Group Chat Participant Skill

Enables an agent to dynamically participate in multi-agent group chat conversations. Agents can join or leave at any time using simple commands, and respond in-character when receiving forwarded group chat messages.

When to Use

• Agent receives a forwarded message from the host via sessions_send with [GROUPCHAT round=<id>] context
• User or host sends command to add/remove this agent
• Agent wants to join or leave the chat on its own initiative

How It Works

Receiving Group Chat Messages

When the agent receives a sessions_send message that starts with [GROUPCHAT round=<id> from <sender>], it should:

1. Recognize this as a group chat message, not a direct interaction.
2. Check the round identifier; ignore a duplicate or a round already answered.
3. Read context: the message contains the sender's identity and the conversation context.
4. Respond once in character to the host, keeping it concise. Do not message other participants or the user directly.
5. Stop; do not initiate a follow-up. Wait for a new round or an explicit debate instruction from the host.

The host is the only user-facing sender. Participant replies are returned to the host for synthesis and delivery to the user.

Self-Service Commands

The participant can send these to the host via sessions_send, but only when explicitly joining, leaving, or checking status:

A participant must not send these commands as a response to an ordinary groupchat round.

How to Use the Commands

When a participant agent wants to join a conversation:

1. It checks if a group chat is active (via context or by asking).
2. Sends !gc join to the host's session key.
3. The host adds them and announces their arrival.
4. The agent starts receiving forwarded messages.

To leave:

1. Agent sends !gc leave to the host's session key.
2. Host removes them from the active set.
3. Agent stops receiving forwarded group chat messages.

Response Guidelines

• Never break character — respond as yourself, not as the system.
• Reply at most once per round and remain concise.
• Do not forward the host's prompt, your reply, or another participant's reply.
• Do not contact the user directly; the host delivers the combined response.
• Do not send follow-ups unless the host explicitly opens a bounded debate round.
• Self-contained: do not assume knowledge of other replies in the same round.
• No meta-commentary: do not say "as a participant, I should..." — just be yourself.

Optional Configuration

{
  "groupchat-participant": {
    "enabled": true,
    "hostAgentId": "main"
  }
}

If hostAgentId is set, the agent uses this session key as the default target for !gc join / !gc leave commands.