fix: prevent Discord NO_REPLY bot loops#29932
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May 21, 2026
Three-layer fix for Discord bot-to-bot silence token handling: 1. Entry filter (_handle_message): Drop Discord bot messages with content exactly "NO_REPLY" before they enter the agent loop. When DISCORD_ALLOW_BOTS=mentions, other bots' NO_REPLY must be ignored. 2. Backfill exclusion (_fetch_channel_context): Exclude NO_REPLY sentinel messages from channel history backfill so they don't contaminate session context. 3. Delivery suppression (send): Suppress literal NO_REPLY responses from being sent to Discord channels — it's a control/silence token, not user-facing content. Fixes noisy bot-to-bot loops caused by agent silence being surfaced as empty-response retries.
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Summary
NO_REPLYbefore they can enter the agent loopNO_REPLYsentinel messages from Discord channel history backfillNO_REPLYplatform responses at delivery timeWhy
When bot-to-bot routing is enabled with
DISCORD_ALLOW_BOTS=mentions, a botNO_REPLYsentinel can be treated as a real prompt. If the receiving agent then intentionally stays silent, the gateway can surface empty-response retries and create noisy bot-to-bot loops.NO_REPLYshould behave as a control/silence token, not a user prompt.Verification
./venv/bin/python -m pytest tests/gateway/test_discord_bot_filter.py tests/gateway/test_discord_bot_auth_bypass.py -q