4b5494be343d9b9d3dda037b9a3"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "untrusted"
 version = "0.9.0"
@@ -3601,12 +3425,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "wasm-bindgen",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "vcpkg"
-version = "0.2.15"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "accd4ea62f7bb7a82fe23066fb0957d48ef677f6eeb8215f372f52e48bb32426"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "version_check"
 version = "0.9.5"
@@ -3925,15 +3743,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-targets",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "windows-sys"
-version = "0.59.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1e38bc4d79ed67fd075bcc251a1c39b32a1776bbe92e5bef1f0bf1f8c531853b"
-dependencies = [
- "windows-targets",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "windows-sys"
 version = "0.61.2"
@@ -4095,15 +3904,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "wasmparser",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "wyz"
-version = "0.5.1"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "05f360fc0b24296329c78fda852a1e9ae82de9cf7b27dae4b7f62f118f77b9ed"
-dependencies = [
- "tap",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "yaml-rust"
 version = "0.4.5"
diff --git a/src/agent_cycles.rs b/src/agent_cycles.rs
index 8bfcc20..7d04a1b 100644
--- a/src/agent_cycles.rs
+++ b/src/agent_cycles.rs
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ use std::fs;
 use std::fs::File;
 use std::io::Write;
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
-use std::time::{Duration, Instant, SystemTime};
+use std::time::{Duration, SystemTime};
 
 pub use consciousness::session::HookSession;
 
@@ -229,9 +229,6 @@ impl AgentCycleState {
         let state_dir = self.agent_dir("surface-observe");
         let transcript = session.transcript();
         let offset_path = state_dir.join("transcript-offset");
-        let last_offset: u64 = fs::read_to_string(&offset_path).ok()
-            .and_then(|s| s.trim().parse().ok())
-            .unwrap_or(0);
 
         // Read surfaced keys
         let mut surfaced_keys = Vec::new();
@@ -255,10 +252,15 @@ impl AgentCycleState {
             fs::remove_file(&surface_path).ok();
         }
 
-        // Spawn new agent if not already running
-        let running = self.agent_running("surface-observe");
-        if running {
-            self.log(format_args!("surface-observe already running\n"));
+        // Spawn a new surface agent if no live agent is currently in the
+        // "surface" phase. The bail script (bail-no-competing.sh) keeps
+        // each pid file's content updated with the agent's current phase,
+        // so we can read them to decide. Allowing a new "surface" agent
+        // to start while an older agent finishes out its post-surface
+        // phases is the whole point — surface can run at a higher cadence
+        // than the full organize/observe tail.
+        if surface_phase_busy(&state_dir) {
+            self.log(format_args!("surface-observe already in surface phase\n"));
         } else {
             if transcript.size > 0 {
                 fs::write(&offset_path, transcript.size.to_string()).ok();
@@ -270,30 +272,7 @@ impl AgentCycleState {
             }
         }
 
-        // Wait if agent is significantly behind
-        let mut sleep_secs = None;
-        let conversation_budget: u64 = 50_000;
-
-        if running && transcript.size > 0 {
-            let behind = transcript.size.saturating_sub(last_offset);
-
-            if behind > conversation_budget / 2 {
-                let sleep_start = Instant::now();
-                self.log(format_args!("agent {}KB behind\n", behind / 1024));
-
-                for _ in 0..5 {
-                    std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_secs(1));
-                    self.poll_children();
-                    if !self.agent_running("surface-observe") { break; }
-                }
-
-                let secs = (Instant::now() - sleep_start).as_secs_f64();
-                self.log(format_args!("slept {secs:.2}s\n"));
-                sleep_secs = Some(secs);
-            }
-        }
-
-        (surfaced_keys, sleep_secs)
+        (surfaced_keys, None)
     }
 
     fn reflection_cycle(&mut self, session: &HookSession) -> Option<String> {
@@ -367,6 +346,27 @@ impl AgentCycleState {
     }
 }
 
+/// Is there a live agent in `state_dir` currently in the "surface" phase?
+/// Inspects pid-<N> files; their content is the phase string, kept fresh
+/// by bail-no-competing.sh on each step transition.
+fn surface_phase_busy(state_dir: &Path) -> bool {
+    let Ok(entries) = fs::read_dir(state_dir) else { return false; };
+    for entry in entries.flatten() {
+        let fname = entry.file_name();
+        let fname_s = fname.to_string_lossy();
+        let Some(pid_str) = fname_s.strip_prefix("pid-") else { continue; };
+        let Ok(pid) = pid_str.parse::<i32>() else { continue; };
+        // Is the process alive?
+        let alive = unsafe { libc::kill(pid, 0) } == 0;
+        if !alive { continue; }
+        let phase = fs::read_to_string(entry.path()).unwrap_or_default();
+        if phase.trim() == "surface" {
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+    false
+}
+
 /// Format agent cycle output for injection into a Claude Code session.
 pub fn format_agent_output(output: &AgentCycleOutput) -> String {
     let mut out = String::new();