## Summary When synthesist commands are run in quick succession (normal interactive use with an AI agent), the Dolt database lock file frequently becomes stale. The 60-second auto-clear timeout causes **visible delays of 1-60 seconds** on subsequent commands while waiting for the lock to expire. ## Steps to Reproduce ```bash # Run two commands ~1 second apart synthesist --session=s1 task create tree/spec "Task A" --id a # immediately: synthesist --session=s1 task create tree/spec "Task B" --id b # Output: "warning: cleared stale LOCK file (age: 4m22s)" ``` This happens frequently when: - An AI agent chains multiple synthesist commands - A command is interrupted (Ctrl+C) and retried - Multiple reads/writes happen in the same second ## Expected Behavior - Lock timeout should be much shorter for interactive use (5-10 seconds) - Or: lock should use PID-based detection (check if holding process is still alive) rather than pure timeout - Or: read-only commands (`status`, `task list`, `spec show`, etc.) should not acquire an exclusive lock at all ## Actual Behavior - Lock auto-clears after 60 seconds - Every subsequent command shows `warning: cleared stale LOCK file (age: Xs)` - In an AI-agent workflow running 20+ commands, this adds minutes of cumulative delay ## Environment - synthesist v5.3.2 - macOS arm64