From ca6998e2c5d68893158e51c499ad08f658712253 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Aleteoryx <alyx@aleteoryx.me>
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2025 22:29:09 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] seems to be working

---
 PLAN        | 14 ++++++++++----
 employer.py | 16 +++++++++++++++-
 2 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/PLAN b/PLAN
index 527db1c8d50fa8441126ce367012c50fff9fc397..293fdc9eb7364200ded6ef2ab3a43684aee5af58 100644
--- a/PLAN
+++ b/PLAN
@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ a job is:
 server protocol:
 	case-insensitive commands separated by \n
 	on error, send back '?', else send back 'OKAY'
+	commands which allow [job id] or [for job id] to be omitted
+	will operate implicitly on the last-mentioned job, or error if
+	there is none
 
 server verbs:
 	- ''
@@ -30,11 +33,14 @@ server verbs:
 	- META [FOR JOB id] IS
 		get metadata for id as key: value lines, terminated with a blank line
 	- META key [FOR JOB id] IS value?
-		set/get id.key
-	- TAKE JOB id?
+		set/get id.key. nil is returned as a blank line.
+	- META key [FOR JOB id] CLEAR
+		clear a metadata key
+
+	- TAKE [JOB id]
 		mark a job as taken, record timestamp
-		if n is unset, pick the next available job and send it
-		back
+	- TAKE JOB
+		take the first available job. if none is available, error.
 	- MARK [JOB n] AS marking
 		mark a job as complete, record timestamp
 	- CANCEL [JOB n]
diff --git a/employer.py b/employer.py
index 55f5829321dfd2406c369fd3234831a35f76753e..9eb689ee0ae534edda6d06448aa83b2fab0c62ad 100644
--- a/employer.py
+++ b/employer.py
@@ -195,12 +195,26 @@ async def handle_line(topic, tokens, line, reader, writer) -> int:
 			jobs[topic][key] = find_val_in_line(line)
 		case ['meta', key, 'is', *_]:
 			jobs[topic][key] = find_val_in_line(line)
+
+		case ['meta', key, 'for', 'job', int(topic), 'clear']:
+			del jobs[topic][key]
+		case ['meta', key, 'clear']:
+			del jobs[topic][key]
 		
 		case ['take', 'job', int(topic)]:
 			jobs[topic].take()
-		case ['take', 'job']:
+		case ['take']:
 			jobs[topic].take()
 		
+		case ['take', 'job']:
+			try:
+				avail = next(jobs['available'])
+				avail.take()
+				topic = avail.jid
+				writer.write(f'{topic}\n'.encode())
+			except StopIteration:
+				raise ValueError('no new jobs')
+		
 		case ['mark', 'job', int(topic), 'as', str(marking)]:
 			jobs[topic].mark(marking)
 		case ['mark', 'as', str(marking)]: