connect: a boost.created without boosted_event_id is not a boost on the recording

A missing key said nothing about where the boost landed, but decoded as
null and passed as a boost on the recording itself. Require the key, and
read only an explicit null as the recording. Also qualify the skill's
summary: only requests that ask for something are acknowledged.

Author: jeremy

internal/connector/admission/boost.go

@@ -13,10 +13,11 @@ const eventBoostCreated = "boost.created"
 
 // boostDetails is the part of boost.created's details admission reads. The
 // feed publishes boosted_event_id as null for a boost on the recording itself
-// and as the event's id for a boost on one of the recording's events.
+// and as the event's id for a boost on one of the recording's events. It is
+// kept raw so that a missing key, which says neither, is told from null.
 type boostDetails struct {
-	BoostID        int64  `json:"boost_id"`
-	BoostedEventID *int64 `json:"boosted_event_id"`
+	BoostID        int64           `json:"boost_id"`
+	BoostedEventID json.RawMessage `json:"boosted_event_id"`
 }
 
 // opens reports whether the gate left trigger open.
@@ -38,14 +39,16 @@ func opens(gate GateResult, trigger Trigger) bool {
 // the agent's own comment, line or post. Whether the agent performed a given
 // event is not something this rule reads.
 //
-// Details without a boost id are not a boost.created Basecamp writes, and are
-// discarded as an invalid pointer: there is no boost to read.
+// Details without a boost id, or without boosted_event_id, are not a
+// boost.created Basecamp writes, and are discarded as an invalid pointer:
+// there is no boost to read, or nothing says whether it landed on the
+// recording. A missing key is never read as null.
 func boostOnRecording(ev Event) (int64, Reason) {
 	var d boostDetails
-	if len(ev.Details) == 0 || json.Unmarshal(ev.Details, &d) != nil || d.BoostID <= 0 {
+	if len(ev.Details) == 0 || json.Unmarshal(ev.Details, &d) != nil || d.BoostID <= 0 || len(d.BoostedEventID) == 0 {
 		return 0, ReasonInvalidPointer
 	}
-	if d.BoostedEventID != nil {
+	if string(d.BoostedEventID) != "null" {
 		return 0, ReasonNotAddressed
 	}
 	return d.BoostID, ""

internal/connector/admission/boost_test.go

@@ -267,7 +267,9 @@ func TestABoostSettledFromItsPointerCostsNoRead(t *testing.T) {
 	for name, details := range map[string]json.RawMessage{
 		"without details":    nil,
 		"without a boost id": json.RawMessage(`{"boosted_event_id":null}`),
-		"unreadable details": json.RawMessage(`{"boost_id":"x"`),
+		// Not the same as null: nothing says the boost is on the recording.
+		"without boosted_event_id": json.RawMessage(`{"boost_id":31337}`),
+		"unreadable details":       json.RawMessage(`{"boost_id":"x"`),
 	} {
 		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			f := newFakeReads()

skills/basecamp-connect/SKILL.md

@@ -4,9 +4,10 @@ description: |
   Drive your own Claude Code session from Basecamp. Starts the local connector
   (basecamp connect), which listens to the account's event feed as a Basecamp
   agent and prints one line per trusted request: a mention, an assignment, a
-  comment on a thread the agent follows, a boost on something it wrote. This session acknowledges each one
-  within seconds (a boost in its own words), picks the repo for the project,
-  and hands the request to a background subagent that reads the context, does
+  comment on a thread the agent follows, a boost on something it wrote. This
+  session acknowledges each one that asks for something within seconds (a
+  boost in its own words), picks the repo for the project, and hands the
+  request to a background subagent that reads the context, does
   the work with your settings and tools, and replies as the agent. The session
   stays free to take the next request, and you can keep using it.
   Also connects an agent to this computer and manages its setup: the agent's