[backnotprop]

Changes the agent-facing text for the Inbox thread checklist (steps) to the owner-approved wording, word for word. Four fresh agents clean-room tested it, given only the new tool text. Two aligned multi-step tasks each kept a short, high-level list current. A quick question started no list. An agent's own long investigation started no list.

The three texts

1. INBOX_STEPS_ACTION_LINE (the steps action's line in the agent tool):

   person's checklist for multi-step work you're aligned on (see the steps field).

2. INBOX_STEPS_LEAD (the steps field's description and the MCP steps tool's description):

   The person's checklist for this thread, only for multi-step work you're both aligned on. High-level steps, a few plain words each; never your own to-do list. The whole list each call. status: todo, doing, done, waiting (on the person), dropped (say why in note). Update each step as it starts and ends; notifies no one.

3. inboxStepsWakeLine (a reply's wake, only in a thread with a checklist):

   Your checklist here: {done} of {total} done; doing: {doing}. If you're still working on this, keep it current.

   When no step is doing, the ; doing: X part is left out, as before.

Where

• packages/shared/inbox/connection.ts and the hooks module's copy apps/hook/hooks/mod/inbox-contract.ts, kept identical. The Pi extension and the OpenCode plugin use the shared contract, so they have no copies of their own.
• apps/hook/server/inbox-help.ts: the --help quote of the wake line.
• The pinned text in packages/server/inbox-steps-agent.test.ts and packages/shared/inbox/connection-wake-closing.test.ts.
• docs/agent-guides/inbox-notifications-and-agents.md.

Out of scope: the Tidy steps line ("Your steps here: … unchanged for 3 h. Update them if that changed (the steps action, …)") is a separate approved line, so it stays as it is.

Description length (Claude Code cap: 2,048)

The agent tool description with steps on:

• Before: 2,030, or 2,032 with the Board on.
• After: 2,027, or 2,029 with the Board on.

Both are the same in the shared builder and the hooks module's builder. The action line is 3 characters shorter, and the field description is not part of this count. I measured these numbers from a tool list built in a script, not from a running Inbox. inbox-steps-agent.test.ts holds the real check.

The bytes steps add to the entry drop by about 19, from 854 to about 835. That is about 2% and inside the 5% tolerance that inbox-steps-agent.test.ts checks, so INBOX_TOOL_COST_STEPS is unchanged.

Tests

Passed locally: connection-wake-closing.test.ts, apps/hook/hooks/mod/inbox-contract.test.ts, packages/shared/inbox/connection.test.ts, tests/agents-md-size.test.ts and bun run typecheck.

Left to CI because they start an Inbox: packages/server/inbox-steps-agent.test.ts (approved text, wake line, the 2,048 check and the 5% size check) and apps/hook/server/inbox-help.test.ts.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code