Add inline @mention support for comments, messages, and chat by nnemirovsky · Pull Request #288 · basecamp/basecamp-cli

nnemirovsky · 2026-03-13T04:43:54Z

Summary

Adds @Name and @First.Last syntax for inline mentions in all content-posting commands. Mentions are resolved to clickable <bc-attachment> tags using the person's attachable_sgid.

Comments: basecamp comment 789 "@Jane.Smith, please review" — create and update
Messages: basecamp message "Title" "cc @Jane" --in project — create and update
Chat: basecamp chat post "@Jane, done!" --in project — auto-promotes to text/html
Ambiguous names return a helpful error with suggestions; use @First.Last to disambiguate

Implementation

names.Resolver.ResolvePersonByName() — returns full Person with AttachableSGID (exact > case-insensitive > partial > pingable fallback)
richtext.ResolveMentions() — finds @mentions in HTML, calls lookup function, replaces with <bc-attachment> tags
resolveMentions() helper in commands wires the two together
Person.AttachableSGID field added — populated from both people and pingable endpoints

Files changed

File	Change
`internal/names/resolver.go`	`AttachableSGID` field, `ResolvePersonByName`, `deduplicatePeople` helper
`internal/names/resolver_test.go`	Tests for `ResolvePersonByName` + pingable fallback
`internal/richtext/richtext.go`	`MentionToHTML`, `ResolveMentions`, `reMentionInput` regex
`internal/richtext/richtext_test.go`	8 test cases for mention resolution
`internal/commands/helpers.go`	`resolveMentions` glue function
`internal/commands/comment.go`	Mention resolution in create + update
`internal/commands/messages.go`	Mention resolution in create + update
`internal/commands/chat.go`	Mention resolution in post (auto text/html promotion)
`skills/basecamp/SKILL.md`	Document mention syntax in quick ref + workflows
`README.md`	Add mention example to usage
`API-COVERAGE.md`	Note mention support on comments/messages/chat rows

Test plan

go test ./internal/names/... — all pass (including ResolvePersonByName + pingable fallback)
go test ./internal/richtext/... -run "TestMentionToHTML|TestResolveMentions" — 8 subtests pass
go build ./... — clean
go vet ./... — clean
Manual test: posted comment with @First.Last mention — resolved correctly with avatar
Manual test: ambiguous @Name returns error with suggestions

Summary by cubic

Adds inline @mention support across comments, messages, and chat. Converts @Name and @First.Last into clickable Basecamp mentions; chat auto-promotes to HTML when mentions are present.

New Features
- @Name or @First.Last → <bc-attachment> using each person’s attachable_sgid via names.Resolver.ResolvePersonByName() + richtext.ResolveMentions().
- Resolution: exact > case-insensitive > partial; ambiguous names return suggestions — use @First.Last to disambiguate.
- Chat with mentions auto-promotes to text/html; comments and messages keep Markdown-to-HTML.
Bug Fixes
- Skip mention resolution when a non-HTML --content-type is set; otherwise auto-promote chat safely.
- Hardened parsing: escape plain text, skip inside HTML tags and <code>/<pre>, and ignore/handle existing or self-closing <bc-attachment> tags.
- Improved <code>/<pre> detection to avoid missing valid tags after partial matches like <preview>; lowercasing hoisted to the caller to reduce allocations.
- Support Unicode names (e.g., @José, @Zoë); docs note using   for visible empty lines in rich text.

^{Written for commit 8152905. Summary will update on new commits.}

@name

Resolve @name and @First.Last syntax to Basecamp mention tags using attachable SGIDs. Works across all content-posting commands: comment create/update, message create/update, and campfire chat.

@name

Update agent_notes, Long descriptions, SKILL.md quick reference and workflows, README usage examples, and API-COVERAGE.md notes for the new @name / @First.Last mention syntax in comments, messages, and chat.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds inline @mention resolution across Basecamp CLI content-posting commands by converting @Name / @First.Last in rich text into Basecamp <bc-attachment> mention tags (via attachable_sgid lookup).

Changes:

Add person lookup that returns full Person records (including AttachableSGID) and use it to resolve mentions.
Add richtext mention parsing + replacement (ResolveMentions, MentionToHTML) and wire it into comments/messages/chat commands.
Update documentation (skill docs, README, API coverage) to reflect mention support.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`skills/basecamp/SKILL.md`	Documents mention syntax and adds examples to quick reference/workflows.
`internal/richtext/richtext.go`	Introduces mention regex + HTML replacement utilities for `<bc-attachment>` mentions.
`internal/richtext/richtext_test.go`	Adds tests for mention tag generation and mention resolution behavior.
`internal/names/resolver.go`	Extends `Person` with `AttachableSGID`, adds `ResolvePersonByName`, and dedup helper.
`internal/names/resolver_test.go`	Adds tests for `ResolvePersonByName`, including pingable fallback.
`internal/commands/helpers.go`	Adds `resolveMentions` helper to glue name resolution into richtext.
`internal/commands/comment.go`	Applies mention resolution to comment create/update flows.
`internal/commands/messages.go`	Applies mention resolution to message create/update flows and updates help text.
`internal/commands/chat.go`	Adds mention resolution for chat posts and auto-promotes to `text/html` on mention presence.
`README.md`	Adds an example showing mentions in comments.
`API-COVERAGE.md`	Notes mention support in comments/messages/chat coverage rows.

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internal/commands/chat.go

internal/richtext/richtext.go

internal/commands/helpers.go

internal/richtext/richtext.go

cubic-dev-ai

1 issue found across 11 files

Prompt for AI agents (unresolved issues)


Check if these issues are valid — if so, understand the root cause of each and fix them. If appropriate, use sub-agents to investigate and fix each issue separately.


<file name="internal/commands/chat.go">

<violation number="1" location="internal/commands/chat.go:365">
P1: When mentions auto-promote chat content to `text/html`, the non-mention text is not HTML-escaped. Characters like `<`, `>`, and `&` are sent raw, which can break rendering or inject unintended HTML. Comments and messages avoid this by calling `richtext.MarkdownToHTML()` before resolving mentions — chat should do the same.</violation>
</file>

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internal/commands/chat.go

@jos

- HTML-escape plain text in chat before mention resolution to prevent raw HTML injection when auto-promoting to text/html - Skip @mentions inside HTML tags and existing <bc-attachment> elements - Support Unicode names in mention regex (e.g., @josé, @zoë) - Fix doc comment to mention @First.Last syntax

Markdown blank lines become tags which Basecamp renders without visible spacing. Add guidance to use for empty lines in agent_notes and SKILL.md.

cubic-dev-ai

1 issue found across 3 files (changes from recent commits).

Prompt for AI agents (unresolved issues)


Check if these issues are valid — if so, understand the root cause of each and fix them. If appropriate, use sub-agents to investigate and fix each issue separately.


<file name="skills/basecamp/SKILL.md">

<violation number="1" location="skills/basecamp/SKILL.md:78">
P2: Duplicate numbering: the new rule 6 ("Line breaks in rich text") and the existing rule 6 ("Project scope is mandatory") both have the same number. Renumber the project-scope rule to `7.`.</violation>
</file>

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skills/basecamp/SKILL.md

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds inline @mention support across Basecamp CLI content-posting commands by resolving @Name / @First.Last into Basecamp <bc-attachment> mention tags using each person’s attachable_sgid.

Changes:

Add mention parsing + replacement in rich text HTML (richtext.ResolveMentions, MentionToHTML) and wire it into comments/messages/chat posting flows.
Extend name resolution to return full Person records including AttachableSGID (Resolver.ResolvePersonByName) with pingable fallback and tests.
Update CLI docs/coverage matrices with mention syntax and examples.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 4 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`internal/richtext/richtext.go`	Implements mention detection and HTML replacement utilities.
`internal/richtext/richtext_test.go`	Adds unit tests for mention HTML generation and resolution behavior.
`internal/names/resolver.go`	Adds `AttachableSGID` to `Person` and introduces `ResolvePersonByName` + dedup helper.
`internal/names/resolver_test.go`	Adds tests for name resolution returning attachable SGIDs and pingable fallback.
`internal/commands/helpers.go`	Adds `resolveMentions` glue between name resolution and richtext mention replacement.
`internal/commands/comment.go`	Resolves mentions when creating/updating comment content.
`internal/commands/messages.go`	Resolves mentions when creating/updating message content.
`internal/commands/chat.go`	Resolves mentions in chat posts and auto-promotes to `text/html` when needed.
`skills/basecamp/SKILL.md`	Documents mention syntax and adds examples to skill reference.
`README.md`	Adds a usage example featuring `@mention` in comments.
`API-COVERAGE.md`	Notes mention support in relevant communication commands.

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skills/basecamp/SKILL.md

internal/commands/chat.go

internal/richtext/richtext.go

- Skip mention resolution when explicit non-HTML content type is set - Skip mentions inside <code> and <pre> blocks - Handle self-closing <bc-attachment /> tags correctly - Fix duplicate numbering in SKILL.md agent invariants

cubic-dev-ai

1 issue found across 4 files (changes from recent commits).

Prompt for AI agents (unresolved issues)


Check if these issues are valid — if so, understand the root cause of each and fix them. If appropriate, use sub-agents to investigate and fix each issue separately.


<file name="internal/richtext/richtext.go">

<violation number="1" location="internal/richtext/richtext.go:699">
P2: `isInsideCodeBlock` matches partial tag names like `<preview>` or `<codeblock>` because it only checks the prefix `"<"+tag` without verifying a tag boundary. Add a boundary check (next char is `>`, ` `, or end-of-string) after the opening-tag match.</violation>
</file>

_{Reply with feedback, questions, or to request a fix. Tag @cubic-dev-ai to re-run a review.}

internal/richtext/richtext.go

Prevent partial tag name matches (e.g., <preview> matching <pre>) by verifying the character after the tag name is a boundary.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds inline @mention resolution across Basecamp CLI content-posting commands by turning @Name / @First.Last into Basecamp <bc-attachment> mention tags using each person’s attachable_sgid.

Changes:

Introduces person-resolution support for mentions via names.Resolver.ResolvePersonByName() and populates Person.AttachableSGID from people + pingable endpoints.
Adds richtext mention parsing/replacement (ResolveMentions, MentionToHTML) with skips for HTML tags, code/pre blocks, and existing <bc-attachment> elements.
Wires mention resolution into comments/messages create+update and chat post (with chat auto-promoting to text/html when mentions are present), plus documentation updates.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`skills/basecamp/SKILL.md`	Documents mention syntax and rich-text line-break behavior; adds usage examples.
`internal/richtext/richtext.go`	Adds mention regex + HTML replacement pipeline and helper “inside tag/block” checks.
`internal/richtext/richtext_test.go`	Adds unit tests for mention HTML generation and mention resolution behavior/edge cases.
`internal/names/resolver.go`	Extends `Person` with `AttachableSGID`, adds `ResolvePersonByName`, and dedup helper for suggestions.
`internal/names/resolver_test.go`	Adds tests for `ResolvePersonByName` and pingable fallback behavior.
`internal/commands/helpers.go`	Adds shared `resolveMentions` glue to connect name resolution with richtext replacement.
`internal/commands/comment.go`	Applies mention resolution to comment create and update flows.
`internal/commands/messages.go`	Applies mention resolution to message create and update flows; updates help text.
`internal/commands/chat.go`	Resolves mentions for chat post and promotes to `text/html` when needed; updates help text.
`README.md`	Adds a quick example demonstrating `@First.Last` mention usage.
`API-COVERAGE.md`	Notes mention support in relevant communication command rows.

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internal/richtext/richtext.go

internal/commands/helpers.go

internal/names/resolver.go

cubic-dev-ai

1 issue found across 1 file (changes from recent commits).

Prompt for AI agents (unresolved issues)


Check if these issues are valid — if so, understand the root cause of each and fix them. If appropriate, use sub-agents to investigate and fix each issue separately.


<file name="internal/richtext/richtext.go">

<violation number="1" location="internal/richtext/richtext.go:706">
P2: When the boundary check fails, `continue` skips to the next tag type, discarding earlier valid `<pre>`/`<code>` occurrences. If e.g. raw `<preview>` appears inside a `<pre>` block, `LastIndex` finds `<preview>`, the boundary check rejects it, and the real `<pre>` is never examined — the mention inside the code block would be incorrectly resolved.

Consider searching backward through all occurrences rather than just the last one.</violation>
</file>

_{Reply with feedback, questions, or to request a fix. Tag @cubic-dev-ai to re-run a review.}

internal/richtext/richtext.go

When LastIndex found <pre inside <preview>, the boundary check correctly rejected it but continue skipped to the next tag type, missing any valid <pre> at an earlier position. Now iteratively searches backwards past failed matches. Also hoists ToLower to the caller to avoid repeated allocation per mention.

jeremy

Great work on this @nnemirovsky! Thank you.

I have a few things to add for unambiguous sgid mentions and markdown mentions. And considering UX for resolving ambiguous @firstname mentions.

Update: actually, this is forward-compatible; I can introduce deterministic mentions + ambiguity resolution in follow-up PRs.

The paragraph spacing PR handles blank lines properly now, so the workaround guidance added in basecamp#288 is no longer needed. Also extracts the duplicated pendingBreak flush into a flushPendingBreak() helper and adds test coverage for blockquote and hr spacing.

@name

Introduce three deterministic mention paths that bypass fuzzy name matching, giving agents and pipelines unambiguous control: - [@name](mention:SGID) — zero API calls, caller-trusted SGID - [@name](person:ID) — one API call, resolves against pingable set - @sgid:VALUE — inline SGID embed for composability ResolveMentions is restructured into three sequential passes (anchor → @sgid → fuzzy @name), each producing <bc-attachment> tags that subsequent passes skip. Also hardens the existing fuzzy @name path with review fixes from #288: - ResolvePersonByName resolves against pingable set only - Expanded prefix regex to match after (, [, ", ' - Trailing-character bailout for hyphens and word-internal apostrophes - Case-insensitive isInsideBcAttachment guard - Chat auto-promotes text/plain → text/html when mentions resolve - Fix double-escaping of HTML entities in mention: display text

@name

Introduce three deterministic mention paths that bypass fuzzy name matching, giving agents and pipelines unambiguous control: - [@name](mention:SGID) — zero API calls, caller-trusted SGID - [@name](person:ID) — one API call, resolves against pingable set - @sgid:VALUE — inline SGID embed for composability ResolveMentions is restructured into three sequential passes (anchor → @sgid → fuzzy @name), each producing <bc-attachment> tags that subsequent passes skip. Also hardens the existing fuzzy @name path with review fixes from #288: - ResolvePersonByName resolves against pingable set only - Expanded prefix regex to match after (, [, ", ' - Trailing-character bailout for hyphens and word-internal apostrophes - Case-insensitive isInsideBcAttachment guard - Chat auto-promotes text/plain → text/html when mentions resolve - Fix double-escaping of HTML entities in mention: display text

@name

Introduce three deterministic mention paths that bypass fuzzy name matching, giving agents and pipelines unambiguous control: - [@name](mention:SGID) — zero API calls, caller-trusted SGID - [@name](person:ID) — one API call, resolves against pingable set - @sgid:VALUE — inline SGID embed for composability ResolveMentions is restructured into three sequential passes (anchor → @sgid → fuzzy @name), each producing <bc-attachment> tags that subsequent passes skip. Also hardens the existing fuzzy @name path with review fixes from #288: - ResolvePersonByName resolves against pingable set only - Expanded prefix regex to match after (, [, ", ' - Trailing-character bailout for hyphens and word-internal apostrophes - Case-insensitive isInsideBcAttachment guard - Chat auto-promotes text/plain → text/html when mentions resolve - Fix double-escaping of HTML entities in mention: display text

@name

Introduce three deterministic mention paths that bypass fuzzy name matching, giving agents and pipelines unambiguous control: - [@name](mention:SGID) — zero API calls, caller-trusted SGID - [@name](person:ID) — one API call, resolves against pingable set - @sgid:VALUE — inline SGID embed for composability ResolveMentions is restructured into three sequential passes (anchor → @sgid → fuzzy @name), each producing <bc-attachment> tags that subsequent passes skip. Also hardens the existing fuzzy @name path with review fixes from #288: - ResolvePersonByName resolves against pingable set only - Expanded prefix regex to match after (, [, ", ' - Trailing-character bailout for hyphens and word-internal apostrophes - Case-insensitive isInsideBcAttachment guard - Chat auto-promotes text/plain → text/html when mentions resolve - Fix double-escaping of HTML entities in mention: display text

@name

* Add deterministic mention syntax and harden fuzzy resolution Introduce three deterministic mention paths that bypass fuzzy name matching, giving agents and pipelines unambiguous control: - [@name](mention:SGID) — zero API calls, caller-trusted SGID - [@name](person:ID) — one API call, resolves against pingable set - @sgid:VALUE — inline SGID embed for composability ResolveMentions is restructured into three sequential passes (anchor → @sgid → fuzzy @name), each producing <bc-attachment> tags that subsequent passes skip. Also hardens the existing fuzzy @name path with review fixes from #288: - ResolvePersonByName resolves against pingable set only - Expanded prefix regex to match after (, [, ", ' - Trailing-character bailout for hyphens and word-internal apostrophes - Case-insensitive isInsideBcAttachment guard - Chat auto-promotes text/plain → text/html when mentions resolve - Fix double-escaping of HTML entities in mention: display text * Update agent notes and SKILL.md for deterministic mention syntax Document all four mention syntaxes in agent_notes annotations (comment, message, chat commands) and update SKILL.md invariant #5 with the full syntax list and recommended workflow for agents. * Clarify reMentionInput prefix comment to enumerate allowed characters The comment said "punctuation" which was vague — enumerate the specific characters (whitespace, >, (, [, ", ') to match the actual regex.

nnemirovsky added 2 commits March 13, 2026 12:25

Add inline @mention support for comments, messages, and chat

31e62df

Resolve @name and @First.Last syntax to Basecamp mention tags using attachable SGIDs. Works across all content-posting commands: comment create/update, message create/update, and campfire chat.

Document @mention support in help text, skill, and docs

e7f1fe3

Update agent_notes, Long descriptions, SKILL.md quick reference and workflows, README usage examples, and API-COVERAGE.md notes for the new @name / @First.Last mention syntax in comments, messages, and chat.

nnemirovsky requested a review from a team as a code owner March 13, 2026 04:43

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github-actions bot added commands CLI command implementations tests Tests (unit and e2e) skills Agent skills docs enhancement New feature or request labels Mar 13, 2026

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nnemirovsky added 2 commits March 13, 2026 13:09

Document for visible empty lines in rich text

76f8bf8

Markdown blank lines become tags which Basecamp renders without visible spacing. Add guidance to use for empty lines in agent_notes and SKILL.md.

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Address second round of review feedback

461c60d

- Skip mention resolution when explicit non-HTML content type is set - Skip mentions inside <code> and <pre> blocks - Handle self-closing <bc-attachment /> tags correctly - Fix duplicate numbering in SKILL.md agent invariants

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Add tag boundary check in isInsideCodeBlock

1c03705

Prevent partial tag name matches (e.g., <preview> matching <pre>) by verifying the character after the tag name is a boundary.

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jeremy merged commit 243815f into basecamp:main Mar 13, 2026
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jeremy mentioned this pull request Mar 15, 2026

Add deterministic mention syntax and harden fuzzy resolution #297

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