Implicit Mentions - PraisonAI

In a mention_only group, tapping Reply on the bot’s own message counts as addressing it — the follow-up is answered without re-typing @bot. The “aha” scenario — Alice in a Telegram group set to group_policy: mention_only:

Alice:  @planning_bot what's on today?
Bot:    You have 3 meetings.
Alice:  (taps Reply on the bot's message) And tomorrow?
Bot:    Tomorrow you have 2 meetings and a demo.

Before this change the follow-up was silently dropped because there was no @planning_bot in the text. Now the natural “reply to the bot” continues the conversation.

Quick Start

Default: reply-to-bot just works

Set group_policy: mention_only — a reply to the bot is admitted with no extra config.

# gateway.yaml
channels:
  telegram:
    token: ${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}
    group_policy: mention_only    # reply-to-bot counts by default

Enable quote as an implicit mention

Add quote when you also want a quoted/forwarded bot message to count.

channels:
  telegram:
    token: ${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}
    group_policy: mention_only
    implicit_mentions: ["reply", "quote"]

Disable implicit mentions (strict @-only)

An empty list requires a literal @bot on every message.

channels:
  telegram:
    token: ${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}
    group_policy: mention_only
    implicit_mentions: []         # strict: only @bot admits

How It Works

The adapter reports how the bot was addressed as structured facts; the admission primitive admits the message when an enabled implicit signal is present. An explicit @bot always counts. Each implicit signal counts only when its name is listed in implicit_mentions.

Signal	Meaning	Default
`reply`	The message replies to a previous bot message	✅ on
`quote`	The message quotes/forwards a previous bot message	❌ off
`thread`	The message is in a thread the bot participates in	❌ off

from praisonaiagents.bots import (
    MentionFacts,
    resolve_ingress_admission,
    DEFAULT_IMPLICIT_MENTIONS,
)

# A reply to the bot in a mention_only group — admitted by default.
decision = resolve_ingress_admission(
    chat_type="group",
    sender_id="123",
    mention=MentionFacts(reply_to_bot=True),
    group_policy="mention_only",
)
print(decision.admit)                 # True
print(DEFAULT_IMPLICIT_MENTIONS)      # frozenset({'reply'})

Configuration Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
`implicit_mentions`	`list[str]`	`["reply"]`	Which non-`@mention` signals admit a message under `mention_only` / `observe`. Values: `"reply"`, `"quote"`, `"thread"`. Empty list = strict `@`-only.

Bot Gateway

Where implicit_mentions lives in gateway.yaml, alongside group_policy

Supported Signals per Platform

Reply-to-bot detection is wired on Telegram today. The MentionFacts shape exists in core for every adapter, but only Telegram reports reply_to_bot in this release.

Platform	`reply`	`quote`	`thread`
Telegram	✅	🔜	🔜
Discord	❌	❌	❌
Slack	❌	❌	❌
WhatsApp	❌	❌	❌

Enabling implicit_mentions: ["reply", "quote"] on an adapter that doesn’t report those signals has no effect — the adapter simply never sets the fact.

Common Patterns

Natural follow-up (default). A reply to the bot continues the conversation without @bot.

channels:
  telegram:
    token: ${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}
    group_policy: mention_only
    # implicit_mentions defaults to ["reply"]

Answer anywhere in this thread. Treat any message in a bot thread as addressing the bot.

channels:
  telegram:
    token: ${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}
    group_policy: mention_only
    implicit_mentions: ["reply", "thread"]

Audit-only channel (strict @). Require a literal @bot every time.

channels:
  telegram:
    token: ${TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN}
    group_policy: mention_only
    implicit_mentions: []

Best Practices

Keep reply on by default

A reply to the bot matches what users expect and does not widen the gate — the sender is still checked against allowed_users / allowlist first.

Enable quote sparingly

A quote can be a share of an old bot message the user never meant to re-invoke. Turn on quote only when you want shares to count.

thread needs a real thread model

thread is only useful on platforms with real threads (Telegram forum topics, Slack threads). Wire it only when the adapter reliably reports thread membership.

Implicit mentions are not an auth gate

implicit_mentions: [] combined with an empty allowed_users is the strictest noise setting, but it adds no security on top of an allow-list — it only affects which messages the bot answers, not who is allowed.

Bot Gateway

Where implicit_mentions and group_policy live in YAML

Observe Mode

The same reply-to-bot rule applies under observe

Bot Security & DM Policy

The mention gate is not an authentication gate

Bot Platform Plugins

How adapters compute MentionFacts for the admission primitive

​Quick Start

​How It Works

​Configuration Options

Bot Gateway

​Supported Signals per Platform

​Common Patterns

​Best Practices

​Related

Bot Gateway

Observe Mode

Bot Security & DM Policy

Bot Platform Plugins

Quick Start

How It Works

Configuration Options

Supported Signals per Platform

Common Patterns

Best Practices

Related