signal-detector · diff
v1.0.0 to v1.1.0
41 added, 36 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: signal-detector
- version: 1.0.0
+ version: 1.1.0
description: |
- Always-on ambient signal capture. Applies on every substantive inbound
- message to detect original thinking and entity mentions. Spawn as a cheap
- sub-agent where the harness supports it; otherwise run detection inline.
+ Opt-in ambient signal capture. After explicit enablement, applies on
+ substantive inbound messages to detect original thinking and entity mentions.
+ Use an authorized sub-agent where supported; otherwise detect inline.
Aim to never block the main response.
triggers:
- - every inbound message (always-on)
+ - every substantive inbound message after automatic-capture opt-in
tools:
- search
- query
- get_page
- put_page
- add_link
- add_timeline_entry
mutating: true
writes_pages: true
writes_to:
- people/
- companies/
- concepts/
---
# Signal Detector — Ambient Brain Capture
- Lightweight capture pass applied to every substantive inbound message. It
- watches for TWO things with EQUAL priority:
+ After the user enables automatic capture, apply this lightweight pass to
+ substantive inbound messages within their chosen scope. It watches for:
1. **Original thinking** — the user's ideas, observations, theses, frameworks
2. **Entity mentions** — people, companies, media references
Original thinking is AT LEAST as valuable as entity extraction. Ideas are the
intellectual capital. Entities are bookkeeping. Both compound over time.
## Contract
This skill guarantees:
- - Applies on every substantive message where the harness supports ambient
- routing (skips: purely operational messages, users who turned capture off)
+ - Applies only after explicit automatic-capture opt-in (skips: no recorded
+ choice, capture off, chat-only requests, and purely operational messages)
- Spawns as a sub-agent where the harness supports it; otherwise runs the
detection inline before composing the reply. Never blocking the response
is the intent, not a runtime contract
- - Announces itself on first fire and honors the per-user off switch
+ - Checks the user's stored capture choice before writing and honors narrower
+ per-message instructions; a first-fire announcement is not consent
- Captures ideas with the user's EXACT phrasing (no paraphrasing)
- Detects entity mentions and creates/enriches brain pages
- Logs a one-line summary of what was captured
- Back-links all entity mentions (Iron Law)
- Citations on every fact written
- Always-on is a harness-routing convention that a well-behaved agent
+ Ambient routing is a harness convention that a well-behaved agent
follows, not a mechanical guarantee; nothing in the gbrain runtime blocks
a reply if the skill never loads. On harnesses without per-message ambient
routing (Claude Code, Codex), apply this skill as an agent convention or
wire it via a prompt-submit hook. When the operator has enabled
`memory.auto_writeback` (off by default; `gbrain config set
memory.auto_writeback salient`), the MCP server's initialize instructions
and the managed bootstrap instruction blocks carry the ambient-writeback
contract to the agent, and on Claude Code a Stop-hook extraction backstop
catches turns the convention missed. That is still a convention on the
agent side — server-delivered instructions plus a backstop, not a
mechanical guarantee.
> **Convention:** See `skills/conventions/quality.md` for Iron Law back-linking.
Every time this skill creates or updates a brain page that mentions a person or company:
1. Check if that person/company has a brain page
2. If yes → add a back-link FROM their page TO the page you just created/updated
3. Format: `- **YYYY-MM-DD** | Referenced in [page title](path) — brief context`
4. An unlinked mention is a broken brain.
- ## First-Fire Consent
+ ## Enablement before capture
- Ambient capture persists the user's words into the brain, so the user must
- know it is on. The FIRST time this skill captures anything for a user,
- announce it in the visible reply: ambient signal capture is on, it stores
- ideas and entity mentions as brain pages, and saying "turn off signal
- capture" disables it. Record that the announcement happened (a preference
- note in the brain works) so it fires once, not every message. Asking once
- and recording the answer is equally valid; either way the preference is
- stored, never re-asked per message.
+ Automatic capture is off by default. Before writing, establish an explicit
+ user choice for this brain and capture scope. A stored opt-in or an explicitly
+ enabled `memory.auto_writeback` mode can supply that choice; `off`, a missing or
+ unreadable choice cannot. Reading this skill, installing GBrain, an available
+ API key, silence, or an announcement that capture is on does not authorize it.
+ If the user asks to enable capture, explain what will be retained and record
+ the accepted choice. Honor an existing choice without asking again. A request
+ to remember one fact authorizes that fact, not future ambient capture.
+ Delegation and paid enrichment are separate capabilities: capture opt-in alone
+ does not authorize spawning workers or making paid provider calls.
+
+ After activation, confirm the chosen scope once and explain how to turn it off.
+ Do not capture the current turn while awaiting a required answer.
+
## Per-User Storage Policy
- Ambient capture is a DEFAULT, not a mandate. If the user turns it off (or
- asks for chat-only handling of a specific message), record the preference
- and stop firing: no pages, no links, no timeline entries. Re-enable on
- request. Users who turned capture off sit on the skip list alongside
- purely operational messages.
+ If the user turns capture off, record the requested setting and stop capture:
+ no content pages, links, or timeline entries. A chat-only instruction suppresses
+ capture for that message without changing the standing setting; do not save
+ the chat-only content as a preference. Re-enable only on request. Explicit
+ remembering and relevant recall remain available when capture is off.
## Phases
### Phase 1: Idea/Observation Detection (PRIMARY)
When the user expresses a novel thought, observation, thesis, or framework:
- If it's the user's **original thinking** (they generated it) → create/update `originals/{slug}`
- If it's a **world concept** they're referencing → create/update `concepts/{slug}`
- If it's a **product or business idea** → create/update `ideas/{slug}`
**Capture exact phrasing.** The user's language IS the insight. Don't paraphrase.
**Cross-linking (MANDATORY):** Every original MUST link to related people, companies,
meetings, and concepts. An original without cross-links is a dead original.
### Phase 2: Entity Detection (SECONDARY)
1. Extract entity mentions (people, companies, media titles)
2. For each entity:
- `gbrain search "name"` — does a page exist?
- - If NO page → check notability. If notable, create page with enrichment.
- - If page exists but THIN → trigger enrich
+ - If NO page → check notability. If notable, save the supplied information with provenance.
+ - If page exists but THIN → enrich only within separately authorized capabilities and spending
- If page exists and RICH → no action
3. For new FACTS with specific dates → call `gbrain timeline-add <slug> <date> "<summary>"`
**Auto-link (v0.10.1):** When you write/update an originals or ideas page that
references a person or company, the auto-link post-hook on `put_page`
automatically creates the link from the new page to that entity. You don't
need to call `gbrain link` manually. Timeline entries still need explicit calls.
### Phase 3: Signal Logging
Always log a one-line summary:
- `Signals: 0 ideas, 0 entities, 0 facts (skipped: operational)`
- `Signals: 0 ideas, 0 entities, 0 facts (skipped: capture off)`
- `Signals: 1 idea (captured → originals/x), 2 entities (enriched → people/y, companies/z)`
This makes the ambient capture loop debuggable.
## Output Format
- Runs in the background, but not fully silent at first: until the user has
- seen the first-fire consent announcement, surface the one-line signal log
- in the visible reply so early captures are never invisible. After that the
- skill runs quietly; the output is brain pages created/updated and the
- signal log line.
+ After opt-in, report observed writes and their provenance. Keep the signal log
+ brief and verify captured content with an actual readback. Without opt-in,
+ perform no capture writes; a skipped-capture diagnostic is not a reason to
+ interrupt every response or ask for enablement repeatedly.
## Anti-Patterns
- Blocking the main response to wait for signal detection to complete
- Paraphrasing the user's original thinking instead of capturing exact phrasing
- Creating pages for non-notable entities (one-off mentions)
- Skipping back-links after creating/updating pages
- Running on purely operational messages ("ok", "thanks", "do it")
- - Capturing after the user turned signal capture off (storage policy is a
- default, not a mandate)
- - Staying fully silent on early captures (surface the signal log until the
- first-fire consent announcement has happened)
+ - Capturing without explicit opt-in, after capture was disabled, or on a chat-only turn
+ - Treating a first-fire announcement, one explicit memory, or an API key as standing authorization
+ - Starting paid enrichment or delegation just because capture is enabled
## Tools Used
- `search` — check if entity page exists
- `query` — semantic search for related context
- `get_page` — load existing entity pages
- `put_page` — create/update brain pages
- `add_link` — cross-reference entities
- `add_timeline_entry` — record events on entity timelines