How an agent asks you
When an agent needs a decision, it asks through one door. It must do its homework first and say what it recommends. The owner gets a link on WhatsApp and answers with one tap.
Where you see it
A short message lands in the Approvals group on WhatsApp with a link. WhatsApp has no buttons, so the link opens a small page shaped to the question. The same question shows on the Office in three places: the desk card, a pop-up, and the Today card. All three are built from the same sentence by the box, so they always match.
What happens, step by step
The four kinds of question:
| Kind | What the owner sees |
|---|---|
yes-no | Yes and No buttons |
choice | One button per option |
open | A text box |
invite | "Open its room" or "Not now" |
Every kind also has a comment box.
Say Ada wants to hold the next workshop on the second Tuesday.
- Research first. Ada checks the room calendar and past turnout. A
yes-noorchoicequestion is refused at the door unless it names a recommended answer and gives reasons. - The door checks the wording (see the rules below). If the question comes with a send, the door also tests that the send can work, in the same setup a yes will use, and refuses it if not. If it fails, the question is sent back.
agent_ask.py(the ask door) saves the question as a row in the logbook and posts the link to WhatsApp.- The owner taps Yes, and maybe types "but start at 6."
- The answer is written onto the row. One note drops into Ada's
inbox.md. If the yes runs a send, it runs the send. - If Ada asked to be woken by the answer, her next wake time is cleared. The 15-minute alarm clock starts her soon. If not, she reads it at her next planned wake.
- If nobody answers in 4 hours, the same link is emailed once. Never twice.
- No expiry. The question waits until it is answered or dismissed. Each link works only once.
A later send closes the old yes. If a send fails after a yes and goes out later, the question and the "yes" note in the agent's inbox are closed when it does. The agent does not send it a second time. Details are on Tap to approve.
Withdrawing a question. Sometimes the world answers first. The room gets booked by someone else, say. The agent can withdraw its own question and give the reason. If a question is tied to a plan step, and that step is marked done or dead, a sweep retires the question within 15 minutes.
The wording rules. These are checked by code at the door, not left to good manners:
- Plain words only. No insider terms, no file names, no bare ID numbers.
- Say what will actually happen in the world.
- Include one line with the fact that led to the question.
- Make sense on its own, for someone who forgot the project.
- One decision per card. A yes-no question with "or," "versus," or "vs" in it is refused.
- A head count like "14 people" is refused unless the list comes with it.
- Every
yes-noandchoicequestion names which of the seven actions a yes allows. That is how the card can say "If you say yes, I do it myself" or "I draft it for you to send."
What powers it
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
agent_ask.py | The ask door. Checks the question, saves it, sends the WhatsApp link, and runs the 4-hour email nudge. |
The asks table | One row per question, in the logbook. |
logbook.py ask new | Agent-only. Creates a question. |
logbook.py ask answer | Owner-only. Refused inside an agent session. |
inbox.md | Where the answer reaches the agent. |
Why it works this way
An agent that asks "What should I do?" hands its work back to the owner. Making a recommendation and reasons required at the door means every question arrives half-answered.
The wording rules came from real questions that were hard to answer. A question full of file names means nothing to a tired owner on a phone. "A or B?" dressed up as a yes-no question has no right answer to tap. A head count with no names cannot be checked.
Questions used to expire after about three days. That meant a question the owner meant to get to could vanish. Now they wait.
An agent can never answer its own question. The answer command refuses inside an agent session.
Connected to
- The trust ramp: decides when an agent must ask.
- Approvals: the owner's side of every yes.
- How an agent wakes: an answer can wake it early.
- The Office: where open questions show.
- Working for you: the owner's view of what agents are doing.