Operator Inbox

SkillDev tools

Maintain a provider-neutral local action queue from bounded provider observations and explicit human dispositions.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the Operator Inbox skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by runxhq/runx in skills/operator-inbox/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Maintain a durable action queue without turning a connector into the owner of operator state.

The caller fetches bounded, grant-authorized provider pages and passes their normalized observations to this skill. The skill owns work-item identity, status, dispositions, replay suppression, reopen rules, and scan coverage. Every read and write is composed through data-store; the skill does not call Slack, SQLite, Postgres, or another provider directly.

Composes

  • data-store#append_event
  • data-store#list_stream_heads
  • data-store#read_events

What this skill does

Use local://runx/operator-inbox/default unless the operator selects another logical source. Unbound local refs resolve to SQLite under .runx/data/local-sources/. A hosted database is opt-in through the same data_source_ref binding. Runx Connect may still own OAuth, grants, and provider execution; that does not move this queue into the hosted control plane.

Observations and resumable checkpoints live in operator_inbox_scans, partitioned by query digest. Action snapshots live in operator_inbox_actions, with one stream per stable thread digest. Queue reads use bounded list_stream_heads pages; no command folds or transports the complete queue.

Direct invocation defaults to a bounded list_actions read against that local source. To record a disposition or provider observation, select the exact write runner; composed graphs can pass the prior action packet without re-reading or re-fetching provider data.

When to use this skill

  • Build or revisit a local action queue from bounded connector observations.
  • Preserve an explicit resolved, dismissed, waiting, or followed_up decision across repeated provider scans.
  • Reopen a completed item when a newer external occurrence arrives.
  • Inspect bounded action or scan state without handing queue ownership to the provider or hosted control plane.

When not to use this skill

  • Do not fetch provider data, reply, send, or mutate a remote account here.
  • Do not infer that an item is complete from message text or provider state.
  • Do not use it as an unbounded archive of raw messages or credentials.
  • Do not place a private operator's routing policy or identity in this public package; pass normalized observations and explicit dispositions as inputs.

Status rules

Items use open, waiting, followed_up, resolved, or dismissed.

  • Provider observations never infer completion.
  • A human disposition records actor, reason, time, the latest external occurrence it covers, and optional HTTPS evidence.
  • Replaying old search history preserves the human status.
  • An external message newer than the covered occurrence reopens the item to open, including unseen work that arrived before the disposition was saved.
  • Scan coverage is explicit: running, complete, truncated, or failed.
  • Direct mentions are actionable structural evidence. Author and keyword scans remain observation-only unless the operator explicitly marks the query actionable. The skill does not contain provider-specific keyword heuristics.

The provider-neutral thread locator is the item key. Stored previews are bounded; credentials, tokens, and full provider response envelopes are forbidden.

Procedure

  1. Read the latest checkpoint for the bounded query digest.
  2. Resume its provider cursor when the prior scan was interrupted or truncated.
  3. Fetch one bounded provider page through the caller's authorized connector.
  4. Record actionable messages against their per-thread streams and append the scan page with its next cursor.
  5. On a version conflict, reload only the affected scan or action stream and retry the idempotent transition.
  6. List queue state through bounded action-head pages and use record_disposition only for an explicit operator correction.

The loop is outside the kernel. Each page or disposition remains one governed, receipt-backed Runx turn.

Edge cases and stop conditions

  • needs_input: missing query identity, observation, disposition, actor, reason, or scan coverage.
  • conflict: the projection version is stale; reload before retrying.
  • provider_unavailable: the caller cannot prove provider read coverage.
  • too_broad: a page exceeds the bounded message count or contains unnormalized provider data.
  • refused: a caller asks this skill to send, reply, broaden a grant, store a token, or silently claim complete coverage.

Output schema

Write runners emit runx.effect.transition.v1, containing the effect family, operation, expected projection version, idempotency key, and one normalized event. Read and list runners return the corresponding bounded data-store event result; they never synthesize provider coverage or completion.

Worked example

Given a normalized direct mention from a teammate in one provider thread, record_action_observation derives the stable action id from the provider-neutral thread locator and appends an open action snapshot. If the operator later records resolved with a reason, replaying that mention preserves resolved; a newer external reply in the same thread appends a reopened open snapshot.

Inputs

The default list_actions runner uses the local source when data_source_ref is omitted. Other runners require an explicit source. Write runners take expected_version and observed_at, plus exactly the normalized payload for their operation: scan and messages, message and triage, disposition, or an imported action. Action writes derive the stream id from the normalized thread locator; callers never supply a second, drift-prone identity. Reads take action_id or query_digest; list runners take bounded limit and optional cursor or filter fields.

Signals

GitHub stars
87
Forks
101
Last commit
Sep 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
operator-inbox
Source
github.com/runxhq/runx