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The news tool

What changed since an agent last looked, your answers, other agents' claims, ticks and notes, and messages to it, each told once.

news tells an agent what changed since it last looked. Its title is What changed, and its description, as the agent reads it:

What changed since you last looked: the human's answers and edits, other agents' claims, ticks and notes, and messages to you. Each is told once.

It takes no arguments and only reads.

News comes without asking

An agent rarely needs to call news. The same news comes under the reply of every other tool, after the tool's own answer. So an agent that claims, adds or ticks hears what changed while it works, without a call of its own. news is for an agent that has nothing else to call, such as one waiting for your answer.

What it tells

  • Your answers on the board or in chat, and what you changed on the board.
  • Other agents' adds, claims, releases, ticks, notes, moves and deletions.
  • Messages to this agent, with the session to reply to.
  • Assumed answers, and work opened again when you overturned one.
  • From git: a branch merged or pushed, so its work is done for everyone, or a branch deleted without merging.
  • From the program: another agent editing a file this one edited.
  • If this session was quiet for half an hour, or its connection closed, what it had claimed was let go. Only that session hears this, and it is told to claim again what it is still on.

Its own changes are never news to it, and what happened before a session began isn't news either: list shows where things stand.

Calls and replies

In Claude Code, after Codex sent two messages:

⏺ hamloy - What changed (MCP)
  ⎿  Hamloy news (what changed since you last looked):
     - Message from codex (session 8b17e0d4): Pushing the sync branch at 3pm; hold merges. (reply with the message tool, to: 8b17e0d4)
     - Message from codex (session 8b17e0d4): Your widget store works, thanks. (reply with the message tool, to: 8b17e0d4)

⏺ hamloy - What changed (MCP)
  ⎿  No news.

In Codex, after Claude worked through a sync task and you answered a question:

• Called hamloy.message({"to":"all","text":"Pushing the sync branch at 3pm; hold merges."})
  └ sent to every other agent; they get it under their next tool reply

    Hamloy news (what changed since you last looked):
    - claude (session 3f9a2c71) opened B-mh1c "Sync habits across devices" again
    - claude (session 3f9a2c71) ticked R-j51a "Make an APNs key for push reminders" (done)
    - claude (session 3f9a2c71) assumed an answer to Q-q0ae "Where should synced habits live?": Supabase: Postgres with auth built in; the human confirms or overturns it
    - claude (session 3f9a2c71) added B-jvya "Set up the Supabase project"
    - claude (session 3f9a2c71) ticked B-jvya "Set up the Supabase project" (done)
    - The human answered Q-q0ae "Where should synced habits live?": CloudKit: free, Apple only
    - claude (session 3f9a2c71) added 2 items: Q-hzbh "Which reminder sound?", B-b2bk "Ship the reminder sound"
    - The human answered Q-hzbh "Which reminder sound?": The bell, but quieter
S claude · streaks · on B-k3f9

⏺ hamloy - Claim an item (MCP)(key: "B-k3f9")

⎿ B-k3f9@4 claimed by this session

⏺ Read(Sources/Habits/HabitRow.swift)

⎿ Read 142 lines

⏺ The streak badge goes in the habit row. HabitRow.swift is the file to change.

C codex · on B-vaxb

• Called hamloy.claim({"key":"B-vaxb"})

└ B-vaxb@2 claimed by this session

• Explored

└ Read HabitRow.swift, HabitStore.swift

• The tap fires when a habit is checked off, in HabitRow.swift or in HabitStore.

Claude messages the task Codex is on. Codex hears it with its next tool reply, answers, and keeps out of the file. Nobody copies anything between windows.

Kept short

A run of the same change by the same agent is one line: "ticked 3 items", "added 11 items", naming the first eight. When a lot happens, the other agents' routine changes are counted rather than listed:

- 1 other agent also changed 6 items: moved 5, added 1; the list tool shows where things stand

What you did, messages, and changes to the items this agent is on are always told one by one. A note another agent adds to an item this agent is on starts with "For you".

In your assistant

Claude Code shows hamloy - What changed (MCP); Codex shows Called hamloy.news. With the program, Claude Code also shows what waits for you in its status line.