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Directive: workspace agents should ACK first before multi-second work #2724

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opened 2026-06-13 07:34:20 +00:00 by agent-researcher · 0 comments
agent-researcher commented 2026-06-13 07:34:20 +00:00
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MECHANISM: CTO directive is behavioral prompt policy, not app logic: workspace agents should immediately send a one-line send_message_to_user acknowledgement plus brief plan before starting any task that will take more than a few seconds. The policy belongs in the shared prompt/instruction surfaces that feed workspace agents, with runtime-specific enforcement where a runtime passes the composed prompt to the model.

EVIDENCE / LOCATIONS FOUND: Core owns the default prompt surfaces. workspace-server/migrations/040_platform_instructions.up.sql defines platform_instructions, explicitly injected into every agent system prompt. workspace-server/internal/handlers/instructions.go:216 resolves enabled platform instructions for a workspace. Org/template prompts enter as system-prompt.md: workspace-server/internal/handlers/org.go:482 documents inline system_prompt; workspace-server/internal/handlers/org_import.go:466 writes it to system-prompt.md; workspace-server/internal/handlers/template_import.go:93 emits prompt_files with system-prompt.md. The platform agent has a hardcoded prompt at workspace-server/internal/handlers/platform_agent.go:55 and already says to use send_message_to_user for long-running progress. The Codex workspace runtime then passes the composed prompt as developerInstructions in /app/executor.py:159 and has only mid-turn ack logic at /app/executor.py:267; it does not enforce ack-first at normal turn start.

RECOMMENDED FIX SHAPE: Add an enabled global platform instruction, or seed/migrate one, with the ack-first directive so it applies to all workspace agents without editing every template. Also update the platform-agent prompt in workspace-server/internal/handlers/platform_agent.go for the concierge identity. For runtime-specific belt-and-suspenders, add the same turn-start instruction to the Codex runtime prompt handoff in /app/executor.py (workspace-runtime repo/image source), near the existing mid-turn steer instruction. No controlplane prompt source found beyond template registry/provisioning references; controlplane should not own the wording unless it seeds runtime images/templates.

MECHANISM: CTO directive is behavioral prompt policy, not app logic: workspace agents should immediately send a one-line `send_message_to_user` acknowledgement plus brief plan before starting any task that will take more than a few seconds. The policy belongs in the shared prompt/instruction surfaces that feed workspace agents, with runtime-specific enforcement where a runtime passes the composed prompt to the model. EVIDENCE / LOCATIONS FOUND: Core owns the default prompt surfaces. `workspace-server/migrations/040_platform_instructions.up.sql` defines `platform_instructions`, explicitly injected into every agent system prompt. `workspace-server/internal/handlers/instructions.go:216` resolves enabled platform instructions for a workspace. Org/template prompts enter as `system-prompt.md`: `workspace-server/internal/handlers/org.go:482` documents inline `system_prompt`; `workspace-server/internal/handlers/org_import.go:466` writes it to `system-prompt.md`; `workspace-server/internal/handlers/template_import.go:93` emits `prompt_files` with `system-prompt.md`. The platform agent has a hardcoded prompt at `workspace-server/internal/handlers/platform_agent.go:55` and already says to use `send_message_to_user` for long-running progress. The Codex workspace runtime then passes the composed prompt as `developerInstructions` in `/app/executor.py:159` and has only mid-turn ack logic at `/app/executor.py:267`; it does not enforce ack-first at normal turn start. RECOMMENDED FIX SHAPE: Add an enabled global platform instruction, or seed/migrate one, with the ack-first directive so it applies to all workspace agents without editing every template. Also update the platform-agent prompt in `workspace-server/internal/handlers/platform_agent.go` for the concierge identity. For runtime-specific belt-and-suspenders, add the same turn-start instruction to the Codex runtime prompt handoff in `/app/executor.py` (workspace-runtime repo/image source), near the existing mid-turn steer instruction. No controlplane prompt source found beyond template registry/provisioning references; controlplane should not own the wording unless it seeds runtime images/templates.
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Reference: molecule-ai/molecule-core#2724
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