# Notification Manual Channel Model > Notification payload, mirror, allowlist, hook, delivery, delay, and block-cap reference. Read after notification-manual when interpreting current channel state or diagnosing delivery; dismissal policy belongs to dismissal-safety. - Skill: `lingtai-ai/notification-manual-channel-model` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add lingtai-ai/notification-manual-channel-model` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/lingtai-ai/notification-manual-channel-model/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: AI & ML - Author: lingtai-ai (https://skillmd.com/u/lingtai-ai) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/lingtai-ai/notification-manual-channel-model --- # Notification Channel Model ## Current channel surface A channel is the filename stem in `.notification/.json`; for example, `system.json` projects to `attention.system` and `mcp.telegram.json` to `attention["mcp.telegram"]`. Ordinary channel files are current mirrors. Daemon is a logical aggregate from Store-owned `.notification/daemon/.json` mini-files; sibling `daemon.json` is only a non-authoritative compatibility report. Use Core/tool reads and dismissal, not direct edits. Delivered metadata can be historical, so never treat an old attention snapshot as canonical producer state. The effective allowlist is the static built-ins + `mcp.*` + hook channels registered by **this agent's workdir**. It is per-agent, not process-global. Unknown JSON names, non-JSON entries, invalid stems, and kernel-private dotfiles are ignored. A present but unregistered channel emits one deduplicated `notification_hook` warn-and-flag event with `ref_id: blocked_channel:` until registration. Built-ins include `email`, `system`, `soul`, `nudge`, `post-molt`, `tool_loop_guard`, `bash`, `btw`, `cron`, `molt`, `goal`, `daemon`, and `delay-alarm`. Runtime/configuration nudges use `nudge`; its System owner routes `kernel_version` to update checks. `source_drift` stays local, never release-migration routing. See `../../../system-manual/reference/runtime-update-checks/SKILL.md`. ## Payload and producer ownership A producer writes the current channel as an envelope such as: ```json { "header": "1 system notification", "icon": "🔔", "priority": "normal", "published_at": "2026-06-10T00:00:00Z", "instructions": "Optional producer-owned handling guidance.", "data": {"events": []} } ``` `instructions` is inside the payload, not a channel. Read it before choosing a verb: the producer knows whether the file is disposable output, a mirror over canonical state, a coalesced event summary, or protected source of truth. A notification clear changes only this mirror. It must not mark mail read, change a goal, consume an MCP queue, or mutate any other producer-owned record. A producer with canonical state should register a generic-dismiss guard and teach its owner verb in `instructions`; hook registration only widens the allowlist, not dismissal policy. External writers use atomic sibling-temp replacement so readers never see partial JSON. ## Delivery and voluntary `check` `check` returns a placeholder; the turn loop stamps the one live payload onto that same result. IDLE/ASLEEP wake delivery uses the same shape. During ACTIVE work, the current payload is copied to every eligible final ToolResultBlock, even when unchanged; only the newest emission is current and older holders are historical traces. Delivery signatures are bookkeeping, not an attachment gate. Fingerprints and the live holder belong to kernel sync, not `manual` or this handler. ## Consumer delay and expiry `delay` is a consumer filter, never a producer operation. One allowed target is recorded in private `.notification/.delay_state.json`; the target file keeps receiving updates. A nonzero request replaces the prior live delay, and `seconds: 0` cancels only the matching target and makes it visible again. The finite cap is read live from `LINGTAI_NOTIFICATION_DELAY_MAX_SECONDS`; blank, non-numeric, non-positive, or non-finite values fall back to `600`. For ordinary targets, coherent snapshots, voluntary checks, and wake delivery omit only the delayed target. A `daemon` delay masks attention only: its payload, byte version, and bounded summary remain readable, while `daemon:delayed=1` prevents daemon arrivals from moving the wake fingerprint. Other channels, including registered hooks, continue to wake. `delay-alarm` cannot itself be delayed. Expiry or recovery stops filtering and publishes one high-priority latest-only `delay-alarm` mirror with target, requested/actual duration, byte-level changed/no-change, and only conservative producer-reported or retained-event statistics. State is atomically replaced under the established Store mutation lock; a stable request id makes timer/restart races overwrite one alarm rather than duplicate it. Malformed or unreadable delay state fails open to target visibility, never silence. ## Hooks and allowlist lifecycle 1. Write a watcher that atomically publishes the envelope to an allowlisted `.notification/.json` path. 2. Before starting that watcher, register it with `notification(action='add', input={...})`, supplying `name`, `channel`, `source`, `description`, `how_to_modify`, and `how_to_cancel`; `version` defaults to `1.0.0`, and `instructions` is optional. 3. Read with `check`, then follow the producer instruction or narrowest dismiss. `list` preserves registry order. `edit` revalidates channel uniqueness; a null- only edit is a no-op. `drop` revokes the channel but never stops its process. Corrupt or unreadable `.notification/hooks.json` gives `list`, `add`, `drop`, and `edit` a bounded load-failed result. Built-in channels and Store-reserved stems `hooks` and `large_result_acks` cannot be registered. ## Block cap and settings `notification.max_chars` is one shared live cap (`10000`, clamped to `2048..10000`) for persistent and attention lanes. Metadata files are not channels. Resolution is environment `LINGTAI_NOTIFICATION_MAX_CHARS`, then valid System-v2 `notification_max_chars`, then default. At or under cap, serialization is byte-identical. Above cap, persistent output spills to `logs/notification-overflow-.json`; attention output uses the content-addressed `notification-attention-overflow-.json` (with a collision suffix). Both model copies compact while preserving routing ids and marking shortened fields truthfully where the producer defines a truncation flag. Only the persistent lane protects the IM current/new message (`is_current`): it fully compacts, then fully stubs, older context in the same block before the current message's own content is ever touched; the attention lane has no per-message `is_current` protection. If an id-only copy still cannot fit, the marker-only envelope may omit its long `path` (`path_omitted=true`) while retaining the exact basename in `spill_file`. A block-level `overflow` marker alone is not a reason to reread the whole block — open the spill (or, on `spill_failed`, call the producer tool) only for required content absent from all available current copies, including omitted/id-only records. A complete usable alternate/raw copy needs no reread even if a shorter preview's flag is true; a false or missing flag is not proof of completeness. This is context-size control, not access or delivery accounting. The SHOW row reports the same effective clamped value and never writes, refreshes, adds `init.json`, or creates a settings file. The notification footprint also includes kernel-owned `large_result_acks.json`, `hooks.json`, and the private delay state. Inspect read-only; never delete the directory or bulk-remove files, because producer guards and stale checks live in the atomic actions.