From 424cfbdf5e768ffd4fbdda753917b212341f1fbb Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Angel Marino Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2026 01:06:33 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] docs: add "Working with the agent" (norms for reading and instructing inferencebot) A first draft of the member-facing norms listed as a design goal on co-op/support#17: where the agent speaks and listens, what to ask it for, what not to ask it in a shared room, what it does without confirmation, what always needs a human, and how it is stopped. Linked from the README index and the Matrix section of getting-started. Nothing here changes how the agent is configured. --- README.md | 1 + getting-started.md | 4 +++ working-with-the-agent.md | 54 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3 files changed, 59 insertions(+) create mode 100644 working-with-the-agent.md diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 6ee8607..5213682 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ funded through our [Open Collective](https://opencollective.com/inference-cooper - **Want API access?** → [API access](api-access.md) — use our models programmatically. - **Want community chat?** → [Getting started · Matrix](getting-started.md) — our federated Matrix server, including how to connect from any client and how to use an existing Matrix account. - **Curious how it works?** → [Infrastructure](infrastructure.md) — a map of the stack and the codebase. +- **Wondering about the bot?** → [Working with the agent](working-with-the-agent.md) — what inferencebot does, who can instruct it, and what always needs a human. - **Need help or have an idea?** → [Support & feature requests](https://git.inference.coop/co-op/support) — open an issue. ## Key links diff --git a/getting-started.md b/getting-started.md index 5b459e1..a979839 100644 --- a/getting-started.md +++ b/getting-started.md @@ -135,6 +135,10 @@ privacy, and direction happen on our **Loomio forum**: space and join whatever is interesting to you. New rooms appear there as the co-op grows. +- The updates feed is posted by the co-op's stewarding agent. See + [Working with the agent](working-with-the-agent.md) for what it does and + how members interact with it. + - See the [Charter](charter.md) for how governance is structured. - See [Open questions](open-questions.md) for the decisions currently on the table. diff --git a/working-with-the-agent.md b/working-with-the-agent.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..be64af7 --- /dev/null +++ b/working-with-the-agent.md @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +# Working with the agent + +The co-op runs one agent, **inferencebot**, to help steward its infrastructure. +It runs on co-op infrastructure under a co-op identity +(`@inferencebot:inference.coop`), uses the co-op's own gateway for inference, +and its skills, scripts and configuration are mirrored to a Gitea repository +nightly. This page is for members who read its output or give it instructions. + +## Where it speaks and listens + +- **#inferencebot-updates** is read-only: daily digests, model changes, + upgrades, maintenance, outages. Posts are anonymized. +- **Instructing the agent** is limited to members the General Manager has + admitted, in the rooms configured for it. Who is admitted is a policy + decision and is recorded here when it is made. + +## What to ask it for + +- Operational work that a runbook already describes, or that ends in a PR, an + issue or a post members can see. +- Research and summaries that would otherwise land in an issue. +- Status: what is running, what failed, what changed. + +## What not to ask it in a shared room + +- Anything involving member-identifying data. That work happens in a session a + named steward opened, and the result is reported without the data. +- Anything that moves money or changes who is a member. Those go through the + portal and a human. +- Credentials, in either direction. + +## What it does without asking + +Reads, monitors, drafts, opens issues and PRs, posts updates, and runs the +scheduled jobs listed in [Infrastructure](infrastructure.md). + +## What always needs a human + +- Deploying or restarting the gateway, the portal or the chat. +- Changing the model catalog, prices or budgets. +- Minting or rotating credentials. +- Anything a runbook marks "confirm". + +## Attribution and the off switch + +Every instruction the agent acts on is attributable to the member who gave it, +in the room where it was given. If it misbehaves, any steward can stop it: +revoke its gateway key, then its Matrix access token. The steps, and the steps +for rotating everything it holds, are in the agent's runbook; the credential +inventory in the [operator token runbook](operator-token-runbook.md) says what +that is. Say what you saw in #general. + +Changes to this page are policy: propose them in the +[forum](https://forum.inference.coop).