OneChat
#########
-OneChat is a Go program. It prints its name. It is in early development.
-Linux is supported.
+OneChat is one AI agent in a single chat that never ends. A daemon owns
+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
with the Codex CLI, because each program rotates the refresh token and
logs the other out.
+*******
+ Agent
+*******
+
+Start the daemon, and then the client in another terminal:
+
+.. code:: console
+
+ onechat daemon
+ onechat
+
+``onechat`` with no command is the same as ``onechat chat``. ``onechat
+help`` lists the commands.
+
+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, 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/work.json`` holds the names of the
+running subagents. A subagent that runs when the daemon stops goes on at
+the next start: the chat gets the note that the daemon restarted, and
+the subagent gets the same note and goes on from its log.
+
+``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.
+
+.. code:: json
+
+ {
+ "name": "OneChat",
+ "id": "0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef",
+ "model": "gpt-6.1-sol",
+ "effort": "medium",
+ "workdir": "/home/user"
+ }
+
+``workdir`` is an absolute path, and its default is the home directory.
+``agent/instructions.md`` holds the user's instructions: who they are,
+how their files are organized, and how they want work done. The prompt
+ends with them, and a change applies at the next call. The agent can
+propose a change to the file, and it makes the change only after the
+user agrees.
+
+**************
+ User service
+**************
+
+The Nix package includes ``share/systemd/user/onechat.service``. It runs
+``onechat daemon`` from that package, starts at login when enabled, and
+restarts 5 seconds after a failure. A stop sends SIGTERM to the daemon
+and allows up to 120 seconds for cleanup. Its output goes to the user
+journal. The service has the rights of the user, as the terminal daemon
+does.
+
+Build a package with a separate result link. Keep this link so that Nix
+does not collect the package while the service uses it:
+
+.. code:: console
+
+ nix build --out-link result-service
+ systemctl --user link --force "$PWD/result-service/share/systemd/user/onechat.service"
+ systemctl --user edit onechat.service
+
+In the editor, set the data directory with this drop-in. Replace
+``DATA_DIR`` with an absolute path to the data directory. Set the same
+``ONECHAT_DIR`` for each terminal client. Without a drop-in, the data
+directory rules above apply to the environment of the user manager, not
+to the development shell.
+
+.. code:: ini
+
+ [Service]
+ Environment="ONECHAT_DIR=DATA_DIR"
+
+The service does not read the environment of an open terminal. If the
+agent needs tools from a shell, set ``Environment="PATH=TOOLS_PATH"`` in
+the same drop-in, with ``TOOLS_PATH`` replaced by the complete search
+path, including bash. For the API endpoint, use
+``EnvironmentFile=ENV_FILE``, with ``ENV_FILE`` replaced by an absolute
+path to a mode 0600 file that sets ``OPENAI_API_KEY``. Keep secrets out
+of the unit and Nix sources.
+
+Use the existing data directory, or copy the development data before the
+first service start. For a copy, first stop the terminal daemon with
+Ctrl-C and wait for it to exit. Replace ``DATA_DIR`` below with a new,
+empty destination. If the development shell uses a custom
+``ONECHAT_DIR``, replace ``.devenv/onechat`` with that source. Copy the
+whole directory so that ``auth.json``, ``telegram.json``,
+``config.json``, ``agent/``, and ``whatsapp/`` stay together, including
+the WhatsApp session and its database files. The copy preserves the file
+modes and the source as a backup. Do not copy or use the same data from
+two running daemons.
+
+.. code:: console
+
+ install -d -m 0700 DATA_DIR
+ cp -a .devenv/onechat/. DATA_DIR/
+
+After the terminal daemon exits and the data is ready, enable and start
+the service:
+
+.. code:: console
+
+ systemctl --user daemon-reload
+ systemctl --user enable --now onechat.service
+ systemctl --user status onechat.service
+ ONECHAT_DIR=DATA_DIR ./result-service/bin/onechat
+ journalctl --user -u onechat.service -f
+
+After a pull, update the package and unit with:
+
+.. code:: console
+
+ git pull
+ bin/service-update
+
+The script builds with the same ``result-service`` link, reloads the
+user manager, and restarts the service only if it is active. The unit
+link follows ``result-service``, so no new link is needed.
+
+The service starts with the user manager at login, not at boot without a
+login. To stop it, or also remove its start at login:
+
+.. code:: console
+
+ systemctl --user stop onechat.service
+ systemctl --user disable onechat.service
+
+**********
+ 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.
+
+**********
+ WhatsApp
+**********
+
+The daemon connects to the WhatsApp account of the user as a linked
+device. The terminal client and Telegram take three commands:
+
+``/whatsapp pair PHONE``
+ Links the account of PHONE, the number with its country code, such as
+ ``+15550001111``. The daemon answers with the steps and then with a
+ pairing code in its own message: in WhatsApp on the phone, open
+ Linked devices, tap Link a device, then tap Link with phone number
+ instead, and enter the code. The code expires in about 2 minutes, and
+ the same command gives a new code. When the link succeeds, the daemon
+ answers with the linked number. Linked devices on the phone shows the
+ device as OneChat. The name applies at the pairing, so an existing
+ link keeps its old name until ``/whatsapp unlink`` and a new
+ ``/whatsapp pair PHONE``.
+
+``/whatsapp status``
+ Shows the link: not linked, linked and connected, or linked and
+ disconnected, with the times of the connection.
+
+``/whatsapp unlink``
+ Ends the link and deletes the session. When WhatsApp is disconnected,
+ the phone does not get the logout, so remove the device in Linked
+ devices on the phone.
+
+The answers go only to the client that asked, and the commands do not go
+to the agent, so the agent never gets the phone number or the code. The
+chat gets only the notes that WhatsApp is linked or unlinked.
+
+The session is ``whatsapp/session.db`` in the data directory, with mode
+0600 in a directory with mode 0700. It gives full access to the WhatsApp
+account, so the daemon refuses the file when its mode is not 0600. The
+shell of the agent runs as the user, so it can read the session. If the
+session leaks, remove the linked device in WhatsApp on the phone, and
+the session stops working. Without the file, WhatsApp is not linked.
+
+The daemon reads the text messages of the private chats and the groups,
+from other people and from the user. It does not read media, reactions,
+edits, deletions, view-once and disappearing messages, or the history
+from before the link. The messages of one chat form one batch until the
+chat is quiet for 20 seconds, for 2 minutes or 50 messages at the most.
+Each batch goes to the chat of the agent as one work message that starts
+with ``[WhatsApp]``, with the name and the ID of the chat, and the time,
+the sender, and the text of each message. The messages of the user show
+as ``You``. ``whatsapp/state.json``, with mode 0600, keeps the batches
+that are not in the chat yet, so they survive a restart, and the records
+of the sends. A crash just after a batch goes to the chat can make the
+batch repeat once.
+
+A batch of a private chat with a message of another person starts a
+turn, and so does a batch of a group with a message that mentions the
+user or replies to a message of the user. The other batches go to the
+chat with no turn, and the agent sees them at its next turn. A batch
+that starts a turn ends with a line that tells the agent to end its turn
+with an empty reply when nothing in the batch needs the user. No client
+shows an empty reply, so such a batch gives no message in Telegram. The
+terminal client shows each batch, and Telegram shows none.
+
+The phone number of the user never goes to the chat: a mention of the
+user shows as ``@you``, the number shows as ``OWN``, and the chat of the
+user with itself is not read. But the IDs of the other chats go to the
+chat and to the model, because the agent needs them to send. The ID of a
+private chat holds the phone number of the contact, such as
+``15550002222@s.whatsapp.net``, and the ID of a group can hold the
+number of the person who made it.
+
+While the daemon is stopped or disconnected, the WhatsApp servers keep
+the messages for the linked device and send them at the next connection.
+They keep them only for a limited time, so a long stop can lose
+messages. These messages form batches by their original times, as live
+messages do. The daemon waits for the end of this catch-up, or one
+minute at the most, and then gives all its batches to the agent in one
+turn, not one turn for each chat. The batches of ``whatsapp/state.json``
+at the start wait for the first catch-up in the same way.
+
+The agent finds a chat with the tool ``whatsapp_find``: it gives the
+contacts and the groups whose name holds a text, with no regard to case
+and accents, with their IDs. The names of the contacts come from the
+session, and the names of the groups from WhatsApp, kept in memory for
+one hour. The names arrive from the phone some minutes after the link,
+and until then the tool says that they are not ready. The agent sends a
+text message with the tool ``whatsapp_send``, only when the user asks
+for it. Each send has an ID that the agent gives: a repeated call with
+the same ID gives the answer of the first call and sends nothing. The
+state file keeps the last 1000 send records. When the daemon stops
+during a send, the result is not known, and the tool tells the agent to
+ask the user to look at the chat in WhatsApp. Without a link, both tools
+tell the agent to ask the user to run ``/whatsapp pair PHONE``. Only the
+agent has the WhatsApp tools, not its subagents.
+
+Each batch of a group goes to the chat, also with no turn, and the
+memory tree summarizes it with model calls, which use the quota.
+
+When the session holds a linked device, the daemon connects at its
+start. If the first connection fails, it tries again after 2 seconds,
+then doubles the wait up to 5 minutes. The inbox and commands stay
+active during each wait. An unlink or a logout stops these retries.
+After a network failure of an open connection, the library connects
+again by itself. When a disconnection lasts 10 minutes, all clients get
+one notice, and one more when the connection comes back. When WhatsApp
+ends the connection for good, for example because another program uses
+the same session, all clients get a notice at once. When the user
+removes the device in the phone, the daemon deletes the session and
+tells all clients one time.
+
+*************************
+ Import WhatsApp history
+*************************
+
+Stop the daemon and finish all subagents before an import. Export each
+chat from WhatsApp as a ZIP with ``_chat.txt``. Keep the chat name in
+the ZIP name, such as ``WhatsApp Chat - Example.zip``. Read the plan
+first:
+
+.. code:: console
+
+ onechat import -n CHAT.zip OTHER.zip
+ onechat import CHAT.zip OTHER.zip
+
+``-n`` makes no model call and prints the chats, chat-day batches, local
+dates, cutoff, text bytes, merged message count, and estimated calls.
+The import keeps multiline text, system lines, and omitted-media
+markers. It maps the session's profile name to ``You``. Without that
+name, it keeps the senders as written and says so in the plan. An exact,
+unambiguous local contact or batch name supplies the chat ID when known.
+No network lookup is made.
+
+Each chat and local day becomes one work message marked ``(imported)``.
+Only messages before the first message of the earliest live WhatsApp
+batch enter the import. Live times have minute precision, so the cutoff
+excludes that whole minute. A chat-day already imported is skipped.
+Overlapping chat-days in the supplied ZIPs are refused. Review the
+exports before import: their text goes to the model as chat history.
+
+The import merges the full log in date order and builds its tree with
+real compactor calls, the agent prompt, and the agent cache key. It uses
+the probe's 660-call and 15-quota-point limits and prints the same usage
+report. Its estimate is about 1.3 calls per merged message, not a cost
+guarantee. A stopped or failed run leaves the agent unchanged. A new run
+starts over. Success keeps the other agent files and renames the old
+directory to ``agent-backup-TIMESTAMP`` before it installs the new one.
+Keep the backup until the new memory is checked, then start the daemon.
+Message IDs change to their positions in the merged log.
+
+***********
+ Schedules
+***********
+
+The agent sets reminders and timed tasks when the user asks for them,
+such as "remind me tomorrow at 9" or "every weekday at 8, tell me what
+my WhatsApp groups talked about". A schedule has a text, the task for
+the agent, and either one time or a cron expression. The agent also
+lists the schedules with their next times, and removes one when the user
+asks. Only the agent has the schedule tools, not its subagents.
+
+A cron expression has five fields: minute, hour, day of month, month,
+and day of week, where 0 and 7 are Sunday. A field is a comma list of
+``*``, ``N``, and ``N-M``, and ``*`` and ``N-M`` can have a step ``/S``,
+as in ``0 8 * * 1-5`` or ``*/15 9-17 * * *``. When both day fields start
+with something other than ``*``, a day matches when either field
+matches. Names such as ``MON``, macros such as ``@daily``, the
+characters ``? L W #``, and ``N/S`` are refused. The runs must be at
+least 5 minutes apart, because each run is a full turn that uses the
+quota, so ``*/5 * * * *`` is the shortest schedule.
+
+The times use the time zone of the machine. A time that the clock skips
+at the start of daylight saving time runs later by the length of the
+skip. A time that the clock repeats at its end runs once, at its first
+occurrence.
+
+At its time, a schedule goes to the chat as a work message that starts
+with ``[Schedule ID]``, with its time and its text, and it starts a
+turn. The message ends with a line that tells the agent to end its turn
+with an empty reply when nothing needs the user. The terminal client
+shows the message, and Telegram shows only the reply. After its run, a
+one-time schedule goes, and a repeating schedule gets its next time.
+
+``agent/schedules.json``, with mode 0600, holds the schedules. Each
+change writes it before the tool answers, so the schedules survive a
+restart. A schedule that came due while the daemon was stopped runs once
+at the next start, with its original time and a line that says that the
+run is late. A repeating schedule that missed several times runs once. A
+crash just after a run goes to the chat can make the run repeat once.
+
*******
Probe
*******
-``onechat probe LOG COUNT`` measures the compactor on a log. It appends
-the first COUNT messages of LOG, one JSON object ``{"kind", "text"}`` on
-each line, to a new chat in ``probe/`` in the data directory, and builds
-its tree with real model calls. The calls use the quota of the account.
-The run stops at the first failed call, or when the used percent of a
-quota window grows by more than 15 points. At the end it reports the
-calls per message, the cached share of the input tokens, the retries,
-the line sizes, and the quota at the first and the last call.
+``onechat probe LOG COUNT [BUILDS]`` measures the compactor on a log. It
+appends the first COUNT messages of LOG, one JSON object ``{"kind",
+"text"}`` on each line, to a new chat in ``probe/`` in the data
+directory, and builds its tree with real model calls. The calls use the
+quota of the account. The run stops at the first failed call, after 660
+calls, or when the used percent of a quota window grows by more than 15
+points. At the end it reports the calls per message, the cached share of
+the input tokens, the retries, the line sizes, and the quota at the
+first and the last call. BUILDS, from 1 to 8, limits the model calls at
+once in the run.
A test writes a generated log of readable made-up messages:
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