feat: joel may sometimes answer even when he's not called for.

src/services/ai/index.ts

@@ -56,6 +56,16 @@ export class AiService {
     return "snarky";
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Classify whether the message is directed at Joel
+   */
+  async classifyJoelDirected(message: string): Promise<boolean> {
+    if (this.provider.classifyJoelDirected) {
+      return this.provider.classifyJoelDirected(message);
+    }
+    return false;
+  }
+
   /**
    * Extract and save memorable information from a message
    */

src/services/ai/openrouter.ts

@@ -281,4 +281,44 @@ Category:`,
       return "snarky"; // Default to snarky on error
     }
   }
+
+  /**
+   * Cheap binary classifier to detect if a message is directed at Joel
+   */
+  async classifyJoelDirected(message: string): Promise<boolean> {
+    try {
+      const classification = await this.client.chat.completions.create({
+        model: config.ai.classificationModel,
+        messages: [
+          {
+            role: "user",
+            content: `Determine if this Discord message is directed at Joel (the bot), or talking about Joel in a way Joel should respond.
+
+Only respond with one token: YES or NO.
+
+Guidance:
+- YES if the user is asking Joel a question, requesting Joel to do something, replying conversationally to Joel, or maybe discussing Joel as a participant.
+- NO if it's general chat between humans, statements that do not involve Joel.
+
+Message: "${message}"
+
+Answer:`,
+          },
+        ],
+        max_tokens: 3,
+        temperature: 0,
+      });
+
+      const result = classification.choices[0]?.message?.content?.trim().toUpperCase();
+      return result?.startsWith("YES") ?? false;
+    } catch (error) {
+      logger.error("Failed to classify directed message", {
+        method: "classifyJoelDirected",
+        model: config.ai.classificationModel,
+        messageLength: message.length,
+      });
+      logger.error("Directed classification error details", error);
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
 }

src/services/ai/types.ts

@@ -35,6 +35,11 @@ export interface AiProvider {
    */
   classifyMessage?(message: string): Promise<MessageStyle>;
 
+  /**
+   * Classify whether a message is directed at Joel
+   */
+  classifyJoelDirected?(message: string): Promise<boolean>;
+
   /**
    * Extract memorable information from a message
    */