From 8ba35a2dc3abd952b09cd44ad4799ff8574b12ff Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Peter Steinberger <steipete@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2025 08:57:30 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Auto-reply: treat prefixed think directives as directive-only

---
 src/auto-reply/reply.ts | 10 ++++++++-
 src/index.core.test.ts  | 46 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 55 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply.ts
index 410d896d2..94ea4688e 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply.ts
@@ -224,8 +224,16 @@ export async function getReplyFromConfig(
 		(sessionEntry?.thinkingLevel as ThinkLevel | undefined) ??
 		(reply?.thinkingDefault as ThinkLevel | undefined);
 
+	const directiveOnly = (() => {
+		if (!hasThinkDirective) return false;
+		if (!thinkCleaned) return true;
+		// Ignore bracketed prefixes (timestamps, same-phone markers, etc.)
+		const stripped = thinkCleaned.replace(/\[[^\]]+\]\s*/g, "").trim();
+		return stripped.length === 0;
+	})();
+
 	// Directive-only message => persist session thinking level and return ack
-	if (hasThinkDirective && !thinkCleaned) {
+	if (directiveOnly) {
 		if (!inlineThink) {
 			cleanupTyping();
 			return {
diff --git a/src/index.core.test.ts b/src/index.core.test.ts
index d29126568..fbcd1854b 100644
--- a/src/index.core.test.ts
+++ b/src/index.core.test.ts
@@ -641,6 +641,52 @@ describe("config and templating", () => {
     expect(ack?.text).toBe("Thinking level set to high.");
   });
 
+  it("treats directive-only even when bracket prefixes are present", async () => {
+    const runSpy = vi.spyOn(index, "runCommandWithTimeout").mockResolvedValue({
+      stdout: "ok",
+      stderr: "",
+      code: 0,
+      signal: null,
+      killed: false,
+    });
+    const storeDir = await fs.promises.mkdtemp(
+      path.join(os.tmpdir(), "warelay-session-"),
+    );
+    const storePath = path.join(storeDir, "sessions.json");
+    const cfg = {
+      inbound: {
+        reply: {
+          mode: "command" as const,
+          command: ["echo", "{{Body}}"],
+          agent: { kind: "claude" },
+          session: { store: storePath },
+        },
+      },
+    };
+
+    const ack = await index.getReplyFromConfig(
+      { Body: "[Dec 1 00:00] [🦞 same-phone] /think:high", From: "+1", To: "+2" },
+      undefined,
+      cfg,
+      runSpy,
+    );
+
+    expect(runSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(ack?.text).toBe("Thinking level set to high.");
+
+    await index.getReplyFromConfig(
+      { Body: "hello", From: "+1", To: "+2" },
+      undefined,
+      cfg,
+      runSpy,
+    );
+
+    expect(runSpy).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    const args = runSpy.mock.calls[0][0] as string[];
+    const bodyArg = args[args.length - 1];
+    expect(bodyArg).toBe("hello ultrathink");
+  });
+
   it("rejects invalid directive-only think level without changing state", async () => {
     const runSpy = vi.spyOn(index, "runCommandWithTimeout").mockResolvedValue({
       stdout: "ok",