Bot Channel Task Skill

Standard processing flow for tasks received via messaging channels (e.g., Telegram). Only active when a channel plugin is installed and connected.

Overview

[Channel message received]
        |
        v
+----------------------+
| 1. Immediate ack     |  <- Required, highest priority
|  "Got it, I'll do X" |
+----------------------+
        |
        v
+------------------------------------------+
| Task classification                       |
|                                          |
|  Short (1-2 tools) --> Sync execution    |
|  Long / multi-step --> Background agent  |
+------------------------------------------+
        |
        +-- [Sync]  Execute -> completion notification
        |
        +-- [BG]   Launch Agent (run_in_background=true)
                     |
                     +-- Progress report if applicable
                     +-- Completion notification

Step 1: Immediate acknowledgment (required)

After receiving a channel message, reply to the channel first.

Channel detection:

<channel source="plugin:telegram:telegram"> -> mcp__plugin_telegram_telegram__reply

Reply format: "Got it, I'll [action]." (one sentence, concise) reply_to: message_id from the received message

Step 2: Task execution

Short tasks (1-2 tools)

• Synchronous execution is fine
• Report results to channel after completion

Long tasks (research, implementation, multiple operations)

• Launch subagent via Agent tool with run_in_background=true
• Main session returns to message listening immediately

Handoff info for background subagent

Task: [specific task content]
Channel: [channel source from received message]
chat_id: [chat_id from received message]
reply_to: [original message_id]

Instructions:
- Report via the channel's reply tool when work is complete
- Send intermediate progress updates for long tasks
- Report errors immediately

Step 3: Completion notification

Send results to channel after work is done.

• Briefly describe what was done and the outcome
• Include error details and remediation if applicable

Job Management via Conversation

Users can manage scheduled jobs through natural conversation:

• "Add a job that checks the server every hour" -> bot calls /bot-jobs add internally
• "Show my jobs" -> bot calls /bot-jobs list
• "Pause the daily-report job" -> bot calls /bot-jobs pause daily-report

The bot interprets the user's intent and invokes the appropriate /bot-jobs subcommand.

Usage

This skill triggers automatically when the bot receives a channel message via Claude Code Channels routing. It is not invoked manually. Only active when a Channels plugin (e.g., Telegram) is installed.