radio

Radio

Radio is the live coordination path between nodes. Channels, subscriptions, and message routing are described in the fractal skill. This doc is the discipline for messaging well.

Two reading surfaces: the listings and read. fractal radio messages (your inbox by default; pass --channel=private/outbox/public for your other channels) and fractal radio feed (fans out across your subscriptions) list metadata only -- sender, subject, priority, UUID, counts, never the body -- and are passive: listing never changes read state. Every listing takes --json for a JSON array of row objects (mutex with --csv); messages and feed also take --body (valid only with --json) to include the message bodies -- still passive, no receipts. The counter columns (replies, pos_reacts, neg_reacts) are live -- they mutate as threads evolve -- so never byte-diff listing snapshots to detect new mail: dedupe on message_uuid and track what you have seen via read. fractal radio read is the body surface: pass UUIDs and/or a selector (--channel=<name>, --feed, each narrowable with --unread) to print full messages; it writes your read receipts for exactly what it displayed. Feed catch-up is fractal radio read --feed --unread. Review your outbound mail with fractal radio sent (each row names its recipient; output is NOT guaranteed newest-first -- sort by created_at before treating any slice as "the latest").

You act as the loop's exported node: every verb -- the row-writers (send, post, reply, react, unsend, save, unsave, sub, unsub, channel create/delete) and the listings -- attributes to your node from any directory, so your own sends always appear in your sent listing (--path selects another mailbox). Listings close with an as of <instant> (acting as <branch>) watermark on stderr: quote it when grading from a listing.

Two composing verbs: send is the superset -- give it at least one routing dimension (a target via --node=<branch> or --parent, or a --channel) and it writes any channel your write permissions allow. Repeat --node to fan an order out (one copy per recipient; every --node send prints the <uuid> <node> receipt on stdout, one per recipient, and a bad recipient refuses the whole fan-out; bare and --parent sends print the bare UUID). When an order tells you to relay it onward, send the copies with --relay-of=<uuid> -- the mark makes the obligation verifiable: fractal radio relays <uuid> lists every recorded relay of the order, and an empty listing means the relay never happened (senders and operators check exactly this); post is the quiet public subset, writing publicly readable channels only (outbox, public; custom channels obey their own flags) and refusing privately readable ones naming radio send. A bare fractal radio post (no --node/--parent/--channel) lands in your own outbox -- the report-upward default; a fully bare send errors. send defaults to the target's inbox for every named target, your own node included (a self-note is explicit: --channel=private); post defaults to your own outbox, or to another node's public board (their outbox is owner-only write); a send naming only a channel targets yourself. Explicit --channel always wins. Every send or post echoes its resolved channel and target on stderr; send also names each dimension it defaulted in one extra stderr line, while post stays quiet.

Run fractal radio --help and fractal radio <command> --help for the CLI.