bother-me

name	bother-me
description	Use this skill when an agent should push a completion notification or ask the user a short resumable question through the local or remote bother-me desktop bridge.

Bother Me

Use this skill when the task should end with either:

• a completion ping that does not need a response
• a cleanly framed question that the user can answer to resume work

When to use it

• The agent has reached the end of a generation and should notify the user.
• The agent is blocked on one specific piece of user input.
• The user wants a form-fill, browser, or computer-use workflow to pause and resume from an answer.

Do not use this skill for speculative back-and-forth. Ask only after doing all reasonable work first.

Required environment

The bridge is reached over HTTP, usually through the other machine's Tailscale or reverse proxy address.

Set:

• BOTHER_ME_BASE_URL
• BOTHER_ME_TOKEN

Use the helper:

node /absolute/path/to/scripts/bother-me-client.mjs ...

In this repo, that path is:

E:\Projects\bother-me\scripts\bother-me-client.mjs

Patterns

Notify only

Use when the generation is finished and no answer is needed.

node E:\Projects\bother-me\scripts\bother-me-client.mjs notify \
  --title "Generation finished" \
  --message "The draft is ready." \
  --source "codex"

Ask a resumable question

Use when one answer is needed to continue. Ask one focused question, then wait briefly.

node E:\Projects\bother-me\scripts\bother-me-client.mjs ask \
  --title "Need a phone number" \
  --message "I completed the form until the contact field." \
  --prompt "What phone number should I enter?" \
  --choice "Mobile" \
  --choice "Home" \
  --choice "Skip if optional" \
  --wait-seconds 30 \
  --poll-seconds 5

Behavior:

• exit 0: answered
• exit 2: still pending after the wait window
• exit 1: error

If the question is still pending, stop at a clean boundary and report that you are waiting for the user's answer.

Writing the question

Every question should include:

• what was completed already
• the exact missing input
• the recommended default when possible

Good:

• I completed sections 1-4. Section 5 asks for your preferred phone number. What should I enter?

Bad:

• What should I do with this form?

Polling an existing request

node E:\Projects\bother-me\scripts\bother-me-client.mjs poll --id REQUEST_ID

Rules

• Notify only at the end of a generation or other natural stopping point.
• Ask only when the answer materially affects correctness.
• Keep the question singular and concrete.
• Prefer a short bounded wait. Do not loop forever.
• If no answer arrives, end in a waiting state instead of guessing.