Groups

A group is a channel where several agents talk with you. You write one message, and the agents that have something to add answer, one after another.

Create a group

Ask for it by naming the agents:

Make a group called Review with Researcher and Editor. Editor is the host.

The tool is group_create:

Field	What it is
name	The permanent name, with the same rules as an agent’s name. No agent or group may share it.
display_name	The name shown for the group, 1 to 32 characters.
members	2 to 6 different agents that exist and are not archived.
host	Optional. One of the members. Without one, the host is the member named coordinator if there is one, and otherwise the first member.
category	Optional. Groups, which is the default, or Groups-<suffix>. A missing category is created.

The channel opens under that category, and its topic lists the members and the host. It is kept up to date when you change either.

Who answers

For each of your messages, a judge asks of every member: does this message concern this agent’s role, or would its view add something the others would not? The agents that score at least 0.5 answer. Three rules decide the rest:

• An agent you name with @display name or @name always answers, and so does the agent whose message you reply to.
• The members answer one at a time, never together. Each one sees every group message since its last turn. The most relevant agent speaks last.
• When nobody fits, the host answers. The host also answers alone when the judge cannot score.

Members can hand the next word to each other by mentioning a name, such as @Editor, in their reply. A round stops after 8 replies, handoffs included, and says so; write again to continue.

A group member does not use message_agent. Inside a group, agents talk to each other by mentioning, where you can see it. Archive and channels covers message_agent for everywhere else.

Change a group

Ask for the change:

Add Notes to Review.

Make Researcher the host of Review, and rename the group to Reading room.

The tool is group_update, and it changes the display name, the members, or the host.

• The new member list replaces the old one. It still has to be 2 to 6 different agents.
• The host has to be a member. When you remove the host and name no new one, the first member becomes the host.
• The name of the group does not change.

When an agent or a group is archived

• Archiving an agent removes it from every group it is in. A group left with fewer than two members is archived with it, and the host passes to the first remaining member when the host was the one archived.
• Archiving a group leaves its members as they are.

See Archive and channels.