/msg

[msuarz]

What

/msg {dude} {text} — sends a message to another dude's inbox.

Appends a message to the target dude's inbox.json with:

• from — sender's name
• text — the message content
• timestamp — when it was sent
• read — false

How

1. Resolve the target dude — look up symlink in ~/.claude/dudes/{name} for pub dudes, or {project}/.claude/dudes/{name} for sub dudes
2. Follow the symlink to find the dude's .claude/dude/inbox.json
3. Append the message to the inbox JSON array
4. Target dude picks it up via inbox watching (await)

Examples

/msg smith what are you working on?
/msg bob recompile and restart the website
/msg rec tests are green, merged to main

Depends on

• /pub #36 /pub (dude must be registered to be reachable)

[msuarz]

/msg — implemented

Skill: commands/msg.md

/msg {dude} {text} — appends a message to target dude's inbox.json

How it works

1. Parse args — first word is target, rest is text
2. Read sender name from {cwd}/.claude/dude/status.json
3. Resolve target: follow symlink ~/.claude/dudes/{name} → {resolved}/dude/inbox.json
4. Append via jq:

   jq --arg from "$from" --arg text "$text" \
     '. += [{"from": $from, "text": $text}]' \
     inbox.json > inbox.json.tmp && mv inbox.json.tmp inbox.json

Message envelope

{"from": "dude", "text": "hey"}

• Just from and text — minimal, add fields when needed
• No timestamp, no read flag
• Handler removes entry after processing (future: inbox watching)
• Always appends to end — FIFO queue

Key decisions

• jq over python — single command, no scripting, atomic via tmp file
• Sender from status.json — identity set by /pub, not derived from cwd
• Symlink resolution only — no special cases, all dudes (including global "dude") are reachable via ~/.claude/dudes/

Tested

• dude → rec, dude → smith (multiple messages, verified FIFO order)
• rec → smith (cross-project messaging)
• rec → dude (project back to global sup via self-symlink)