Let one Bot hand work to another, and reach a person when no Bot will do

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -85,6 +85,9 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1 # v7.0.1
         with:
           persist-credentials: false
+          # The new-values-key check compares this chart against the last released one, or against
+          # main where the chart has not shipped yet. A shallow clone has neither to compare with.
+          fetch-depth: 0
       - uses: azure/setup-helm@9bc31f4ebc9c6b171d7bfbaa5d006ae7abdb4310 # v5.0.1
         with:
           version: v3.19.0
@@ -156,6 +159,15 @@ jobs:
             --set networkPolicy.enabled=true \
             --set computers.extraEnv[0].name=EGRESS_PROXY_DEFAULT \
             --set-string computers.extraEnv[0].value=http://proxy.internal:3128
+      # And that a values key this chart did not used to have still renders when it is absent.
+      #
+      # `helm upgrade --reuse-values` takes the previous release's computed values rather than
+      # merging the new chart's defaults, so a key added by the release being installed is missing on
+      # every deployment that already exists. Unguarded that is a nil dereference that fails the
+      # whole render, or an empty scalar Kubernetes reads as unset. Both shipped: one was found in
+      # review, the other by a live upgrade after the first had been fixed one key over.
+      - name: A new values key can be absent
+        run: bun scripts/check-new-values-keys.ts charts/openbot/ci/${{ matrix.target }}-values.yaml
 
   test:
     name: tests

app/src/components/agents/orb/agent-orb.tsx

@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";
 import {
   type MotionStyle,
   motion,
@@ -7,6 +6,7 @@ import {
   useReducedMotion,
   useTransform,
 } from "motion/react";
+import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";
 import {
   type AIAmplitude,
   type AIState,

app/src/components/channels/chat-transcript.tsx

@@ -1,18 +1,15 @@
 import type { Message } from "@ag-ui/core";
-import { IconBox } from "@tabler/icons-react";
 import { useRenderToolCall } from "@copilotkit/react-core/v2";
+import { IconBox } from "@tabler/icons-react";
 import { motion, useReducedMotion } from "motion/react";
 import { memo, useEffect, useMemo, useRef } from "react";
 import { Streamdown } from "streamdown";
-import { markdownComponents } from "@/lib/markdown";
-import { EASE_OUT, ENTRANCE_SECONDS } from "@/lib/motion";
 import { Bubble, BubbleContent } from "@/components/ui/bubble";
 import {
   MessageContent,
   MessageFooter,
   Message as MessageRow,
 } from "@/components/ui/message";
-import { Skeleton } from "@/components/ui/skeleton";
 import {
   MessageScroller,
   MessageScrollerButton,
@@ -22,12 +19,15 @@ import {
   MessageScrollerViewport,
   useMessageScroller,
 } from "@/components/ui/message-scroller";
-import { toVisibleChatItems } from "./chat-messages";
-import { asText, forDisplay, REFUSAL_MARKER } from "@/lib/plugins/tool-result";
+import { Skeleton } from "@/components/ui/skeleton";
+import { markdownComponents } from "@/lib/markdown";
+import { EASE_OUT, ENTRANCE_SECONDS } from "@/lib/motion";
 import { readToolName } from "@/lib/plugins/tool-name";
+import { asText, forDisplay, REFUSAL_MARKER } from "@/lib/plugins/tool-result";
+import { toVisibleChatItems } from "./chat-messages";
 import type { QueuedMessage } from "./composer";
-import { ToolLine } from "./tool-line";
 import { ToolRenderBoundary } from "./tool-boundary";
+import { ToolLine } from "./tool-line";
 
 type ChatTranscriptProps = {
   busy?: boolean;

app/src/components/layout/page-shell.tsx

@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
+import { IconChevronLeft } from "@tabler/icons-react";
+import { Link, type LinkProps } from "@tanstack/react-router";
 import type * as React from "react";
-
 import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";
-import { Link, type LinkProps } from "@tanstack/react-router";
 import { Button } from "../ui/button";
-import { IconChevronLeft } from "@tabler/icons-react";
 
 /**
  * The frame every configuration screen sits in.

app/src/lib/channels/mutations.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import {
-  mutationOptions,
   type InfiniteData,
+  mutationOptions,
   type QueryClient,
 } from "@tanstack/react-query";
 import { client, tryClient } from "@/lib/client";

app/src/lib/copilot/escalation-tool.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+import { useRenderTool } from "@copilotkit/react-core/v2";
+import { z } from "zod";
+import { ToolLine } from "@/components/channels/tool-line";
+import { PUT_TO } from "@/lib/copilot/markers";
+import { saidItWentAhead } from "@/lib/plugins/tool-result";
+
+/**
+ * How a Bot stopping to ask a person reads in the transcript.
+ *
+ * RENDER ONLY, for the same reason as the handoff beside it: `ask_person` runs on the server, where
+ * the route and the audit row are. What this adds is that the choice is legible. A Bot which decided
+ * it could not settle something on its own, and said so rather than guessing, has done the right
+ * thing; drawn as a raw `ask_person` call with its arguments as JSON it reads as a malfunction.
+ */
+const parameters = z.object({
+  question: z.string().optional(),
+  why: z.string().optional(),
+});
+
+/**
+ * Whether the question reached anybody.
+ *
+ * Decoded first, because a server-side tool's result arrives as a JSON-encoded string and a prefix
+ * matched against the raw value never matches: that mistake drew every successful handoff as
+ * Blocked. A route that could not reach a person is the case worth drawing differently, because the
+ * Bot has stopped and nobody has been asked.
+ */
+function reached(result: unknown): boolean {
+  return saidItWentAhead(result, PUT_TO);
+}
+
+export function EscalationTool() {
+  useRenderTool({
+    name: "ask_person",
+    parameters,
+    render: ({ parameters: given, result, status }) => {
+      const running = status !== "complete" && result === undefined;
+      return (
+        <ToolLine
+          label="Asked you"
+          detail={given?.question}
+          running={running}
+          refused={!running && !reached(result)}
+        >
+          <div className="space-y-1 text-sm">
+            {given?.question ? <p>{given.question}</p> : null}
+            {/*
+             * Why it stopped, which is the half a person is owed. "I need a decision only you can
+             * make" and "I could not find the answer" look the same from the outside and are not.
+             */}
+            {given?.why ? (
+              <p className="text-muted-foreground">{given.why}</p>
+            ) : null}
+          </div>
+        </ToolLine>
+      );
+    },
+  });
+
+  return null;
+}

app/src/lib/copilot/handoff-tool.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+import { useRenderTool } from "@copilotkit/react-core/v2";
+import { z } from "zod";
+import { ToolLine } from "@/components/channels/tool-line";
+import { HANDED_OVER } from "@/lib/copilot/markers";
+import { saidItWentAhead } from "@/lib/plugins/tool-result";
+
+/**
+ * How a Bot handing work to another Bot reads in the transcript.
+ *
+ * RENDER ONLY. `message_bot` runs on the server, where the grant, the caps and the audit row are, so
+ * nothing here registers a tool or decides anything. What it registers is a line, because a hop that
+ * happens off-screen is the thing the issue asks to avoid: a conversation that quietly fans out to
+ * four Bots and bills for all of them should say so while it is doing it.
+ *
+ * Without this the call still appears, as a generic tool call named `message_bot` with its arguments
+ * as JSON. That is technically visible and practically not: the point is that a person can see their
+ * Bot bringing in another one and read what it asked for.
+ */
+const parameters = z.object({
+  bot: z.string().optional(),
+  task: z.string().optional(),
+  constraints: z.string().optional(),
+  expecting: z.string().optional(),
+});
+
+/**
+ * Whether the deployment refused the hop.
+ *
+ * The result is a sentence the Bot can say either way, because a refusal mid-run is an answer rather
+ * than an exception. The transcript still has to tell the two apart: one is a Bot bringing in help,
+ * the other is a boundary holding, and drawing them the same way would make a working cap look like
+ * a working handoff.
+ */
+function refused(result: unknown): boolean {
+  return !saidItWentAhead(result, HANDED_OVER);
+}
+
+export function HandoffTool() {
+  useRenderTool({
+    name: "message_bot",
+    parameters,
+    render: ({ parameters: given, result, status }) => {
+      const asked = given?.bot?.trim();
+      const running = status !== "complete" && result === undefined;
+      return (
+        <ToolLine
+          label={asked ? `Asked ${asked}` : "Asked another Bot"}
+          detail={given?.task}
+          running={running}
+          refused={!running && refused(result)}
+        >
+          {/*
+           * The parts, kept as parts. The asking model was made to name them so the receiving one
+           * need not infer them, and a person reading the conversation gets the same benefit: what
+           * was asked, what bounded it, and what was wanted back.
+           */}
+          <div className="space-y-1 text-sm">
+            {given?.task ? <p>{given.task}</p> : null}
+            {given?.constraints ? (
+              <p className="text-muted-foreground">
+                Constraints: {given.constraints}
+              </p>
+            ) : null}
+            {given?.expecting ? (
+              <p className="text-muted-foreground">
+                Wanted back: {given.expecting}
+              </p>
+            ) : null}
+            {typeof result === "string" ? (
+              <p className="text-muted-foreground">{result}</p>
+            ) : null}
+          </div>
+        </ToolLine>
+      );
+    },
+  });
+
+  return null;
+}

app/src/lib/copilot/markers.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+/**
+ * The two marker phrases, re-exported from the one place they are declared.
+ *
+ * `shared/` is where the server reads them from too, so a rewording changes both sides at once. This
+ * file exists so the browser code keeps importing through `@/`, and so the path to `shared/` is
+ * written down once rather than in every renderer.
+ */
+export { HANDED_OVER, PUT_TO } from "../../../../shared/handoff-markers";

app/src/lib/copilot/provider.tsx

@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@ import { CopilotKitProvider } from "@copilotkit/react-core/v2";
 import type { ReactNode } from "react";
 import { ActiveBotProvider } from "./active-bot";
 import { ComputerTools } from "./computer-tools";
+import { EscalationTool } from "./escalation-tool";
 import { GalleryTools } from "./gallery-tools";
+import { HandoffTool } from "./handoff-tool";
 import { SandboxedTools } from "./sandboxed-tools";
 
 /**
@@ -25,6 +27,12 @@ export function CopilotProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
       {/* Computer tools target the Bot declared by the mounted surface. */}
       <ActiveBotProvider>
         <ComputerTools />
+        {/*
+          Draws a Bot bringing in another Bot. Registers no tool: `message_bot` runs on the server,
+          where the grant and the caps are. A hop that happens off-screen is the thing to avoid.
+        */}
+        <HandoffTool />
+        <EscalationTool />
         {/* Gallery tools are registered once; their handlers re-read the active Bot to avoid shadowing renderers. */}
         <GalleryTools />
         {/* Browser-authored components use the same component grants as the compiled gallery. */}

app/src/lib/plugins/tool-result.ts

@@ -81,3 +81,22 @@ export function forDisplay(text: string): string {
 
   return `\`\`\`json\n${JSON.stringify(parsed, null, 2)}\n\`\`\``;
 }
+
+/**
+ * Whether a server-side tool's result begins with the phrase that means it went ahead.
+ *
+ * TWO CALLERS AND ONE RULE, because they had two. A tool that runs on the server reaches the
+ * transcript as text meant for a model, so the only thing the renderer can read an outcome out of is
+ * the wording — and the wording arrives JSON-encoded, which is why this decodes before it matches.
+ *
+ * The awkward case is a result that is neither a string nor absent. `message_bot` treated that as
+ * success and `ask_person` treated it as a refusal, for the same situation, and the handoff's own
+ * comments say which way round is worse: a boundary that held drawn as a Bot getting on with it.
+ * So anything unrecognisable is not success. Absent is left alone, because a call still running has
+ * no result yet and the caller decides that from its status.
+ */
+export function saidItWentAhead(result: unknown, marker: string): boolean {
+  if (result === undefined) return true;
+  if (typeof result !== "string") return false;
+  return asText(result).startsWith(marker);
+}

app/src/routes/_authed/_app/agents/index.tsx

@@ -3,10 +3,10 @@ import { useQuery } from "@tanstack/react-query";
 import { createFileRoute, Link } from "@tanstack/react-router";
 import { z } from "zod";
 import { AgentCard } from "@/components/agents/agent-card";
-import { StaggerItem } from "@/components/layout/stagger";
 import { AgentProfile as AgentProfileDetail } from "@/components/agents/agent-profile";
 import { NewAgent } from "@/components/agents/new-agent";
 import { DetailPanel } from "@/components/layout/detail-panel";
+import { StaggerItem } from "@/components/layout/stagger";
 import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
 import { Empty, EmptyHeader, EmptyTitle } from "@/components/ui/empty";
 import { agentListQueryOptions } from "@/lib/agents/queries";

app/src/routes/_authed/_app/skills.tsx

@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
+import { IconDots, IconPlus } from "@tabler/icons-react";
 import { useMutation, useQuery, useQueryClient } from "@tanstack/react-query";
 import { createFileRoute, Link } from "@tanstack/react-router";
 import { useState } from "react";
 import { z } from "zod";
-import { IconPlus } from "@tabler/icons-react";
 import { DetailPanel } from "@/components/layout/detail-panel";
 import {
   PageRows,
@@ -13,26 +13,25 @@ import { StaggerItem } from "@/components/layout/stagger";
 import { EditSkill } from "@/components/skills/edit-skill";
 import { NewSkill } from "@/components/skills/new-skill";
 import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
+import {
+  DropdownMenu,
+  DropdownMenuContent,
+  DropdownMenuGroup,
+  DropdownMenuItem,
+  DropdownMenuTrigger,
+} from "@/components/ui/dropdown-menu";
 import { Empty, EmptyHeader, EmptyTitle } from "@/components/ui/empty";
-import { currentUserQueryOptions } from "@/lib/auth/queries";
-import { removeSkillMutationOptions } from "@/lib/plugins/mutations";
-import { pluginsPageQueryOptions } from "@/lib/plugins/queries";
 import {
   Item,
   ItemActions,
   ItemContent,
   ItemDescription,
   ItemTitle,
 } from "@/components/ui/item";
-import {
-  DropdownMenu,
-  DropdownMenuContent,
-  DropdownMenuGroup,
-  DropdownMenuItem,
-  DropdownMenuTrigger,
-} from "@/components/ui/dropdown-menu";
-import { IconDots } from "@tabler/icons-react";
 import { Separator } from "@/components/ui/separator";
+import { currentUserQueryOptions } from "@/lib/auth/queries";
+import { removeSkillMutationOptions } from "@/lib/plugins/mutations";
+import { pluginsPageQueryOptions } from "@/lib/plugins/queries";
 
 /**
  * Personal `/` skills. They are instructions, not capabilities, and can only be granted to Bots the

app/src/routes/_authed/admin/boundaries.tsx

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ import { useMutation, useQuery } from "@tanstack/react-query";
 import { createFileRoute, Link } from "@tanstack/react-router";
 import { useState } from "react";
 import { PageSection, PageShell } from "@/components/layout/page-shell";
+import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
+import { Input } from "@/components/ui/input";
 import { saveActionPolicyMutationOptions } from "@/lib/computers/mutations";
 import {
   type ActionPolicy,
@@ -11,8 +13,6 @@ import {
   type PolicyMode,
 } from "@/lib/computers/queries";
 import { queryClient } from "@/query-client";
-import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
-import { Input } from "@/components/ui/input";
 
 /**
  * CEL computer-action boundary editor. Rules are shown as the gateway evaluates them, and denied

app/src/routes/_authed/settings/connected-accounts/$key.tsx

@@ -8,20 +8,20 @@ import {
   PageSection,
   PageShell,
 } from "@/components/layout/page-shell";
-import {
-  Item,
-  ItemActions,
-  ItemContent,
-  ItemDescription,
-  ItemTitle,
-} from "@/components/ui/item";
 import { Button } from "@/components/ui/button";
 import {
   DropdownMenu,
   DropdownMenuContent,
   DropdownMenuItem,
   DropdownMenuTrigger,
 } from "@/components/ui/dropdown-menu";
+import {
+  Item,
+  ItemActions,
+  ItemContent,
+  ItemDescription,
+  ItemTitle,
+} from "@/components/ui/item";
 import { Separator } from "@/components/ui/separator";
 import { connectAccountMutationOptions } from "@/lib/plugins/mutations";
 import {