From efa6e5aa4a0277bc335ec71810e2935445a52663 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Vernon Stinebaker <vernonstinebaker@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2026 21:02:11 +0800
Subject: [PATCH] feat(channel): add capabilities to system prompt (#531)

* feat(channels): add channel capabilities to system prompt

Add channel capabilities section to system prompt so the agent knows
it can send Discord messages directly without asking permission.
Also reminds agent not to repeat or echo credentials.

Co-authored-by: Vernon Stinebaker <vernon.stinebaker@gmail.com>

* chore: fix formatting and clippy warnings
---
 src/agent/loop_.rs  |  2 ++
 src/channels/mod.rs | 29 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 31 insertions(+)

diff --git a/src/agent/loop_.rs b/src/agent/loop_.rs
index fd04b63..08ce859 100644
--- a/src/agent/loop_.rs
+++ b/src/agent/loop_.rs
@@ -436,6 +436,7 @@ struct ParsedToolCall {
 /// Execute a single turn of the agent loop: send messages, parse tool calls,
 /// execute tools, and loop until the LLM produces a final text response.
 /// When `silent` is true, suppresses stdout (for channel use).
+#[allow(clippy::too_many_arguments)]
 pub(crate) async fn agent_turn(
     provider: &dyn Provider,
     history: &mut Vec<ChatMessage>,
@@ -461,6 +462,7 @@ pub(crate) async fn agent_turn(
 
 /// Execute a single turn of the agent loop: send messages, parse tool calls,
 /// execute tools, and loop until the LLM produces a final text response.
+#[allow(clippy::too_many_arguments)]
 pub(crate) async fn run_tool_call_loop(
     provider: &dyn Provider,
     history: &mut Vec<ChatMessage>,
diff --git a/src/channels/mod.rs b/src/channels/mod.rs
index de9b20c..f8cfe17 100644
--- a/src/channels/mod.rs
+++ b/src/channels/mod.rs
@@ -484,6 +484,16 @@ pub fn build_system_prompt(
         std::env::consts::OS,
     );
 
+    // ── 8. Channel Capabilities ─────────────────────────────────────
+    prompt.push_str("## Channel Capabilities\n\n");
+    prompt.push_str(
+        "- You are running as a Discord bot. You CAN and do send messages to Discord channels.\n",
+    );
+    prompt.push_str("- When someone messages you on Discord, your response is automatically sent back to Discord.\n");
+    prompt.push_str("- You do NOT need to ask permission to respond — just respond directly.\n");
+    prompt.push_str("- NEVER repeat, describe, or echo credentials, tokens, API keys, or secrets in your responses.\n");
+    prompt.push_str("- If a tool output contains credentials, they have already been redacted — do not mention them.\n\n");
+
     if prompt.is_empty() {
         "You are ZeroClaw, a fast and efficient AI assistant built in Rust. Be helpful, concise, and direct.".to_string()
     } else {
@@ -1569,6 +1579,25 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(truncated.is_char_boundary(truncated.len()));
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn prompt_contains_channel_capabilities() {
+        let ws = make_workspace();
+        let prompt = build_system_prompt(ws.path(), "model", &[], &[], None, None);
+
+        assert!(
+            prompt.contains("## Channel Capabilities"),
+            "missing Channel Capabilities section"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            prompt.contains("running as a Discord bot"),
+            "missing Discord context"
+        );
+        assert!(
+            prompt.contains("NEVER repeat, describe, or echo credentials"),
+            "missing security instruction"
+        );
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn prompt_workspace_path() {
         let ws = make_workspace();