moderator-open-mic

name	moderator-open-mic
description	Ordered multi-agent collaboration on shared channels using gated mode. Prevents fan-out storms by suppressing inbox delivery; the moderator grants speaking turns via syscall.ask and agents read history explicitly. Acquire this skill when you coordinate 3+ agents on a shared channel.

Moderator Open-Mic

Problem

A shared channel with N agent members delivers every message to N-1 inboxes. Each delivery can wake an agent, which posts again, triggering another N-2 deliveries — an exponential fan-out storm. Even when ghost whisper suppresses most wakes, agents that do activate see stale or partial context because activations race with each other.

Solution: Gated Channels + syscall.ask Turns

A gated channel stores messages in history and pushes them to external subscribers (dashboard / WebSocket) but does not deliver to agent inboxes. The moderator orchestrates participation by asking agents one at a time via syscall.ask. Each agent reads the channel history to get full context before posting.

Creating a gated channel

At runtime:

syscall.chat.create  name="discussion"  members=["agent-a","agent-b","agent-c"]  gated=true

Or in world-config.yaml (boot-time):

shared_chat:
  startup:
    - name: Townfolks
      creator_id: moderator
      gated: true
      members: [moderator, agent-a, agent-b, agent-c]

Turn-Taking Workflows

Round-robin

Ask each agent in a fixed order. Every agent sees the full accumulated history.

1. Post context to the channel: syscall.chat.send channel="discussion" message="Topic: X. I will call on each of you in turn."
2. For each agent in order:
   • syscall.ask agent_id="agent-a" message="Your turn. Read #discussion history, post your thoughts there, then reply 'done' to me."
   • Wait for reply.
3. After all agents have spoken, post a summary or move to the next phase.

Selective

Address only specific agents relevant to the topic.

• syscall.ask agent_id="agent-b" message="Agent-A raised concern X. Read #discussion history and respond in the channel, then reply 'done'."

Batch round (open discussion)

Ask all agents in one pass (still serialized per syscall.ask). Each agent accumulates context from those who spoke before them via syscall.chat.history.

1. Post the opening: syscall.chat.send channel="discussion" message="Day discussion is open. I will call on each of you."
2. Call each agent sequentially with syscall.ask.
3. Close: syscall.chat.send channel="discussion" message="Discussion closed."

Contracts

Moderator-side

• Open the floor — post phase labels or context to the gated channel before granting turns.
• Grant turns — use syscall.ask for each speaker. The ask message should tell the agent to read history, post to the channel, and reply when done.
• Close the floor — post a closing message when the round is complete.
• Binding actions — for votes or decisions, use syscall.ask replies directly (not channel posts) so the moderator captures them deterministically.

Agent-side (participants)

• No unsolicited posts — on a gated channel you will never receive inbox traffic from it. Only participate when the moderator asks you via syscall.ask.
• Read before writing — always call syscall.chat.history on the channel before posting so you have full context including what others said.
• One message per turn — post exactly one substantive message to the channel per turn. Keep it concise.
• Reply to the moderator — after posting to the channel, reply to the syscall.ask to signal you are done (e.g. "done" or a summary of your post).

When NOT to Use

• Two-agent conversations — use syscall.ask directly; no channel needed.
• Broadcast-only announcements — if no agent needs to reply in the channel, a non-gated channel or syscall.broadcast (where available) is simpler.
• High-frequency real-time chat — gated mode is designed for structured, turn-based discussion, not free-form rapid-fire messaging.