From 0e99e31fe9d10760ef43d613959acb76c284aea4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: operator <operator@netvm.local>
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 2026 03:30:25 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix(loop): eliminate main chat saturation from sidechat
 activity

- Exclude automated jobs ([JOB ...]) and heartbeat from sidechat activity digestion
- Exclude recurring background job channels (box-*-health, canary, heartbeat) from monitored sidechats
- Reset default prompt destinations to dedicated task sidechats (646 tasks, main-loop brain, pip tasks, muse tasks)
- Prevent synthetic 'Incoming sidechat activity' prompts from polluting agent Main Chats
---
 bin/self_main_loop.py | 30 +++++++++++++++++++++++-------
 1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/bin/self_main_loop.py b/bin/self_main_loop.py
index 65caf68..e7d8e43 100755
--- a/bin/self_main_loop.py
+++ b/bin/self_main_loop.py
@@ -63,11 +63,11 @@ FOLLOWUPS_FILE = os.path.join(BASE, "followups.json")
 DEFAULT_AGENTS = ["muse", "pip", "646", "opm", "dev"]
 # Prompting sidechat per agent — mirrors box-ctl.py NOTIFY_SIDECHATS.
 DEFAULT_PROMPT_SIDECHAT = {
-    "646": "main",
-    "opm": "main",
-    "pip": "main",
-    "muse": "main",
-    "dev": "main",
+    "646": "646 tasks",
+    "opm": "main-loop brain",
+    "pip": "pip tasks",
+    "muse": "muse tasks",
+    "dev": "dev-audit-channel",
 }
 DEFAULT_SENDER = "opm"  # neutral sender, mirrors `box notify`
 READ_LIMIT = 30
@@ -138,6 +138,8 @@ def get_config(st):
             continue
         if a == "opm" and sc in ("heartbeat",):
             continue
+        if sc == "main":
+            continue
         prompt[a] = sc
     enabled = dict(cfg.get("enabled") or {})
     # Default any unlisted agent to enabled.
@@ -245,7 +247,11 @@ def get_monitored_sidechats(agent):
             continue
         item_agent = item.get("agent")
         if name.endswith(f"@{agent}") or (item_agent == agent and "@" not in name):
-            if name.startswith("pipe-") or name.startswith("test-"):
+            if name.startswith("pipe-") or name.startswith("test-") or name.startswith("onboarding-"):
+                continue
+            if "heartbeat" in name.lower():
+                continue
+            if any(name.startswith(p) for p in ("box-http-health", "box-service-health", "box-deep-health", "canary")):
                 continue
             monitored[uuid] = name
     return monitored
@@ -413,7 +419,14 @@ def check_sidechats(agent, cfg, wm, threads_meta):
         } for m in msgs]
 
         new_msgs = new_messages(formatted, {"last_id": last_id})
-        incoming = [m for m in new_msgs if m.get("role") != "assistant"]
+        incoming = []
+        for m in new_msgs:
+            if m.get("role") == "assistant":
+                continue
+            text = m.get("text", "")
+            if "[JOB " in text or "Heartbeat check" in text or "[from:super]" in text:
+                continue
+            incoming.append(m)
 
         if incoming:
             new_activity.append({
@@ -617,6 +630,9 @@ def do_check(only_agent=None):
                 parts.append(compose_dual_digest(agent, main_new, sc_activity))
             if subagent_alerts:
                 parts.extend(subagent_alerts)
+            if not parts:
+                results[agent] = {"ok": True, "new": 0}
+                continue
             digest = "\n\n".join(parts)[:DIGEST_MAX * 2]
         if not sidechat:
             log("%s: no prompting sidechat configured, skipping" % agent)