Root cause: OPENROUTER_API_KEY not set → fallback confidence=0.60 →
always below threshold → _escalate_to_human() every 60s loop → infinite
Telegram messages, all meaningless.
Three-layer fix:
1. API Key detection: if fallback_decision triggered (reasoning contains
"Elephant Alpha unavailable"), silently skip — no Telegram, no cost,
update last_triggered to prevent infinite retry
2. Per-trigger cooldown in _check_triggers():
price_drop_alert 30min / market_opportunity 60min /
threat_escalation 15min / resource_optimization 60min
3. Escalation dedup in _escalate_to_human(): _last_escalated[] tracks
last Telegram send time per trigger type; suppresses within cooldown
Valid HITL escalations (when EA is actually online) still work correctly.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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