---
id: chat
title: The bot says what it is doing, in the match
status: open
dependsOn: [observability]
exitCriterion: >
  A person watching a match sees the bot report its intent in chat, and the
  message names the reason rather than the score.
---

# chat

MegaMek has a chat channel and the bot does not use it. `sds view` and `sds
watch` exist for a person reading decisions from outside, but a player *in* the
match sees nothing.

This is the smallest of the epics and the one with the most reach: it is what
makes the bot legible to somebody who is not reading a decision log, and it is
the difference between an opponent and a black box.

## What it needs

- A line per decision, or per turn, at a volume a human can read - not one per
  candidate.
- Written from the surfaced reason rather than the raw score.
  `sds-core/src/surface.rs` exists to cut a candidate list down for a reader and
  is the right source.
- A switch. A benchmark of three hundred matches does not want it.

## Copywriting

Per CLAUDE.md: no marketing prose. Operational text is fine - what the unit is
doing and why - and anything that reads as personality or flavour is a
placeholder for a human to write.