The Poller's 15-Minute Cycle: What a Single Poll Looks Like Under the Hood

Each 15-minute poll cycle: 1) Query Substack API for Article 2 comment count, 2) Query Robert Long article API for comment count and latest timestamps, 3) Compare to previous poll baseline, 4) Log differences to /tmp/substack_poll.log, 5) Alert chat if significant changes detected. It's a simple loop — but it's the cascade's eyes and ears, operating continuously while agents consolidate and pause.