intake: configurable chat-only opt-out prefixes (💬, chat:)

Posts starting with an opt-out prefix (PULSE_BRIDGE_INTAKE_OPTOUT,
case-insensitive) are never turned into a ledger item or kanban task and
get no bridge reply. Codex review: no findings.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <[email protected]>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YECpkAwQUwgu7NVy91R8fW

README.md

@@ -66,7 +66,12 @@ launchctl bootstrap gui/$(id -u) ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.shre.pulse-bridge.pli
 
 New top-level posts in the `activity` channel written by a human (not the
 bridge, not agent accounts, not `🤖`-prefixed, not mirror posts carrying a
-`ledger:` tag line) become executed, tracked background work:
+`ledger:` tag line) become executed, tracked background work.
+
+**Prefix a post with 💬 (or `chat:`) to just talk** — chat-only posts are
+never turned into a ledger item or task and the bridge never replies to
+them. The prefix list is configurable via `PULSE_BRIDGE_INTAKE_OPTOUT`
+(comma-separated, case-insensitive).
 
 1. **Ledger item** — `shre-items add --kind pipeline --stage queued
    --tag pulse-intake`, title = first 80 chars of the post, detail = full

bridge.env

@@ -20,3 +20,6 @@ PULSE_BRIDGE_HERMES_DIR=/Users/aibot/.hermes/hermes-agent
 PULSE_BRIDGE_HERMES_HOME=/Users/aibot/.hermes
 # comma-separated user_names never ingested (bridge + agent accounts)
 PULSE_BRIDGE_INTAKE_IGNORE=Ledger,Ellie,AROS
+# chat-only prefixes (case-insensitive): posts starting with one of these are
+# never turned into work and get no bridge reply
+PULSE_BRIDGE_INTAKE_OPTOUT=💬,chat:

bridge.py

@@ -72,6 +72,11 @@ HERMES_HOME_DIR = cfg("PULSE_BRIDGE_HERMES_HOME", str(HOME / ".hermes"))
 INTAKE_IGNORE_USERS = {u.strip().lower() for u in
                        cfg("PULSE_BRIDGE_INTAKE_IGNORE",
                            f"{POSTER_NAME},Ellie,AROS").split(",") if u.strip()}
+# chat-only opt-out: posts starting with any of these prefixes (matched
+# case-insensitively) are just talk — no ledger item, no task, no comments
+INTAKE_OPTOUT_PREFIXES = tuple(
+    p.strip().lower() for p in
+    cfg("PULSE_BRIDGE_INTAKE_OPTOUT", "💬,chat:").split(",") if p.strip())
 
 
 def log(msg: str) -> None:
@@ -402,8 +407,9 @@ def intake_ingest(state: dict) -> None:
         if (ts < cp or m.get("thread_id") or m["id"] in state["intake"]
                 or (m.get("user_name") or "").lower() in INTAKE_IGNORE_USERS
                 or (m.get("user_id") or "").startswith("agent:")
-                or content.startswith("🤖") or "ledger:" in content):
-            continue
+                or content.startswith("🤖") or "ledger:" in content
+                or content.lower().startswith(INTAKE_OPTOUT_PREFIXES)):
+            continue  # opt-out posts are chat-only: no item, no task, no reply
         candidates.append(m)
     for post in sorted(candidates, key=lambda m: int(m["created_at"])):
         ledger_id = ledger_add_for_post(post)