agency: --spawn-topic flag, in-place by default, persistent ✓ buttons

agent/agency-report

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Custom buttons: pass --button (repeatable). Layout wraps in pairs of two.
 Canonical card layout (HTML parse mode). Order is locked; the *number*
 of expandable blocks is variable (0, 1, 2, N — your call):
 
-  [optional image]
+  [optional image — skip when text alone is clearer]
   <emoji> <b>headline</b>           ← write the specific action here:
                                        "Reply to <user> on Slack: …" or
                                        "Merge PR #347" — *not* "Agency 95"
@@ -52,6 +52,17 @@ Blocks are specified one of two ways:
     three variants A/B/C, or a single "context" block, or zero blocks
     (--info-only with just headline + source link).
 
+Yes-tap routing:
+  • Default — Yes / Edit dispatch in the SAME thread the card lives in.
+    Follow-up cards inside an existing worker topic don't spawn nested
+    topics; the conversation stays continuous.
+  • --spawn-topic — Yes / Edit create a fresh forum topic and dispatch
+    the lane there instead. Use for the /agency loop's half-hourly cards
+    (so each cycle's cards live in their own threads) and for any other
+    case where the work warrants a dedicated topic. Agents inside an
+    existing worker topic may also set this to fork sub-tasks into yet
+    another topic — there is no auto-protection against that.
+
 If --image (URL), --image-file (local path), or --image-text (auto-rendered
 placeholder) is given, the image renders above the body. For bodies that
 fit Telegram's 1024-char caption budget the card is sent via sendPhoto;
@@ -531,6 +542,16 @@ def main() -> int:
         action="store_true",
         help="Drop the inline keyboard entirely (FYI cards with no action).",
     )
+    p.add_argument(
+        "--spawn-topic",
+        action="store_true",
+        help="On Yes/Edit tap, spawn a fresh forum topic and dispatch "
+        "the lane there. Default: run in-place in the current thread. "
+        "Set this on agency-loop cards (so each cycle's cards live in "
+        "their own topics) and any other case where the work warrants "
+        "a dedicated thread. Agents inside an existing worker topic "
+        "may also set this to fork sub-tasks into yet another topic.",
+    )
     p.add_argument(
         "--thread-id",
         type=int,
@@ -573,6 +594,7 @@ def main() -> int:
         buttons=button_labels_for_db,
         chat_id=chat_id(),
         thread_id=args.thread_id,
+        spawn_topic=args.spawn_topic,
     )
 
     body = _build_body(args)

agent/agency_db.py

@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ def init_schema(db: sqlite3.Connection) -> None:
           title           TEXT NOT NULL,
           description     TEXT NOT NULL,
           importance      TEXT CHECK (importance IN ('high','med','low')) DEFAULT 'med',
-          source          TEXT,                  -- e.g. slack-c-minerva, gmail-thread-19df, gh-pr-78
+          source          TEXT,                  -- e.g. slack-c-foo, gmail-thread-19df, gh-pr-78
           prompt          TEXT,                  -- the action that would run if user says yes
           buttons_json    TEXT,                  -- JSON list of the labels shown
           tg_chat_id      INTEGER,
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ def init_schema(db: sqlite3.Connection) -> None:
           worker_topic_id INTEGER,               -- TG topic where the resulting agent runs
           worker_started_at   INTEGER,
           worker_completed_at INTEGER,
+          spawn_topic     INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,  -- 1 = Yes-tap creates a fresh topic; 0 = run in-place
           created_at      INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT (CAST(strftime('%s','now') AS INTEGER)),
           updated_at      INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT (CAST(strftime('%s','now') AS INTEGER))
         );
@@ -79,6 +80,15 @@ def init_schema(db: sqlite3.Connection) -> None:
         CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_sugg_worker_topic ON suggestions(worker_topic_id);
         """
     )
+    # Backfill spawn_topic on pre-existing tables. ALTER TABLE has no
+    # IF NOT EXISTS — swallow the duplicate-column error from re-runs.
+    try:
+        db.execute(
+            "ALTER TABLE suggestions ADD COLUMN spawn_topic INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0"
+        )
+    except sqlite3.OperationalError as e:
+        if "duplicate column" not in str(e).lower():
+            raise
     db.commit()
 
 
@@ -97,13 +107,14 @@ def insert(
     buttons: list[str] | None = None,
     chat_id: int | None = None,
     thread_id: int | None = None,
+    spawn_topic: bool = False,
 ) -> int:
     cur = db.execute(
         """
         INSERT INTO suggestions (
           title, description, importance, source, prompt, buttons_json,
-          tg_chat_id, tg_thread_id
-        ) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
+          tg_chat_id, tg_thread_id, spawn_topic
+        ) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
         """,
         (
             title,
@@ -114,6 +125,7 @@ def insert(
             json.dumps(buttons) if buttons is not None else None,
             chat_id,
             thread_id,
+            1 if spawn_topic else 0,
         ),
     )
     db.commit()