Howie — a Mets game-day agent

A tiny Eve agent that recaps last night and previews tonight every morning at 9am ET in Slack. Silent when there's nothing to say.

Architecture

agent/
├── instructions.md        # voice — terse, opinionated, Mets POV
├── agent.ts               # model config (Vercel AI Gateway)
├── channels/
│   ├── eve.ts             # HTTP channel for dev QA (curl / TUI)
│   └── slack.ts           # Slack channel (Vercel Connect)
├── tools/
│   └── get_mets_game.ts   # free MLB Stats API (Mets = team 121)
└── schedules/
    └── daily.ts           # 9:00 AM ET → Slack

The morning cron hands work to Slack (receive(…)). The agent calls get_mets_game, writes a short reply, and the channel posts it automatically.

Prerequisites

• Node 24.x
• A Vercel account (deployment, AI Gateway OIDC, Slack Connect)
• Slack: Self Aware Studio workspace + a channel for Howie

Setup

1. Install dependencies

npm install

2. Slack

Howie uses Vercel Connect for Slack credentials (no manual bot token in env).

a. Create a Slack channel in your workspace (e.g. #howie) and invite your wife. Copy the channel ID (C… — right-click channel → View channel details, or from the URL).

b. Create and attach a Connect client:

npm i -g vercel@latest
export FF_CONNECT_ENABLED=1

vercel connect create slack --triggers
# Note the UID printed, e.g. slack/howie

vercel connect detach <uid> --yes
vercel connect attach <uid> --triggers \
  --trigger-path /eve/v1/slack --yes

Follow the prompts to install the Slack app to Self Aware Studio workspace. Grant scopes for posting and reading mentions/DMs.

c. Env vars:

SLACK_CONNECT_UID=slack/howie      # UID from connect create
SLACK_CHANNEL_ID=C0123456789       # your #howie channel

d. Invite the bot to the channel: /invite @Howie (or whatever the app is named).

e. Deploy (Connect triggers need a live URL — see Deployment below).

Manual use: @Howie what's the Mets game tonight? in the channel works too.

3. Model credential (local dev)

The default model is openai/gpt-5.4-mini via the Vercel AI Gateway.

For local eve dev, set one of:

• AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY from the Vercel AI Gateway, or
• vercel link in this project (OIDC token pulled automatically)

On Vercel production, link the project and the gateway authenticates via OIDC — no API key in env.

QA (step by step)

Run these in order before deploying.

Step 1 — Install and typecheck

npm install
npm run typecheck
npm run build

eve build should succeed and list daily under schedules.

Step 2 — Smoke-test the MLB tool

Start the dev server:

npm run dev

In another terminal, trigger a session on the Eve HTTP channel:

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:3000/eve/v1/session \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"message":"Call get_mets_game for 2025-09-15 and summarize in one line."}'

Copy the sessionId from the JSON response, then watch the stream:

curl -N http://127.0.0.1:3000/eve/v1/session/<sessionId>/stream

Confirm the agent calls get_mets_game and returns a sensible recap.

Step 3 — Fire the daily schedule (dev dispatch route)

This runs the same path production cron uses and posts to Slack:

curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:3000/eve/v1/dev/schedules/daily

Response example:

{ "scheduleId": "daily", "sessionIds": ["..."] }

Watch the stream for that session id. You should see tool calls to get_mets_game, then a short assistant message. Check #howie — the Slack channel should get the post.

To test a specific date pair without waiting for real calendar days, temporarily edit the prompt in agent/schedules/daily.ts with known game dates (e.g. a 2025 postseason date), re-run Step 3, then revert.

Step 4 — Verify silence on off days

Trigger the schedule on a date when the Mets have no game yesterday or today (or edit the prompt to use two off-season dates). The agent should end without an assistant message — nothing should post to Slack.

Step 5 — Health check

curl http://127.0.0.1:3000/eve/v1/health

Deployment (Vercel)

Step 1 — Link and set env vars

vercel link

In the Vercel project Settings → Environment Variables, add for Production (and Preview if you want):

Variable	Value
SLACK_CONNECT_UID	slack/howie (from Connect)
SLACK_CHANNEL_ID	C… your channel id

Do not commit .env. AI Gateway auth on Vercel is via OIDC after link — no gateway key required in prod.

Step 2 — Deploy

vercel deploy --prod

Or push to a Git-connected Vercel project.

Step 3 — Confirm cron

In Vercel Settings → Cron Jobs, confirm a job exists for 0 13 * * * (daily at 13:00 UTC = 9:00 AM EDT).

In November when the US falls back to EST, change agent/schedules/daily.ts to 0 14 * * * and redeploy.

Step 4 — Production smoke test

curl https://<your-app>/eve/v1/health

Optionally drive the live deployment with the Eve TUI:

npx eve dev https://<your-app>

Step 5 — Watch the first cron

After 9am ET, check Observability → Cron Jobs and Logs in Vercel. Confirm the run started a session and #howie got the morning post.

Things worth knowing

• Daylight saving. Cron is UTC. 0 13 * * * is 9am EDT (summer). In November, switch to 0 14 * * * for 9am EST.
• No skip risk. The recap runs at 9am the next morning, so last night's game is always Final.
• Scope. Howie only covers Mets baseball — off-topic Slack messages get a short refusal before the model runs.
• Beta. Eve is in public preview — expect framework changes.

Easy next step

A live-game schedule that posts only on a lead change or a Lindor/Soto homer — get_mets_game already returns inning + score, so it's mostly one more schedule file.