activity-notifier_skill

Overview

This skill broadcasts real-time agent activity status to a Discord channel so observers know what the agent is doing (thinking, using tools, web searching, coding, done, error). It increases transparency for long-running or multi-step operations and reduces confusion when users might assume the agent is stuck. The skill is lightweight, emoji-driven, and configurable via an environment channel ID.

How this skill works

The skill sends concise status messages to a designated Discord channel whenever the agent changes state (e.g., thinking, working, web, coding, waiting, done, error). Messages include an emoji, a short label, and optional progress or context. You can override the default channel with an environment variable; the skill throttles updates to avoid spam and encourages final summary messages.

When to use it

• When starting long-running tasks like installations, downloads, or data processing
• When waiting on rate-limited APIs or slow external services
• During multi-step or sequential operations where progress matters
• When users may otherwise assume the agent is unresponsive
• For auditing or team visibility of agent actions

Best practices

• Be concise: send short updates, not full logs
• Use emoji and a one-line label to support quick scanning
• Include simple progress indicators (e.g., “3/6 installed”) when possible
• Avoid frequent updates for very short actions; limit notifications to tasks >5 seconds
• Always send a final completion or error summary to close the activity loop

Example use cases

• Notify channel when installing multiple skills, showing progress per skill
• Report when the agent is performing web searches or fetching remote resources
• Indicate when code generation or edits are in progress and when they finish
• Post waiting messages when paused for API rate limits and update when resumed
• Send error alerts to a developer channel with brief failure context