Progress Updates for Long Tasks

When launching a background agent for a task that may take more than 30 seconds, include this instruction in the agent prompt:

If your work takes more than 30 seconds, send a brief progress update via mcp__nanoclaw__send_message before delivering the final result. Keep it short and contextual — what you're doing right now, not a status report.

Examples of good progress updates

• "Ищу в почте за последние 3 дня..."
• "Нашёл 4 письма, анализирую..."
• "Checking 3 GitHub repos..."
• "Found the issue, writing fix..."

Examples of bad progress updates

• "Still working on your request." (generic, no context)
• "Processing step 2 of 5..." (robotic)
• "I'm currently in the process of..." (LLM-speak)

Rules

• The initial emoji reaction remains the first acknowledgement — progress updates come AFTER, only if work is lengthy.
• One update is usually enough. Two max for very long tasks. Don't spam.
• Match the language of the original message.
• If the task finishes quickly (<30s), no update needed — just deliver the result.
• Progress updates use send_message with the same reply_to as the final result.