eleven / ocho Public

agent: bots never reply to other bots (crosstalk loop fix) (#60)

A bot's mention trigger matches its bare name (no @ needed), and bot-authored
text naturally names other bots — Eleven's persona recommends Claude, the
Announcer's release notes mention Eleven — so two bots in one group could
ping-pong indefinitely. Each bot now tracks the roster's agent labels
(refreshed every reconnect) and ignores any message authored by one.
Name-based policy, same trust level as the rest of the payload; sender-signed
messages are the future hardening for this class of check.

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

Paul Campbell 4 months ago e3c3044f1afc48adf6e4eb8505e0fdcc1d050f78 parent 0138280

2 files changed, +18 −0

agent/runtime.mjs +17 −0
changelog/2026-07-02-bot-crosstalk.md +1 −0

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

index 421909a..1416f65 100644

--- a/agent/runtime.mjs

+++ b/agent/runtime.mjs

@@ -50,12 +50,27 @@ export function runBot({ name, session, builtinPersona = "", builtinDocs = "" })

const keys = new Map(); // threadId -> { key: CryptoKey, kind: "dm"|"group"|"self" }

const cursors = new Map(); // threadId -> last message id we've processed

+ let agentNames = new Set(); // roster labels of ALL agents — never reply to one

const get = (path) =>

fetch(`${BASE}${path}${path.includes("?") ? "&" : "?"}token=${encodeURIComponent(session.token)}`).then((r) =>

r.json()

);

+ // Bots never talk to bots: a bot's mention trigger matches its bare name, and

+ // bot-authored text naturally names other bots (Eleven recommends Claude, the

+ // Announcer's notes mention Eleven) — without this, two bots in one group

+ // ping-pong forever. Name-based (payloads aren't sender-signed yet), refreshed

+ // on every (re)connect so newly added bots are picked up within a cycle.

+ async function loadAgents() {

+ try {

+ const { roster = [] } = await get("/api/roster");

+ agentNames = new Set(roster.filter((e) => e.is_agent).map((e) => e.label));

+ } catch (e) {

+ tag(`loadAgents: ${e.message}`);

+ }

const maxId = (messages) => messages.reduce((m, x) => Math.max(m, x.id || 0), 0);

// Fetch our threads and cache the (unwrapped) key for any we don't hold yet. A

@@ -178,6 +193,7 @@ export function runBot({ name, session, builtinPersona = "", builtinDocs = "" })

} catch {}

}, 30000);

await loadConfig();

+ await loadAgents();

await loadThreads();

await catchUp();

for (const d of queue.splice(0)) ws.send(d);

@@ -204,6 +220,7 @@ export function runBot({ name, session, builtinPersona = "", builtinDocs = "" })

return;

}

if (p.name === name) return; // our own message, echoed back

+ if (agentNames.has(p.name)) return; // bots never talk to bots (see loadAgents)

if (!wantsReply(entry.kind, p.text)) return;

await reply(threadId, entry);

}

diff --git a/changelog/2026-07-02-bot-crosstalk.md b/changelog/2026-07-02-bot-crosstalk.md

new file mode 100644

index 0000000..22f5c60

--- /dev/null

+++ b/changelog/2026-07-02-bot-crosstalk.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@

+Helpers no longer reply to each other — no more bot-to-bot chatter in groups.