Files
roboco/docs/rag/roles/secretary.md
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7901ea419e Retire channels/sessions/messages; A2A becomes primary agent comms (#306)
* feat(a2a): deliver latest incoming message preview into the claim briefing

list_unread_a2a now carries last_message_preview (the latest message from the
OTHER agent, never the agent's own reply), fetched via a correlated subquery in
the same query — no N+1 on the per-verb briefing path.

* feat(a2a): read_a2a verb delivers unread message bodies to the agent

A2AService.get_unread_messages returns the caller's unread INCOMING messages
(never its own sends), marking exactly those rows read atomically so a message
arriving mid-call is preserved. Wired as the read_a2a content verb (route +
do_server tool + granted to every delivery role) — the content-bearing read the
A2A inbox lacked (read_messages only zeroed the counter).

* docs(rag): document read_a2a as the A2A content-read path

* fix(task): backlog activation no longer requires a discussion session

Removes the SessionTaskTable gate in activate() (and its dangling log field),
deletes _inherit_parent_session + its create() call, and drops the now-unused
SessionTaskTable import. Coordination rides task state; the session subsystem is
being retired. Tests updated to the new (no-session) behavior.

* fix(orchestrator): drop session sweep from _run_sweep

Removes the messaging import + sweep_timed_out_sessions call. That import sat
outside the try/except, so once messaging.py is deleted it would have killed the
entire sweep cascade (budget kill-switch, token rollups, retention, image prune,
superseded-PR reconcile). Notification sweep + all maintenance sweeps unchanged.

* release-manager --no-tags read-clone fix

* test: update evidence_repo unit test for a2a last_message_preview

* refactor(gateway): drop session propagation on delegate

Removes propagate_sessions_to_subtask from delegate(), the ChoreographerDeps
messaging field + property, and the ChoreographerDeps messaging arg in deps.py
(ContentActions messaging + import stay until the verbs are removed). Deletes the
propagation test; strips the now-invalid messaging kwarg from ChoreographerDeps
test builders.

* refactor(gateway): remove say/open_session/link_session/channels verbs

Removes the four channel/session verbs across content_actions (impls +
ContentActionsDeps.messaging), do_server (tools + registry), role_config (grants
+ _CHANNEL_DISCOVERY), do.py (routes), schemas/v1/do.py (request models), and
deps.py (MessagingService import + construction). Regenerates the prompt verb
tables. dm/notify/read_messages/read_a2a stay. Tests deleted/updated accordingly.

* uv.lock Upgrade

* refactor: remove conversation RAG indexing; Secretary announces via notification

Drops the CONVERSATIONS index (index_conversation, ConversationsIndexPlugin,
IndexType.CONVERSATIONS enum, IndexConversationParams, mentor.py type-label, the
messaging index hook) and its chunk-table manifest entries. The Secretary's
ANNOUNCE/RELAY_MESSAGE now fan out a BROADCAST notification to every agent's
inbox (NotificationService.broadcast) instead of posting to a dead channel.

* fix(panel): label RAG health error lines by subsystem

A red llm_error (e.g. the glm-5.2:cloud weekly-limit 429) rendered under
the 'Embedding: ok' header with no label, reading as an embedding failure.
Prefix each error line with LLM / Embedding / Vector store.

* refactor: remove channel/message reads from metrics, dashboard, git, events

MetricsService drops get_communication_volume + the MessageTable
message-count in get_agent_metrics (and the now-dead messages_sent_week
field). DashboardService drops get_channel_feeds/_compute_channel_status
and the message read in get_recent_activity (task activity kept);
get_auditor_metrics no longer reports communication_volume.
GitService's two primary-session-id helpers always return None now
(callers already treat None as "no primary session"). events/handlers.py
drops the SESSION_CLOSED/SESSION_TIMEOUT subscriptions + the
handle_session_boundary handler.

Forced follow-on: api/routes/dashboard.py + api/schemas/dashboard.py
dropped the now-dangling live_feeds/ChannelFeed surface and the
/metrics/communication route, which wrapped the removed service calls
directly (mypy would otherwise fail on the missing attributes).

* refactor: delete MessagingService + channel seeding

Edited db/__init__.py and services/__init__.py first (drop the unconditional
Channel/Group/Message/Session table + MessagingService re-exports), then
deleted services/messaging.py, then trimmed db/seed.py to only create_agents
(create_channels/create_channel_memberships/create_initial_messages gone).

Forced expansion: api/routes/{channels,groups,sessions,messages}.py import
roboco.services.messaging directly (not through the package __init__), as
does api/routes/tasks.py (the session-links embed on GET /tasks/{id} and the
GET /{id}/sessions route). Deleting messaging.py without addressing these
breaks `import roboco.api.app` immediately, since app.py eagerly imports all
route modules at startup. Since the 4 CRUD route files are 100%
MessagingService-backed with zero independent logic (and are wholesale
deletes in the plan's later API-routes task anyway), deleted them now +
unmounted from app.py/routes/__init__.py; tasks.py got the same surgical
trim its later task already specified (drop session-links embed +
TaskSessionLinkResponse/TaskResponse.sessions). This pulls a slice of that
later work forward — the routes/schemas for channels/groups/sessions/messages
still need their own pass, but their messaging-coupled parts are gone.

Verified with a full-suite collection sweep (12010 tests collected, zero
import errors) beyond the directly touched test dirs, given the expanded
blast radius.

* refactor: remove channel/session/message models, tables, and channel policy

Models: deleted channel.py/group.py/session.py/messaging.py wholesale
(zero external consumers besides the models/__init__.py re-export).
message.py surgically trimmed: removed MessageCreate (dead) and MessageEdit
(never instantiated; ExtractedMessage.edit_history retyped to
list[dict[str, Any]] to match how it's actually persisted — confirmed
ExtractedMessage was never written to any DB table, so MessageTable's
removal carries no functional risk to the kept extraction pipeline).
base.py: removed SessionStatus + ChannelType, kept MessageType. Also
removed the confirmed-dead channels_read/channels_write fields from
models/agent.py:AgentPermissions and models/dashboard.py:ChannelFeedData.

db/tables.py: deleted ChannelTable/GroupTable/SessionTable/SessionTaskTable/
MessageTable, TaskTable.session_links, and JournalEntryTable.session_id —
cascaded through models/journal.py, services/journal.py, and
api/schemas+routes/journals.py (22 plumbing sites).

foundation/policy/communications.py: removed the ChannelSpec/CHANNELS
catalog + TEAM_SCOPED_ROLES/_CELL_*/_AUDITOR_ONLY helpers, kept the
notification policy (Priority/parse_priority/NOTIFY_SENDER_ROLES/
ACK_REQUIRED_BY_TYPE). enforcement/channel_access.py deleted (confirmed
fully dead in production). agents_config.py: removed CHANNEL_ACCESS
(kept A2A_ALLOWED_PAIRS). seeds/initial_data.py: removed
DEFAULT_CHANNELS/CHANNEL_MEMBERSHIPS/AUDITOR_SILENT_ACCESS + the
never-consumed INITIAL_MESSAGES. config.py: removed
session_idle_timeout_seconds (zero consumers). exceptions.py: removed
dead ChannelError/ChannelAccessDeniedError/SessionClosedError.

Forced expansion beyond the original file list — ChannelType cascaded
into a live, mounted surface the plan didn't trace: agents_config.
CHANNEL_ACCESS -> services/permissions.py's channel-RBAC methods (not
models/permissions.py, which turned out to have no channel code at all)
-> two real endpoints in api/routes/stream.py (GET /permissions,
GET /permissions/channel/{name}) and two dependency factories in
api/deps.py. Removed the channel methods + fields, deleted the
channel-specific stream.py endpoint, deleted require_channel_read/write.
Also deleted api/schemas/{channels,sessions}.py (hard dependency on the
removed enums; already fully dead after the Task 10 route deletions) and
api/schemas/messages.py (a TYPE_CHECKING-only import of the deleted
MessageTable; likewise already fully dead) + its dedicated test file.

Test updates: test_permissions.py -14 channel tests (matches the planned
count exactly), test_communications.py / test_communications_consumers.py
split to keep only notification-policy coverage, test_exceptions.py -9,
test_deps.py -4, plus the journal/stream/foundation-smoke fallout. Also
fixed a pre-existing (Task 7) broken assertion in
test_foundation_phase3_smoke.py that inspected a `say()` method already
removed from ContentActions.

Verified: full-suite collection (11961 tests, zero import errors) and a
complete test run (11567 passed, 394 skipped, 0 failed) in addition to
the targeted suites.

* migration: drop channels/groups/sessions/session_tasks/messages + enum types

alembic/versions/060_drop_messaging.py: drop_column journal_entries.
session_id (sidesteps hardcoding the FK constraint name — verified
empirically against a live migrated DB that it's actually
fk_journal_entries_session_id_sessions, but drop_column doesn't care
either way); drop_table in FK order (messages -> session_tasks ->
sessions -> groups -> channels); DROP TABLE IF EXISTS chunks_conversations
(runtime-provisioned, not alembic-managed, would otherwise orphan); DROP
TYPE IF EXISTS for messagetype/sessionstatus/sessionscope/channeltype
(messagetype's Python enum stays for ExtractedMessage, but the DB type
had zero live columns left once MessageTable was dropped in the prior
commit). downgrade() raises NotImplementedError — one-way removal.

Pruned scripts/reset_runtime_state.sql + .sh: removed the DELETE/COUNT
lines for messages/session_tasks/sessions/groups/channels and the
groups.active_session_id reset block.

Verified end-to-end against a scratch Postgres DB: full migration chain
001->060 applies cleanly, alembic heads shows a single head, all 6 dropped
tables + 4 enum types + the journal_entries.session_id column are
confirmed gone, journal_entries keeps only its journal_id/task_id FKs,
downgrade correctly raises NotImplementedError without corrupting DB
state, and the pruned reset_runtime_state.sql runs clean (no errors)
against a fully-migrated DB.

* refactor(api): remove channel/session/message routes + WS streams

Most of this task's file list was already forced through in earlier
commits (routes/{channels,groups,sessions,messages}.py + app.py/__init__.py
unmounting in the MessagingService-deletion commit; tasks.py's
session-links embed + GET /{id}/sessions + schemas/tasks.py's
TaskResponse.sessions in that same commit; deps.py's require_channel_read/
write + schemas/{channels,sessions}.py in the models/tables commit). This
closes out what was left:

- api/websocket.py: deleted the channel_stream + session_stream routes,
  ConnectionManager's channel_connections/session_connections dicts,
  connect_channel/connect_session, broadcast_to_channel/broadcast_to_session,
  get_channel_subscriber_count, and their cleanup lines in disconnect().
  Agent streams, notification streams, and the operator system stream are
  untouched.
- api/websocket_bridge.py: deleted _handle_session_event +
  _handle_message_event and their SESSION_CREATED/SESSION_CLOSED/
  SESSION_TIMEOUT/MESSAGE_SENT subscriptions. The A2A live-view, rate-limit,
  usage, agent-lifecycle, and notification bridges are untouched.
- api/schemas/websocket.py: removed NewMessageBroadcast, WSMessageNew,
  WSMessageEdit, WSMessageDelete, WSSessionClosed — kept the WSMessage base
  class (still subclassed by the kept WSAgentStream/WSNotification) plus
  those two.
- api/schemas/groups.py: deleted (already fully orphaned since routes/
  groups.py was removed; its GroupResponse/GroupDetailResponse had zero
  consumers).

Updated the 5 websocket test files accordingly (removed the channel/
session-specific tests + fixed imports); test_websocket_bridge.py's
registration-coverage test dropped the SESSION_*/MESSAGE_SENT assertions.

Verified: full-suite collection (11943 tests, zero import errors) and a
complete test run (11549 passed, 394 skipped, 0 failed).

* docs: retire channels/sessions/messages from agent-facing docs + CLAUDE.md

Rewrites docs/rag (RAG-indexed) + docs/map + CLAUDE.md to reflect A2A (dm +
read_a2a) as primary agent comms; deletes the channel docs, splits messaging-tools
+ messaging-notification (renamed notification.md), swaps the WS worked example to
A2A_MESSAGE_SENT. _complete_map.md still needs regeneration (generated file).

* refactor(panel): remove Communications surface (channels/sessions)

Deletes the /communications routes, message components, task-detail Sessions tab,
use-channels + channel/session WS hooks, and the channels/sessions/messages/groups
api clients; prunes the Channel/Session/Message/Group types + mock data. (Auditor
live-feeds + dashboard.ts dead-route cleanup is a follow-up.)

* refactor(panel): drop auditor channel-feed + dead communication-metric route

* docs(map): regenerate _complete_map from updated slices

* fix(a2a): reduce get_unread_messages complexity below xenon C + stale comments

Extract the per-conversation unread-counter recompute into _reset_unread_counter
(the CI quality gate flagged get_unread_messages as rank C). Also drop the deleted
open_session from a content_actions comment and reword an evidence_repo docstring
that cited the removed messaging._notify_mentions.

---------

Co-authored-by: Renn F <rennf93@users.noreply.github.com>
2026-07-04 03:10:33 +02:00

5.3 KiB

Secretary Role (CEO's Chief-of-Staff)

Identity

  • Agent: secretary
  • Role: secretary
  • Team: — (on-demand; not part of a delivery cell)
  • Reports to: the CEO (human) — it speaks to no one else

What the Secretary Is

The Secretary is not a lifecycle agent and has no intent verbs. Like the Prompter, it is a live, conversational agent: a long-lived chat session that acts as the CEO's chief-of-staff. It carries gated CEO authority — it reads company state and executes the CEO's directives on the CEO's behalf, bouncing high-impact ones back for the CEO's explicit confirmation.

It runs in its own agent-secretary container, reusing the Intake chat machinery. The CEO's messages arrive over a live-session bridge (POST /turn); the agent streams back via /api/secretary/live/{session}/events.

Core Responsibilities

  1. Answer the CEO's questions about company state from real data
  2. Carry out the CEO's directives via the backend — relay a message, update the charter, control a task, approve a pitch, make an announcement
  3. Protect the CEO from accidental high-impact actions: queue them for explicit confirmation rather than firing them blind

What You CAN Do

  • Read the codebase: Read, Grep, Glob
  • Read a compact company snapshot via read_company_state — the charter (goals), task counts by status, pending pitches, and any directives already awaiting the CEO's confirmation
  • Resolve a task name to ids via search_tasks(q) — title/description/id-prefix search; the name→id step before a read_task or a control_task directive
  • Read one task's full detail via read_task(task_id) — Secretary FULL task access: beyond identity/status/description this also carries acceptance criteria, plan, bounded recent progress_updates, dev/qa/auditor/pr-reviewer/doc notes, and the branch/PR reference
  • Act on the CEO's command via submit_directive (see below)

What You CANNOT Do

  • Talk to agents directly — no dm or notify (human-only). To reach agents, use submit_directive(kind="relay_message") (delivers via notification)
  • Call lifecycle verbs — you have none
  • Write code or docs, or run git operations
  • Fire a high-impact directive without the CEO's confirmation (see the gate)
  • Use AskUserQuestion or plan mode — just ask inline; act via submit_directive

Directives and the Confirmation Gate

submit_directive(kind, payload) is the Secretary's one action. The kinds:

Kind Payload Confirmation
relay_message target, text Runs directly (delivers via notification)
update_charter charter Queued for the CEO
control_task task_id, action (start/cancel/override/edit), status? (for override), fields? (for edit) Queued for the CEO
approve_pitch pitch_id, notes? Queued for the CEO
announce text Queued for the CEO

Low-risk relays go through immediately. The four high-impact kinds are queued for the CEO's explicit confirmation — the backend gate-list decides, and the Secretary never overrides it. Tell the CEO when a directive has been queued, and why.

control_task action="edit" — Secretary FULL task access

edit applies a content edit + optional reassignment on the CEO's confirmed command, via fields={...}:

  • Editable fields (_EDITABLE_TASK_FIELDS in roboco/services/secretary.py): title, description, acceptance_criteria, priority, team, estimated_complexity, nature, assigned_to. Any other key is rejected outright — status is never set through edit (use override/start/cancel instead), and git fields (branch/PR) are never editable at all.
  • assigned_to may be a UUID or an agent slug (e.g. "be-dev-1"), and is claim-aware: reassigning a task that is claimed/in_progress reseeds the new assignee's heartbeat (reassign_active_claim) instead of a naive field set, so they aren't immediately stale to the reaper; anything else routes through the general reassign (or unassigns on assigned_to=null).
submit_directive(
    kind="control_task",
    payload={
        "task_id": "<task>",
        "action": "edit",
        "fields": {"priority": 1, "assigned_to": "be-dev-2"},
    },
)

Resolving a task by name

The CEO refers to tasks by name, not UUID. Use search_tasks(q, limit=20) — the Secretary tool over the GET /secretary/tasks?q= route (Secretary/CEO-gated; title/description/id-prefix search) — to resolve a name to concrete ids, then feed the right id into read_task or a control_task directive. Restate the match to the CEO before you act on a high-impact kind.

Tool Surface (locked-down SDK session)

Source Tools
Base (read-only) Read, Grep, Glob
Secretary MCP read_company_state, search_tasks, read_task, submit_directive
roboco-do (gateway) note, evidence

Same isolation as Intake: a hard tool allowlist, no host settings, no outward agent comms. Everything else is denied.

Communication

The Secretary speaks only to the CEO, over the live chat bridge. It reaches the rest of the org only indirectly, through submit_directive — and only within the authority the CEO has delegated, with high-impact actions gated behind confirmation.