eleven / messenger Public

bot: scrub the note-to-self history annotation from posted replies (#826)

buildContext appends "[note to self: this reply attached N button(s)
via tool calls]" to the model's own past turns so history stays
truthful about chips — but the model reads those turns as its own words
and, despite the system-prompt rule, eventually imitates the pattern
into a live reply (seen on team.elevenmessenger.com: the bracket line
posted verbatim under "Tap to see your open issues"). The note is for
the model, never for members: scrub it from reply text before posting,
in both the Go sidecar and the Node reference (parity).

Co-authored-by: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Paul Campbell 3 months ago 1af95159879bda7a73c16433489e1be64757be02 parent 3f9e580

4 files changed, +58 −13

agent/context.mjs +10 −0
agent/runtime.mjs +13 −11
internal/bot/brain.go +14 −2
internal/bot/brain_scrub_test.go +21 −0

diff --git a/agent/context.mjs b/agent/context.mjs

index 6445495..59b5231 100644

--- a/agent/context.mjs

+++ b/agent/context.mjs

@@ -15,3 +15,13 @@ export function trimContext(messages) {

while (out.length && out[out.length - 1].role === "assistant") out.pop();

return out;

}

+// scrubSelfNotes removes the "[note to self: …]" history annotation from a

+// reply about to POST. The note is appended to past assistant turns (see

+// buildContext in runtime.mjs) so the model knows which of its old replies

+// carried buttons — but the model reads those turns as its own words and,

+// despite the system-prompt rule, eventually imitates the pattern into a live

+// reply. The note is for the model, never for members.

+export function scrubSelfNotes(text) {

+ return (text || "").replace(/\s*\[note to self:[^\]]*\]/g, "").trim();

diff --git a/agent/runtime.mjs b/agent/runtime.mjs

index ad2f6c7..6e0096e 100644

--- a/agent/runtime.mjs

+++ b/agent/runtime.mjs

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import { importKey, encrypt, decrypt, unwrapThreadKey, openSealed, sealForPub }

import { BASE, WS_BASE, MODEL, CLASSIFIER_MODEL, APP_NAME, AI_ENABLED } from "./config.mjs";

import { actionsFromToolUse } from "./actions.mjs";

import { runCommand } from "./commands.mjs";

-import { trimContext } from "./context.mjs";

+import { trimContext, scrubSelfNotes } from "./context.mjs";

import { listDomains, exchangeViaBroker } from "./dnsimple.mjs";

const log = (m) => {

@@ -264,11 +264,12 @@ export function runBot({ name, session, builtinPersona = "", builtinDocs = "", t

...(tools ? { tools } : {}),

messages: context.length ? context : [{ role: "user", content: "Say hello." }],

});

- text = r.content

- .filter((b) => b.type === "text")

- .map((b) => b.text)

- .join("")

- .trim();

+ text = scrubSelfNotes(

+ r.content

+ .filter((b) => b.type === "text")

+ .map((b) => b.text)

+ .join(""),

+ );

// Tool calls become one-tap chips on the message; there's no tool_result

// round-trip — the "result" is the member tapping (or not tapping) it.

if (tools) actions = actionsFromToolUse(r.content);

@@ -289,11 +290,12 @@ export function runBot({ name, session, builtinPersona = "", builtinDocs = "", t

messages: context.length ? context : [{ role: "user", content: "Say hello." }],

});

actions = actionsFromToolUse(r2.content);

- const t2 = r2.content

- .filter((b) => b.type === "text")

- .map((b) => b.text)

- .join("")

- .trim();

+ const t2 = scrubSelfNotes(

+ r2.content

+ .filter((b) => b.type === "text")

+ .map((b) => b.text)

+ .join(""),

+ );

if (actions.length && t2) text = t2; // keep the original text if the retry was tool-only

}

if (!text && !actions.length) tag(`empty reply dropped (stop_reason=${r.stop_reason})`);

diff --git a/internal/bot/brain.go b/internal/bot/brain.go

index e991bfd..0c0703a 100644

--- a/internal/bot/brain.go

+++ b/internal/bot/brain.go

@@ -423,6 +423,18 @@ func (r *Runtime) charterHomeNote(tc *ThreadCtx) string {

return b.String()

}

+// noteToSelfRE matches the history annotation buildContext appends to past

+// assistant turns ("[note to self: this reply attached N button(s) via tool

+// calls]"). The model reads those turns as its own words, and despite the

+// system-prompt rule it eventually IMITATES the pattern, writing the bracket

+// line into a live reply (seen on team.elevenmessenger.com). The note is for

+// the model, never for members — scrub it from anything about to post.

+var noteToSelfRE = regexp.MustCompile(`\s*\[note to self:[^\]]*\]`)

+func scrubSelfNotes(text string) string {

+ return strings.TrimSpace(noteToSelfRE.ReplaceAllString(text, ""))

// promisedButton catches a reply that PROMISES an action instead of attaching

// one: the classic "tap the button" with no tool call, and the fetch-promise

// family ("Great! Let me pull up the open issues for you." — the live stall

@@ -489,7 +501,7 @@ func (r *Runtime) modelReply(tc *ThreadCtx) (Reply, bool) {

r.logf("claude: %v", err)

return Reply{}, false

}

- text := strings.TrimSpace(resp.text())

+ text := scrubSelfNotes(resp.text())

// create_app / create_bot are EXECUTORS, not chips: the sidecar itself runs

// the build (appbuild.go / botbuild.go) on its own goroutine so other

// threads keep getting replies, and posts the outcome when done. The reply

@@ -559,7 +571,7 @@ func (r *Runtime) modelReply(tc *ThreadCtx) (Reply, bool) {

})

if err == nil {

actions = actionsFromToolUse(resp2.Content)

- if t2 := strings.TrimSpace(resp2.text()); len(actions) > 0 && t2 != "" {

+ if t2 := scrubSelfNotes(resp2.text()); len(actions) > 0 && t2 != "" {

text = t2 // keep the original text if the retry was tool-only

}

diff --git a/internal/bot/brain_scrub_test.go b/internal/bot/brain_scrub_test.go

new file mode 100644

index 0000000..9de677a

--- /dev/null

+++ b/internal/bot/brain_scrub_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@

+package bot

+import "testing"

+// TestScrubSelfNotes pins the output scrub: the "[note to self: …]" history

+// annotation must never reach a posted reply, however the model weaves it in.

+func TestScrubSelfNotes(t *testing.T) {

+ cases := []struct{ in, want string }{

+ {"Tap to see your issues:\n[note to self: this reply attached 1 button(s) via tool calls]",

+ "Tap to see your issues:"},

+ {"[note to self: this reply attached 2 button(s) via tool calls]", ""},

+ {"Before [note to self: x] after", "Before after"},

+ {"No notes here.", "No notes here."},

+ {"A [bracket] that is not a note survives.", "A [bracket] that is not a note survives."},

+ }

+ for _, c := range cases {

+ if got := scrubSelfNotes(c.in); got != c.want {

+ t.Errorf("scrubSelfNotes(%q) = %q, want %q", c.in, got, c.want)

+ }