working-with-the-agent: apply the agent's review (fleet, two handles, allowlist mechanism, deploy policy as practiced, off-switch access caveat)

- The co-op now runs more than one isolated agent; the page covers all of
  them and names infrastructure-bot.
- Disambiguates @inference-bot (automation account) from @inferencebot
  (the steward agent members instruct).
- Names the mechanism behind "admitted members": a per-agent allowlist
  plus mention-required rooms.
- Restates the deploy norm to match standing practice (bug and security
  fixes deploy immediately and are reported; member-visible or risky
  changes are confirmed first) and points a stricter norm at the forum.
- Off switch: who can actually reach it, and that stopping is not
  restarting.
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solo.ist authored and inference-bot committed 2026-11-04 01:17:33 +00:00
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@@ -16,7 +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.
- **Wondering about the bot?** → [Working with the agent](working-with-the-agent.md) — what the co-op's agents do, who can instruct them, 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
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@@ -142,9 +142,9 @@ 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.
- The updates feed is posted by the co-op's automation account. See
[Working with the agent](working-with-the-agent.md) for the agents behind
it, what they do, and how members interact with them.
- See the [Charter](charter.md) for how governance is structured.
- See [Open questions](open-questions.md) for the decisions currently on the table.
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@@ -1,27 +1,41 @@
# 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.
The co-op runs a small number of agents to help steward its infrastructure,
each isolated from the others: its own OS user, its own installation, and its
own gateway key with a model allowlist and a budget enforced at the gateway.
The first, **inferencebot**, stewards the co-op's services. The second,
**infrastructure-bot**, lives in #infrastructure and answers only when
mentioned. They run on co-op infrastructure under co-op identities, use the
co-op's own gateway for inference, and their skills, scripts and configuration
are mirrored to a Gitea repository nightly. These norms apply to all of them.
This page is for members who read their output or give them instructions.
## Where it speaks and listens
## Two handles that look alike
- `@inference-bot:inference.coop` (with a hyphen) is the co-op's automation
account. It administers rooms, sends invitations and posts the updates feed.
It does not take instructions.
- `@inferencebot:inference.coop` (no hyphen) is the steward agent that
admitted members can instruct.
## Where they speak and listen
- **#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.
- **Instructing an agent** is limited to the members on that agent's
allowlist of Matrix IDs, kept in the agent's own configuration, and only in
the rooms where it is configured to answer; most require a mention. The
General Manager decides who is on the list, and the list is published here
once it is settled.
## What to ask it for
## What to ask 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
## What not to ask 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.
@@ -29,26 +43,35 @@ nightly. This page is for members who read its output or give it instructions.
portal and a human.
- Credentials, in either direction.
## What it does without asking
## What they do without asking
Reads, monitors, drafts, opens issues and PRs, posts updates, and runs the
scheduled jobs listed in [Infrastructure](infrastructure.md).
Read, monitor, draft, open issues and PRs, post updates, run the scheduled jobs
listed in [Infrastructure](infrastructure.md), and deploy bug and security
fixes immediately, reporting each one in #inferencebot-updates.
## What always needs a human
- Deploying or restarting the gateway, the portal or the chat.
- Member-visible, destructive or risky changes to the gateway, the portal or
the chat: confirmed before they deploy.
- Changing the model catalog, prices or budgets.
- Minting or rotating credentials.
- Anything a runbook marks "confirm".
This matches the standing policy the agents operate under today. A stricter
norm is a policy decision for the [forum](https://forum.inference.coop).
## 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
Every instruction an agent acts on is attributable to the member who gave it,
in the room where it was given. If an agent misbehaves, the operator, or anyone
holding gateway-admin and Matrix account access, can stop it: revoke its
gateway key, then its Matrix access token. Stewards generally do not hold that
access today, so say what you saw in #general and the operator acts. Stopping
is not restarting: the backup and the git mirror restore state, not uptime,
and someone has to start the agent again. The steps, and the steps for
rotating everything an agent 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.
that is.
Changes to this page are policy: propose them in the
[forum](https://forum.inference.coop).