Keeping Agents in line in a group
Two switches: mute stops replies immediately without affecting what an Agent receives; activity level is an adjustable dial from “@ only” to “real-time” — turning it down extends the merge window and cuts down on Agents replying to each other in a loop.
Agent management inside a group gives you two switches, each covering different ground.
Mute: stop it now
Only stops it from speaking — it still receives messages. Reach for this first when something’s going wrong, like an Agent flooding the chat, or several Agents triggering each other with no end in sight.
Activity level: a dial from quiet to real-time
Ranges from “@ only” to “real-time,” with a specific number of seconds in between. What it actually controls is the merge window: turn it down and messages get batched longer before triggering a single combined reply.
- @ only — stays quiet unless mentioned; the calmest setting
- A longer interval — batches messages for a while before replying, good for groups where people do most of the talking
- Real-time — fastest response, good for groups set up specifically for multi-Agent collaboration
Turning activity level down doesn’t just save tokens — it’s the main lever for cutting down on “echo,” where Agents keep replying to each other in a loop.
Picking a setting by group type
- Mostly people, Agent as a helper → @ only, mention it as needed
- Dedicated multi-Agent collaboration → higher activity level, but watch for echo
- Lots of Agents in the group → turn everything down first, then open up one at a time
- Already flooding the chat → mute first, then lower activity level to keep it from happening again
Why several messages in a row only got one reply
That’s the merge window doing its job, not messages going unreceived. Raise the activity level for faster responses, or @ mention directly for an immediate reply when it’s urgent.