110 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
110 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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summary: "Message flow, sessions, queueing, and reasoning visibility"
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read_when:
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- Explaining how inbound messages become replies
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- Clarifying sessions, queueing modes, or streaming behavior
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- Documenting reasoning visibility and usage implications
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---
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# Messages
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This page ties together how Clawdbot handles inbound messages, sessions, queueing,
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streaming, and reasoning visibility.
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## Message flow (high level)
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```
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Inbound message
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-> routing/bindings -> session key
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-> queue (if a run is active)
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-> agent run (streaming + tools)
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-> outbound replies (provider limits + chunking)
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```
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Key knobs live in configuration:
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- `messages.*` for prefixes, queueing, and group behavior.
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- `agents.defaults.*` for block streaming and chunking defaults.
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- Provider overrides (`whatsapp.*`, `telegram.*`, etc.) for caps and streaming toggles.
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See [Configuration](/gateway/configuration) for full schema.
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## Inbound dedupe
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Providers can redeliver the same message after reconnects. Clawdbot keeps a
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short-lived cache keyed by provider/account/peer/session/message id so duplicate
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deliveries do not trigger another agent run.
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## Sessions and devices
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Sessions are owned by the gateway, not by clients.
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- Direct chats collapse into the agent main session key.
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- Groups/channels get their own session keys.
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- The session store and transcripts live on the gateway host.
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Multiple devices/providers can map to the same session, but history is not fully
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synced back to every client. Recommendation: use one primary device for long
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conversations to avoid divergent context. The Control UI and TUI always show the
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gateway-backed session transcript, so they are the source of truth.
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Details: [Session management](/concepts/session).
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## Inbound bodies and history context
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Clawdbot separates the **prompt body** from the **command body**:
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- `Body`: prompt text sent to the agent. This may include provider envelopes and
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optional history wrappers.
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- `CommandBody`: raw user text for directive/command parsing.
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- `RawBody`: legacy alias for `CommandBody` (kept for compatibility).
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When a provider supplies history, it uses a shared wrapper:
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- `[Chat messages since your last reply - for context]`
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- `[Current message - respond to this]`
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Directive stripping only applies to the **current message** section so history
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remains intact. Providers that wrap history should set `CommandBody` (or
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`RawBody`) to the original message text and keep `Body` as the combined prompt.
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History buffers are configurable via `messages.groupChat.historyLimit` (global
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default) and per-provider overrides like `slack.historyLimit` or
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`telegram.accounts.<id>.historyLimit` (set `0` to disable).
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## Queueing and followups
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If a run is already active, inbound messages can be queued, steered into the
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current run, or collected for a followup turn.
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- Configure via `messages.queue` (and `messages.queue.byProvider`).
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- Modes: `interrupt`, `steer`, `followup`, `collect`, plus backlog variants.
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Details: [Queueing](/concepts/queue).
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## Streaming, chunking, and batching
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Block streaming sends partial replies as the model produces text blocks.
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Chunking respects provider text limits and avoids splitting fenced code.
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Key settings:
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- `agents.defaults.blockStreamingDefault` (`on|off`, default off)
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- `agents.defaults.blockStreamingBreak` (`text_end|message_end`)
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- `agents.defaults.blockStreamingChunk` (`minChars|maxChars|breakPreference`)
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- `agents.defaults.blockStreamingCoalesce` (idle-based batching)
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- `agents.defaults.humanDelay` (human-like pause between block replies)
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- Provider overrides: `*.blockStreaming` and `*.blockStreamingCoalesce` (non-Telegram providers require explicit `*.blockStreaming: true`)
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Details: [Streaming + chunking](/concepts/streaming).
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## Reasoning visibility and tokens
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Clawdbot can expose or hide model reasoning:
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- `/reasoning on|off|stream` controls visibility.
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- Reasoning content still counts toward token usage when produced by the model.
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- Telegram supports reasoning stream into the draft bubble.
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Details: [Thinking + reasoning directives](/tools/thinking) and [Token use](/token-use).
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## Prefixes, threading, and replies
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Outbound message formatting is centralized in `messages`:
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- `messages.responsePrefix` (outbound prefix) and `whatsapp.messagePrefix` (WhatsApp inbound prefix)
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- Reply threading via `replyToMode` and per-provider defaults
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Details: [Configuration](/gateway/configuration#messages) and provider docs.
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