feat(discord): channel history backfill for multi-user sessions

Adds optional channel-context backfill for Discord shared-channel sessions
so the agent can see recent messages it missed between its own turns
(typically when require_mention=true filters out most traffic).

Previously the agent only saw the @mention message that triggered it, which
led to disorienting replies in active multi-user channels where the
conversation context was invisible. With backfill enabled, a configurable
number of recent messages are fetched per-turn and prepended to the trigger
message as a context block, kept separate from sender-prefix logic so
attribution remains clean.

This re-opens the work from #13063 (approved by @OutThisLife on 2026-04-20,
closed when I closed the branch to address the simpolism:main head-branch
issue plus an ordering bug I caught later in live use). Filing against the
freshly-rewritten problem statement in #13054 so the design is grounded in
the failure mode rather than the implementation shape.

The implementation follows the **push-mode last-self-anchored** design from
the two options laid out in #13054. See the issue for the trade-off
discussion vs pull-mode (#13120 was an earlier closed PR using that shape).
Treating this as a reference implementation — happy to rewrite as
last-trigger anchoring or as a hybrid with #13120 if maintainers prefer.

Changes:

- gateway/platforms/discord.py:
  - new `_discord_history_backfill()` / `_discord_history_backfill_limit()`
    helpers (config.extra > env > default), mirroring the existing
    `_discord_require_mention()` shape
  - new `_fetch_channel_context()` that scans `channel.history()` backwards
    from the trigger to the bot's last message (or limit), formats as
    `[Recent channel messages] / [name] msg / ...`, respects DISCORD_ALLOW_BOTS,
    skips system messages
  - per-channel `_last_self_message_id` cache to narrow the fetch window
    on hot paths (avoids full history scan when the bot has spoken recently)
  - **IMPORTANT**: passes `oldest_first=False` explicitly to `channel.history()`.
    discord.py 2.x silently flips the default to True when `after=` is supplied,
    which would select the EARLIEST N messages after our last response instead
    of the LATEST N before the trigger. In high-traffic windows this would
    return stale tool traces and drop the actual final answer the user is
    asking about. See regression test below. Caught in live use during a
    Codex tool-trace burst on May 13 2026.
- gateway/config.py: discord_history_backfill + discord_history_backfill_limit
  settings + yaml→env bridge
- gateway/platforms/base.py: channel_context field on MessageEvent
- gateway/run.py: prepend channel_context after sender-prefix so the
  [sender name] tag applies to the trigger message alone, not to the backfill
- hermes_cli/config.py: defaults for new discord.history_backfill and
  discord.history_backfill_limit keys
- cli-config.yaml.example: documented defaults
- tests/gateway/test_discord_free_response.py: 7 new tests covering
  cold-start backfill, self-message stop boundary, other-bot filtering,
  cache hot-path narrowing, stale-cache fallback, shared-channel +
  per-user backfill paths, and the ordering regression test
  (`test_fetch_channel_context_cache_uses_latest_window_when_after_set`)
- tests/gateway/test_config.py: yaml→env bridge tests
- tests/gateway/test_session.py: prefix-order edge cases
- website/docs/user-guide/messaging/discord.md: env vars + config keys +
  usage docs

Tested on Ubuntu 24.04 — empirically validated in my own multi-bot Discord
research server for the past three weeks.

Fixes #13054
Supersedes #13063 (closed)
This commit is contained in:
snav 2026-05-14 01:46:11 -04:00 committed by Teknium
parent ccb5aae0d2
commit e84fe483bc
10 changed files with 596 additions and 2 deletions

View file

@ -409,6 +409,26 @@ class TestLoadGatewayConfig:
"456": "Therapist mode",
}
def test_bridges_discord_history_backfill_settings_from_config_yaml(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
hermes_home = tmp_path / ".hermes"
hermes_home.mkdir()
config_path = hermes_home / "config.yaml"
config_path.write_text(
"discord:\n"
" history_backfill: true\n"
" history_backfill_limit: 17\n",
encoding="utf-8",
)
monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(hermes_home))
monkeypatch.delenv("DISCORD_HISTORY_BACKFILL", raising=False)
monkeypatch.delenv("DISCORD_HISTORY_BACKFILL_LIMIT", raising=False)
load_gateway_config()
assert os.getenv("DISCORD_HISTORY_BACKFILL") == "true"
assert os.getenv("DISCORD_HISTORY_BACKFILL_LIMIT") == "17"
def test_bridges_telegram_channel_prompts_from_config_yaml(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
hermes_home = tmp_path / ".hermes"
hermes_home.mkdir()

View file

@ -62,6 +62,12 @@ class FakeTextChannel:
self.guild = SimpleNamespace(name=guild_name)
self.topic = None
def history(self, *, limit, before, after=None, oldest_first=None):
async def _iter():
return
yield
return _iter()
class FakeForumChannel:
def __init__(self, channel_id: int = 1, name: str = "support-forum", guild_name: str = "Hermes Server"):
@ -99,6 +105,9 @@ def adapter(monkeypatch):
"DISCORD_NO_THREAD_CHANNELS",
"DISCORD_ALLOWED_CHANNELS",
"DISCORD_IGNORED_CHANNELS",
"DISCORD_HISTORY_BACKFILL",
"DISCORD_HISTORY_BACKFILL_LIMIT",
"DISCORD_ALLOW_BOTS",
):
monkeypatch.delenv(_var, raising=False)
@ -125,6 +134,48 @@ def make_message(*, channel, content: str, mentions=None, msg_type=None):
)
def make_history_message(
*,
author,
content: str,
msg_id: int,
msg_type=None,
attachments=None,
):
return SimpleNamespace(
id=msg_id,
author=author,
content=content,
attachments=list(attachments or []),
type=msg_type if msg_type is not None else discord_platform.discord.MessageType.default,
)
class FakeHistoryChannel(FakeTextChannel):
def __init__(self, history_messages, **kwargs):
super().__init__(**kwargs)
self._history_messages = list(history_messages)
def history(self, *, limit, before, after=None, oldest_first=None):
before_id = int(getattr(before, "id", before))
after_id = int(getattr(after, "id", after)) if after is not None else None
if oldest_first is None:
oldest_first = after is not None
messages = [
message for message in self._history_messages
if int(message.id) < before_id
and (after_id is None or int(message.id) > after_id)
]
messages.sort(key=lambda message: int(message.id), reverse=not oldest_first)
async def _iter():
for message in messages[:limit]:
yield message
return _iter()
@pytest.mark.asyncio
async def test_discord_defaults_to_require_mention(adapter, monkeypatch):
"""Default behavior: require @mention in server channels."""
@ -578,3 +629,217 @@ async def test_discord_thread_require_mention_via_config_extra(adapter, monkeypa
await adapter._handle_message(message)
adapter.handle_message.assert_not_awaited()
@pytest.mark.asyncio
async def test_fetch_channel_context_stops_at_self_message_and_reverses_to_chronological_order(adapter, monkeypatch):
monkeypatch.setenv("DISCORD_ALLOW_BOTS", "all")
adapter.config.extra["history_backfill_limit"] = 10
other_bot = SimpleNamespace(id=55, display_name="Gemini", name="Gemini", bot=True)
human = SimpleNamespace(id=56, display_name="Alice", name="Alice", bot=False)
old_human = SimpleNamespace(id=57, display_name="Bob", name="Bob", bot=False)
channel = FakeHistoryChannel(
[
make_history_message(author=human, content="latest human note", msg_id=4),
make_history_message(author=other_bot, content="latest bot note", msg_id=3),
make_history_message(author=adapter._client.user, content="our prior response", msg_id=2),
make_history_message(author=old_human, content="older than boundary", msg_id=1),
],
channel_id=123,
)
result = await adapter._fetch_channel_context(channel, before=make_message(channel=channel, content="trigger"))
assert result == (
"[Recent channel messages]\n"
"[Gemini [bot]] latest bot note\n"
"[Alice] latest human note"
)
@pytest.mark.asyncio
async def test_fetch_channel_context_skips_other_bots_when_allow_bots_none(adapter, monkeypatch):
monkeypatch.setenv("DISCORD_ALLOW_BOTS", "none")
adapter.config.extra["history_backfill_limit"] = 10
other_bot = SimpleNamespace(id=55, display_name="Gemini", name="Gemini", bot=True)
human = SimpleNamespace(id=56, display_name="Alice", name="Alice", bot=False)
channel = FakeHistoryChannel(
[
make_history_message(author=human, content="human note", msg_id=3),
make_history_message(author=other_bot, content="bot note", msg_id=2),
],
channel_id=123,
)
result = await adapter._fetch_channel_context(channel, before=make_message(channel=channel, content="trigger"))
assert result == "[Recent channel messages]\n[Alice] human note"
@pytest.mark.asyncio
async def test_fetch_channel_context_uses_cache_to_narrow_window(adapter, monkeypatch):
"""When _last_self_message_id is cached, the fetch passes after= to skip old messages."""
monkeypatch.setenv("DISCORD_ALLOW_BOTS", "all")
adapter.config.extra["history_backfill_limit"] = 50
human = SimpleNamespace(id=56, display_name="Alice", name="Alice", bot=False)
# Record the after= arg passed to history()
recorded_after = {}
class CacheTrackingChannel(FakeHistoryChannel):
def history(self, *, limit, before, after=None, oldest_first=None):
recorded_after["value"] = after
return super().history(
limit=limit,
before=before,
after=after,
oldest_first=oldest_first,
)
channel = CacheTrackingChannel(
[make_history_message(author=human, content="hello", msg_id=200)],
channel_id=777,
)
# Seed the cache — bot's last message in this channel was ID 100
adapter._last_self_message_id["777"] = "100"
trigger = make_message(channel=channel, content="trigger")
trigger.id = 300 # trigger is newer than cache
result = await adapter._fetch_channel_context(channel, before=trigger)
assert result == "[Recent channel messages]\n[Alice] hello"
# Verify cache was used: after= should be set (not None)
assert recorded_after["value"] is not None
@pytest.mark.asyncio
async def test_fetch_channel_context_cache_uses_latest_window_when_after_set(adapter, monkeypatch):
"""Regression: discord.py defaults oldest_first=True when after= is provided.
The hot cache path passes both after= and before=. We still want the latest
messages before the trigger, not the earliest messages after our prior
response, otherwise tool traces can crowd out the final answer.
"""
monkeypatch.setenv("DISCORD_ALLOW_BOTS", "all")
adapter.config.extra["history_backfill_limit"] = 3
codex = SimpleNamespace(id=56, display_name="Codex", name="Codex", bot=True)
human = SimpleNamespace(id=57, display_name="Alice", name="Alice", bot=False)
channel = FakeHistoryChannel(
[
make_history_message(author=codex, content="old tool trace 1", msg_id=101),
make_history_message(author=codex, content="old tool trace 2", msg_id=102),
make_history_message(author=codex, content="old tool trace 3", msg_id=103),
make_history_message(author=codex, content="final analysis", msg_id=104),
make_history_message(author=human, content="latest follow-up", msg_id=105),
],
channel_id=777,
)
adapter._last_self_message_id["777"] = "100"
trigger = make_message(channel=channel, content="trigger")
trigger.id = 200
result = await adapter._fetch_channel_context(channel, before=trigger)
assert "[Codex [bot]] final analysis" in result
assert "[Alice] latest follow-up" in result
assert "old tool trace 1" not in result
assert "old tool trace 2" not in result
@pytest.mark.asyncio
async def test_fetch_channel_context_ignores_stale_cache(adapter, monkeypatch):
"""If cached ID is >= trigger ID (stale/future), fall back to cold-start scan."""
monkeypatch.setenv("DISCORD_ALLOW_BOTS", "all")
adapter.config.extra["history_backfill_limit"] = 50
human = SimpleNamespace(id=56, display_name="Alice", name="Alice", bot=False)
recorded_after = {}
class CacheTrackingChannel(FakeHistoryChannel):
def history(self, *, limit, before, after=None, oldest_first=None):
recorded_after["value"] = after
return super().history(
limit=limit,
before=before,
after=after,
oldest_first=oldest_first,
)
channel = CacheTrackingChannel(
[make_history_message(author=human, content="hello", msg_id=50)],
channel_id=777,
)
# Cache has a NEWER ID than the trigger — stale/invalid
adapter._last_self_message_id["777"] = "500"
trigger = make_message(channel=channel, content="trigger")
trigger.id = 300
result = await adapter._fetch_channel_context(channel, before=trigger)
assert result == "[Recent channel messages]\n[Alice] hello"
# Cache should have been ignored — after= should be None
assert recorded_after["value"] is None
@pytest.mark.asyncio
async def test_discord_shared_channel_backfill_prepends_context(adapter, monkeypatch):
monkeypatch.setenv("DISCORD_REQUIRE_MENTION", "true")
monkeypatch.delenv("DISCORD_FREE_RESPONSE_CHANNELS", raising=False)
monkeypatch.setenv("DISCORD_AUTO_THREAD", "false")
adapter.config.extra["group_sessions_per_user"] = False
adapter.config.extra["history_backfill"] = True
adapter._fetch_channel_context = AsyncMock(return_value="[Recent channel messages]\n[Alice] context")
bot_user = adapter._client.user
message = make_message(
channel=FakeTextChannel(channel_id=321),
content=f"<@{bot_user.id}> hello with mention",
mentions=[bot_user],
)
await adapter._handle_message(message)
adapter._fetch_channel_context.assert_awaited_once()
event = adapter.handle_message.await_args.args[0]
assert event.text == "hello with mention"
assert event.channel_context == "[Recent channel messages]\n[Alice] context"
@pytest.mark.asyncio
async def test_discord_per_user_channel_does_not_backfill(adapter, monkeypatch):
monkeypatch.setenv("DISCORD_REQUIRE_MENTION", "true")
monkeypatch.delenv("DISCORD_FREE_RESPONSE_CHANNELS", raising=False)
monkeypatch.setenv("DISCORD_AUTO_THREAD", "false")
adapter.config.extra["group_sessions_per_user"] = True
adapter.config.extra["history_backfill"] = True
adapter._fetch_channel_context = AsyncMock(return_value="[Recent channel messages]\n[Alice] context")
bot_user = adapter._client.user
message = make_message(
channel=FakeTextChannel(channel_id=321),
content=f"<@{bot_user.id}> hello with mention",
mentions=[bot_user],
)
await adapter._handle_message(message)
adapter._fetch_channel_context.assert_not_awaited()
event = adapter.handle_message.await_args.args[0]
assert event.text == "hello with mention"
assert event.channel_context is None

View file

@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import pytest
from pathlib import Path
from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
from gateway.config import Platform, HomeChannel, GatewayConfig, PlatformConfig
from gateway.platforms.base import MessageEvent
from gateway.session import (
SessionSource,
SessionStore,
@ -430,6 +431,76 @@ class TestBuildSessionContextPrompt:
assert "Multi-user thread" not in prompt
class TestSenderPrefixWithBackfill:
"""Regression: sender prefix must not wrap the backfill context block.
Tests exercise the real GatewayRunner._prepare_inbound_message_text()
method to ensure the [sender_name] prefix applies only to the trigger
message, not the channel_context backfill block.
"""
@pytest.fixture()
def runner(self):
from gateway.run import GatewayRunner
r = GatewayRunner.__new__(GatewayRunner)
r.config = GatewayConfig(group_sessions_per_user=False)
r.adapters = {}
r._model = "test-model"
r._base_url = ""
r._has_setup_skill = lambda: False
return r
@pytest.fixture()
def source(self):
return SessionSource(
platform=Platform.DISCORD,
chat_id="c1",
chat_type="group",
user_name="Alice",
)
@pytest.mark.asyncio
async def test_plain_message_gets_prefix(self, runner, source):
"""Normal message without backfill gets [sender] prefix."""
event = MessageEvent(text="hello world", source=source)
result = await runner._prepare_inbound_message_text(
event=event, source=source, history=[],
)
assert result == "[Alice] hello world"
@pytest.mark.asyncio
async def test_backfill_prefix_only_on_trigger(self, runner, source):
"""Backfill context must NOT get the sender prefix."""
event = MessageEvent(
text="hello world",
source=source,
channel_context="[Recent channel messages]\n[Bob] some context",
)
result = await runner._prepare_inbound_message_text(
event=event, source=source, history=[],
)
assert result.startswith("[Recent channel messages]")
assert "[Alice] [Recent channel messages]" not in result
assert "[New message]\n[Alice] hello world" in result
@pytest.mark.asyncio
async def test_backfill_preserves_context_block(self, runner, source):
"""The backfill block should pass through unchanged — no double-prefixing."""
context = "[Recent channel messages]\n[Bob] first\n[Charlie [bot]] second"
event = MessageEvent(
text="hey everyone", source=source, channel_context=context,
)
result = await runner._prepare_inbound_message_text(
event=event, source=source, history=[],
)
assert result.startswith(context)
assert "[Alice] hey everyone" in result
assert "[Alice] [Bob]" not in result
assert "[Alice] [Charlie" not in result
assert "[Alice] [Recent" not in result
class TestSessionStoreRewriteTranscript:
"""Regression: /retry and /undo must persist truncated history to disk."""