#########
OneChat is one AI agent in a single chat that never ends. A daemon owns
-the agent and its files, and a terminal client talks to it. It is in
-early development. Linux is supported.
+the agent and its files, and a terminal client and a Telegram bot talk
+to it. It is in early development. Linux is supported.
****************
Data directory
The daemon owns the root agent in ``agent/`` in the data directory and
listens on the Unix socket ``onechat.sock`` there. In the client, each
line is a message to the agent, the line ``/stop`` interrupts the
-running turn, and Ctrl-D ends the client. The client shows the replies,
-the tool calls, and the first lines of each tool result as they happen.
+running turn, the line ``/stop NAME`` stops the subagent NAME, and
+Ctrl-D ends the client. The client shows the replies, the tool calls,
+and the first lines of each tool result as they happen. It also shows
+each message that the user sends from another client, with the client as
+a mark, such as ``[telegram] text``. When a subagent starts, the client
+shows ``[NAME] started``, and it shows the whole report of the subagent,
+which starts with ``[NAME]``, but not the tool calls of the subagent.
The daemon is the only process that uses the token file while it runs,
so ``onechat login`` and ``onechat probe`` refuse to start until it
stops.
The agent runs commands with bash as the user in its working directory,
with no sandbox. It has the rights of the user, also on the token file.
+When the user asks for it, the agent starts subagents for long tasks.
+Each subagent has a name, such as ``GreenOtter``, and runs in the
+background while the agent answers other messages. It gets the view of
+the agent and its task, and it runs its tools as the agent does, in
+``agent/subagents/NAME/work``. A task in a repository gives the path of
+the repository. The steps of a subagent go to its own log in
+``agent/subagents/NAME``, not to the chat, and its final reply comes
+back to the agent as one message that starts with ``[NAME]``. The agent
+can send a subagent more messages: a running subagent reads them between
+its tool calls, and a finished one goes on from its log, and its reply
+comes back in the same way. When the user stops a subagent, the chat
+gets a note, and the report of the subagent is logged, but it starts no
+turn. Each model call of a subagent has the name in the ``agent`` field
+of ``agent/usage.jsonl``.
+
``agent/config.json`` holds the settings of the agent. The first start
writes it with the defaults and a random ID. Do not change the ID: the
prompt cache key comes from it.
how their files are organized, and how they want work done. The prompt
ends with them, and a change applies at the next call.
+**********
+ Telegram
+**********
+
+The daemon also connects the agent to a Telegram bot when
+``telegram.json`` exists in the data directory. It polls the Bot API for
+new messages, so it needs no open port.
+
+#. Make a bot with BotFather and keep its token.
+
+#. Find your numeric Telegram user ID.
+
+#. Write the token and the ID to ``telegram.json``, and give the file
+ mode 0600, because the token is a secret. The daemon refuses the file
+ with any other mode.
+
+#. Start the daemon, open a private chat with the bot, and write.
+
+.. code:: json
+
+ {"token": "123456:ABC-token-from-BotFather", "owner": 123456789}
+
+The bot reads only the private chat of the owner and ignores all other
+updates. Each text message goes to the agent as a user message, the line
+``/stop`` interrupts the running turn, and the line ``/stop NAME`` stops
+the subagent NAME. The bot sends the replies in parts of at most 4096
+characters, with their Markdown as Telegram formats: bold, italic,
+strikethrough, code, code blocks, links, and headings as bold text. When
+Telegram refuses the formats of a part, the bot sends the part again as
+plain text. Each error goes as a short message in plain text. It shows
+the typing action while a turn runs. It does not send the tool calls.
+For a subagent it sends only ``[NAME] started`` and ``[NAME] finished``,
+``[NAME] stopped``, or ``[NAME] failed``, because the reply of the agent
+carries the content of the report. It sends each message that the user
+types in the terminal client, with the mark ``[terminal]``.
+
+``agent/telegram-offset.json`` holds the ID of the next update. The bot
+moves it past an update only after the message is durable in the log, so
+a restart of the daemon does not lose a message. A crash just after the
+write of a message can make the message repeat once. A network failure
+or a rate limit makes the bot wait and try again, and does not stop the
+daemon.
+
*******
Probe
*******
bin/format
bin/check
nix flake check
+
+``bin/check`` and ``nix build`` run a short replay of the synthetic log.
+``nix flake check`` also runs the full replay of 100,000 messages.
projects / onechat / blobdiff