Add support for on-demand involvement

Fixes https://github.com/etkecc/baibot/issues/15

docs/access.md

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ Users:
 
 - ✅ can **invite the bot to rooms**
 - ✅ can **use all the bot's [features](./features.md)** ([💬 Text Generation](./features.md#-text-generation), [🦻 Speech-to-Text](./features.md#-speech-to-text), etc.) by sending room messages
+- ✅ can **mention the bot** in threads and reply chains to provoke it to respond to non-user messages (see [📖 Usage / 💬 Text Generation / On-demand involvement](./usage.md#on-demand-involvement))
 - ✅ can **change the bot's configuration in a room** (e.g. `!bai config room ...` commands)
 - ❌ cannot **change the bot's global configuration** (e.g. `!bai config global ...` commands)
 - ❌ cannot **create new [🤖 Agents](./agents.md)** (neither in rooms, nor globally). See [💼 Room-local agent managers](#-room-local-agent-managers) for controlling which users can create agents.

docs/configuration/text-generation.md

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ You may also wish to see:
 
 In Direct Message rooms with the bot (1:1 rooms), it most usually makes sense for the bot to respond to **all** of your messages, as shown on this [🖼️ screenshot](../screenshots/text-generation.webp).
 
-In group rooms (with multiple users), it may be more appropriate for the bot to only respond to messages that are **prefixed** with the command prefix (e.g. `!bai`), so that other chat exchange in the room will not trigger it. Such a setup is shown on this [🖼️ screenshot](../screenshots/text-generation-prefix-requirement.webp).
+In group rooms (with multiple users), it may be more appropriate for the bot to only respond to messages that are **prefixed** with the command prefix (e.g. `!bai`) or which are [mentioning](https://spec.matrix.org/latest/client-server-api/#user-and-room-mentions) the bot (e.g. `@baibot`), so that other chat exchange in the room will not trigger it. Such a setup is shown on the [🖼️ On-demand involvement in the room](../screenshots/text-generation-prefix-requirement.webp) screenshot.
 
 There are exceptions to these rules, and you can configure the bot to respond only to prefixed messages in a 1:1 room, or to respond to all messages even in a multi-user group room.
 
@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@ By default, the bot is **auto-configured (upon joining a new room)** to use the
 
 Example: `!bai config room text-generation set-prefix-requirement-type command_prefix` (this can also be set globally, see [🛠️ Room Settings](./README.md#room-settings))
 
-Regardless of this configuration, **the bot will also respond to messages which directly [mention](https://spec.matrix.org/latest/client-server-api/#user-and-room-mentions) the bot** (e.g. `@baibot`), even if they are not prefixed. An example of this can be seen on this [🖼️ screenshot](../screenshots/text-generation-prefix-requirement.webp).
+Regardless of this configuration, **the bot will also respond to messages by allowed [👥 Users](../access.md#-users) which directly [mention](https://spec.matrix.org/latest/client-server-api/#user-and-room-mentions) the bot** (e.g. `@baibot`), even if they are not prefixed. An example of this can be seen on these screenshots:
+
+- [🖼️ On-demand involvement in a thread](../screenshots/text-generation-on-demand-thread-involvement.webp)
+- [🖼️ On-demand involvement in a reply chain](../screenshots/text-generation-on-demand-reply-involvement.webp)
 
 
 ### 🪄 Auto Usage

docs/features.md

@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ Text Generation is the bot's ability to **respond to users' text messages with t
 
 In multi-user (group) rooms, to avoid disturbing the normal conversation between people, the bot is auto-configured to only respond to messages starting with the command prefix (`!bai`) or direct mentions via the [💬 Text Generation / 🗟 Prefix Requirement Type](./configuration/text-generation.md#-prefix-requirement-type) setting.
 
+Normally, the bot only responds to allowed [👥 Users](./access.md#-users). In certain cases, it's useful for an allowed user to provoke the bot to respond even in foreign threads or reply chains. You can learn more about this feature in the [📖 Usage / 💬 Text Generation / On-demand involvement](./usage.md#on-demand-involvement) section.
+
 A few other features (like [🗣️ Text-to-Speech](#️-text-to-speech) and [🦻 Speech-to-Text](#-speech-to-text)) combine well with Text Generation, so you **don't necessarily need to communicate with the bot via text** (with [Seamless voice interaction](#seamless-voice-interaction), you can communicate only with voice).
 
 You may also wish to see:

docs/usage.md

@@ -11,10 +11,11 @@ This is related to the [💬 Text Generation](./features.md#-text-generation) fe
 
 If there's a text-generation handler agent configured, the bot **may** respond to messages sent in the room.
 
-🖼️ See screenshots of:
+See screenshots of:
 
-- the [default Text Generation flow](./screenshots/text-generation.webp) for 1:1 rooms
-- the [Text Generation flow in multi-user rooms](./screenshots/text-generation-prefix-requirement.webp) (where the [🗟 Prefix Requirement](./configuration/text-generation.md#-prefix-requirement-type) setting is auto-configured to "required")
+- 🖼️ [the default Text Generation flow](./screenshots/text-generation.webp) in 1:1 rooms
+- 🖼️ [the Text Generation flow in multi-user rooms](./screenshots/text-generation-prefix-requirement.webp) (where the [🗟 Prefix Requirement](./configuration/text-generation.md#-prefix-requirement-type) setting is auto-configured to "required")
+- [on-demand involvement](#on-demand-involvement)
 
 Whether the bot responds depends on:
 
@@ -24,12 +25,27 @@ Whether the bot responds depends on:
 
 - (🎨 agent capabilities) whether the configured `text-generation` (or `catch-all`) handler agent actually supports text-generation. The provider may lack support for this feature or it may be disabled in the [🤖 agents](./agents.md) configuration
 
-- (the [🗟 Prefix Requirement](./configuration/text-generation.md#-prefix-requirement-type) setting) whether a prefix (e.g. `!bai`) is required in front of messages sent to the room. For multi-user rooms, this setting defaults to "required"
+- (the [🗟 Prefix Requirement](./configuration/text-generation.md#-prefix-requirement-type) setting) whether a prefix (e.g. `!bai`) or user mention (e.g. `@baibot`) is required for messages sent to the room. For multi-user rooms, this setting defaults to "required". See [on-demand involvement](#on-demand-involvement) for details.
 
 Room messages start a threaded conversation where you can continue back-and-forth communication with the bot.
 
 Unless you've enabled the [♻️ Context Management](./features.md#️-context-management) feature, all messages will be sent to the agent's API each time. If the context management feature is enabled, older messages may be dropped.
 
+#### On-demand involvement
+
+In the following 2 cases, it's useful to involve the bot in conversations on-demand:
+
+1. For multi-user rooms (with the [🗟 Prefix Requirement](./configuration/text-generation.md#-prefix-requirement-type) setting set to "required")
+2. In rooms with foreign users (users that are not authorized bot [👥 users](./access.md#-users))
+
+In these instances, an allowed [👥 user](./access.md#-users) can also provoke the bot to respond to **any** thread or reply chain by [mentioning](https://spec.matrix.org/latest/client-server-api/#user-and-room-mentions) the bot (e.g. `@baibot Hello!`). The following screenshots demonstrate this behavior:
+
+- [🖼️ On-demand involvement in the room](./screenshots/text-generation-prefix-requirement.webp)
+- [🖼️ On-demand involvement in a thread](./screenshots/text-generation-on-demand-thread-involvement.webp) (the Alice user in this example is not an allowed user, yet her messages are still considered as part of the conversation context)
+- [🖼️ On-demand involvement in a reply chain](./screenshots/text-generation-on-demand-reply-involvement.webp) (the Alice user in this example is not an allowed user, yet her messages are still considered as part of the conversation context)
+
+💡 **NOTE**: Normally, the bot **only considers messages from allowed [👥 Users](./access.md#-users)** and ignores all other messages when responding. However, **when the bot is explicitly invoked (via mention)** in a thread or reply chain, **it will consider all messages** in the thread and reply chain (even those from foreign users) as part of the conversation context.
+
 
 ### 🗣️ Text-to-Speech