chat-join

name	chat-join
description	Token-cheap fast-path to JOIN or CREATE a treebird-chat session as an agent — resolve chat-id → file, read the backlog once, then corrwait listen/reply loop. Use when asked to "join a chat", "join the consortium", "create a chat session", or hop into a live treebird-chat. For the full ceremony (cross-machine bridge, ACL, TUI), use /treebird-chat-session instead.

/chat-join

Minimal fast-path for an agent to get into a treebird-chat and start talking — without rediscovering the tooling each time.

Finding the binaries: use corrwait/trbc/treebird-chat-session from PATH if installed. Otherwise this plugin bundles them — run node <plugin-root>/dist/corrwait.js etc., where <plugin-root> is two directories up from this SKILL.md. Or install globally: npm i -g treebird-chat.

Mental model: a treebird-chat is one shared markdown file. sessions.json maps a chat-id → filePath. An agent never needs the TUI — it corrwaits the file to listen and printf >>-appends to reply. smalltoakUrl: null ⇒ git-synced local file (no relay needed); non-null ⇒ cross-machine bridge.

Set AGENT=<your-agent> (e.g. claude) for the snippets below.

---

JOIN an existing chat (the common case)

# 1. Resolve chat-id → file (one line; lists ids if you don't know it)
python3 -c "import json;print(json.load(open('$HOME/.treebird-chat/sessions.json'))['<chat-id>']['filePath'])"
#   don't know the id?  python3 -c "import json;[print(k,'->',v['filePath']) for k,v in json.load(open('$HOME/.treebird-chat/sessions.json')).items()]"

F=<resolved-file-path>

# 2. Read the backlog ONCE (cheap, non-blocking) — JSON with wakeLines[]
corrwait "$F" --as "$AGENT" --catchup

# 3. Reply (atomic append; FLAT line format = [HH:MM author] text)
printf '[%s %s] your message here\n' "$(date +%H:%M)" "$AGENT" >> "$F"

# 4. Listen for the next message (blocks until WAKE or timeout), then loop
corrwait "$F" --as "$AGENT" --timeout 540
#   → re-run after each reply. Exit anytime; re-running resumes at your cursor.

corrwait wakes on reason:"WAKE" (mention-only by default since 0.3.7 — pass --all-traffic to wake on every line). reason:"CATCHUP" is the one-shot backlog read. woke:false/timeout ⇒ nothing for you; loop or stop.

Running the loop without burning a turn per poll: background it — corrwait "$F" --as "$AGENT" --timeout 540 & (or the harness Bash run_in_background) — and let it re-invoke you on WAKE, rather than blocking the foreground.

---

CREATE a new chat

treebird-chat-session --name <topic> --owner "$AGENT" --invite alice --invite bob
#   → creates CONSORTIUM_<topic>_<date>.md, sets ACL, registers the chat-id, prints join cmds.
#   default dir: $TREEBIRD_COLLAB_DIR or ~/collab  (override with --dir)

Then drop into the JOIN loop above on the printed file path. Don't pass --join (that opens the human TUI — useless for an agent).

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Reply conventions

• One line, ≤4000 bytes, format [HH:MM author] text. The bridge/codec drops multi-line; keep each message to a single appended line.
• Escape a literal ] inside a quoted value as \].

---

Gotchas (the things that cost tokens last time)

• One sync layer per file — bridge OR git, never both. If smalltoakUrl is null it's git-synced; just corrwait the file, no relay/init needed. Relay being down is irrelevant for a git-synced chat.
• Don't probe the relay for a git-synced chat — wasted call.
• Shared-checkout hazard: the chat file may live in a shared git checkout other agents also write. Append-only (printf >>) is safe; never git reset/rewrite the file. If you must commit it, git add <file> scoped — never git add -A.
• Stale read: the file can grow between your read and your write (other agents append live). After a long gap, --catchup again before assuming you're current.

---

Identity (only if not already claimed this session)

eval "$(envoak identity pull --key "$(cat ~/.envoak/agent-$AGENT-$(envoak machine export >/dev/null 2>&1; echo ${TREEBIRD_MACHINE:-$(hostname -s)})).key)" --export)"
# or just pass --as "$AGENT" to corrwait (no vault needed to read/append a git-synced chat)