The teammate-messaging protocol told bots to send with
`chat -c "Bot Chat" -Q -q` and, on 'No session found', fall back to a
manual two-step (send without -c, then sessions rename) — a dance the
CLI already made unnecessary when --create-if-missing landed (#86794).
Profiles that never went through the Bots-panel birth flow (CLI-created,
pre-Bot-Mode, remote-source) hit that miss on every first contact, and
background sends swallowed the error entirely (the original silent-drop
in Hermes-Bot-Mode#48 / #88059).
- tools/bot_mode_probe.py: protocol command gains --create-if-missing
- bundled plugin: Bot Chat prompt section + @mention handoff note use
the flag; rename-dance instructions deleted
The capability epoch hashes the protocol section, so existing eternal
Bot Chat sessions pick the new instructions up on their next message via
the established once-per-change rebuild — no per-turn cache drift.
Live-verified: fresh profile with zero sessions, protocol command
created 'Bot Chat' and delivered (PONG round-trip); second send resolved
the same session by title (no duplicate); missing-title send WITHOUT the
flag still errors loudly on stderr.
Teknium
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