langroid 0.33.4__py3-none-any.whl → 0.33.7__py3-none-any.whl

langroid/agent/task.py

@@ -0,0 +1,2095 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import asyncio
+import copy
+import logging
+import re
+import threading
+from collections import Counter, OrderedDict, deque
+from pathlib import Path
+from types import SimpleNamespace
+from typing import (
+    Any,
+    Callable,
+    Coroutine,
+    Deque,
+    Dict,
+    List,
+    Optional,
+    Self,
+    Tuple,
+    Type,
+    TypeVar,
+    cast,
+    overload,
+)
+
+import numpy as np
+from rich import print
+from rich.markup import escape
+
+from langroid.agent.base import Agent
+from langroid.agent.chat_agent import ChatAgent
+from langroid.agent.chat_document import (
+    ChatDocLoggerFields,
+    ChatDocMetaData,
+    ChatDocument,
+    StatusCode,
+)
+from langroid.agent.tool_message import ToolMessage
+from langroid.agent.tools.orchestration import AgentDoneTool, DoneTool, FinalResultTool
+from langroid.cachedb.redis_cachedb import RedisCache, RedisCacheConfig
+from langroid.exceptions import InfiniteLoopException
+from langroid.mytypes import Entity
+from langroid.parsing.parse_json import extract_top_level_json
+from langroid.parsing.routing import parse_addressed_message
+from langroid.pydantic_v1 import BaseModel
+from langroid.utils.configuration import settings
+from langroid.utils.constants import (
+    DONE,
+    NO_ANSWER,
+    PASS,
+    PASS_TO,
+    SEND_TO,
+    USER_QUIT_STRINGS,
+)
+from langroid.utils.logging import RichFileLogger, setup_file_logger
+from langroid.utils.object_registry import scheduled_cleanup
+from langroid.utils.system import hash
+from langroid.utils.types import to_string
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+Responder = Entity | Type["Task"]
+
+T = TypeVar("T")
+
+
+def noop_fn(*args: List[Any], **kwargs: Dict[str, Any]) -> None:
+    pass
+
+
+class TaskConfig(BaseModel):
+    """Configuration for a Task. This is a container for any params that
+    we didn't include in the task `__init__` method.
+    We may eventually move all the task __init__ params to this class, analogous to how
+    we have config classes for `Agent`, `ChatAgent`, `LanguageModel`, etc.
+
+    Attributes:
+        inf_loop_cycle_len (int): max exact-loop cycle length: 0 => no inf loop test
+        inf_loop_dominance_factor (float): dominance factor for exact-loop detection
+        inf_loop_wait_factor (int): wait this * cycle_len msgs before loop-check
+        restart_as_subtask (bool): whether to restart *every* run of this task
+            when run as a subtask.
+        addressing_prefix (str): "@"-like prefix an agent can use to address other
+            agents, or entities of the agent. E.g., if this is "@", the addressing
+            string would be "@Alice", or "@user", "@llm", "@agent", etc.
+            If this is an empty string, then addressing is disabled.
+            Default is empty string "".
+            CAUTION: this is a deprecated practice, since normal prompts
+            can accidentally contain such addressing prefixes, and will break
+            your runs. This could happen especially when your prompt/context
+            contains code, but of course could occur in normal text as well.
+            Instead, use the `RecipientTool` to have agents address other agents or
+            entities. If you do choose to use `addressing_prefix`, the recommended
+            setting is to use `langroid.utils.constants.AT`, which currently is "|@|".
+            Note that this setting does NOT affect the use of `constants.SEND_TO` --
+            this is always enabled since this is a critical way for responders to
+            indicate that the message should be sent to a specific entity/agent.
+            (Search for "SEND_TO" in the examples/ dir to see how this is used.)
+        allow_subtask_multi_oai_tools (bool): whether to allow multiple OpenAI
+            tool-calls to be sent to a sub-task.
+        recognize_string_signals (bool): whether to recognize string-based signaling
+            like DONE, SEND_TO, PASS, etc. Default is True, but note that we don't need
+            to use string-based signaling, and it is recommended to use the
+            new Orchestration tools instead (see agent/tools/orchestration.py),
+            e.g. DoneTool, SendTool, etc.
+
+    """
+
+    inf_loop_cycle_len: int = 10
+    inf_loop_dominance_factor: float = 1.5
+    inf_loop_wait_factor: int = 5
+    restart_as_subtask: bool = False
+    logs_dir: str = "logs"
+    addressing_prefix: str = ""
+    allow_subtask_multi_oai_tools: bool = True
+    recognize_string_signals: bool = True
+
+
+class Task:
+    """
+    A `Task` wraps an `Agent` object, and sets up the `Agent`'s goals and instructions.
+    A `Task` maintains two key variables:
+
+    - `self.pending_message`, which is the message awaiting a response, and
+    - `self.pending_sender`, which is the entity that sent the pending message.
+
+    The possible responders to `self.pending_message` are the `Agent`'s own "native"
+    responders (`agent_response`, `llm_response`, and `user_response`), and
+    the `run()` methods of any sub-tasks. All responders have the same type-signature
+    (somewhat simplified):
+    ```
+    str | ChatDocument -> ChatDocument
+    ```
+    Responders may or may not specify an intended recipient of their generated response.
+
+    The main top-level method in the `Task` class is `run()`, which repeatedly calls
+    `step()` until `done()` returns true. The `step()` represents a "turn" in the
+    conversation: this method sequentially (in round-robin fashion) calls the responders
+    until it finds one that generates a *valid* response to the `pending_message`
+    (as determined by the `valid()` method). Once a valid response is found,
+    `step()` updates the `pending_message` and `pending_sender` variables,
+    and on the next iteration, `step()` re-starts its search for a valid response
+    *from the beginning* of the list of responders (the exception being that the
+    human user always gets a chance to respond after each non-human valid response).
+    This process repeats until `done()` returns true, at which point `run()` returns
+    the value of `result()`, which is the final result of the task.
+    """
+
+    # class variable called `cache` that is a RedisCache object
+    _cache: RedisCache | None = None
+    _background_tasks_started: bool = False
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        agent: Optional[Agent] = None,
+        name: str = "",
+        llm_delegate: bool = False,
+        single_round: bool = False,
+        system_message: str = "",
+        user_message: str | None = "",
+        restart: bool = True,
+        default_human_response: Optional[str] = None,
+        interactive: bool = True,
+        only_user_quits_root: bool = True,
+        erase_substeps: bool = False,
+        allow_null_result: bool = False,
+        max_stalled_steps: int = 5,
+        default_return_type: Optional[type] = None,
+        done_if_no_response: List[Responder] = [],
+        done_if_response: List[Responder] = [],
+        config: TaskConfig = TaskConfig(),
+        **kwargs: Any,  # catch-all for any legacy params, for backwards compatibility
+    ):
+        """
+        A task to be performed by an agent.
+
+        Args:
+            agent (Agent): agent associated with the task
+            name (str): name of the task
+            llm_delegate (bool):
+                Whether to delegate "control" to LLM; conceptually,
+                the "controlling entity" is the one "seeking" responses to its queries,
+                and has a goal it is aiming to achieve, and decides when a task is done.
+                The "controlling entity" is either the LLM or the USER.
+                (Note within a Task there is just one
+                LLM, and all other entities are proxies of the "User" entity).
+                See also: `done_if_response`, `done_if_no_response` for more granular
+                control of task termination.
+            single_round (bool):
+                If true, task runs until one message by "controller"
+                (i.e. LLM if `llm_delegate` is true, otherwise USER)
+                and subsequent response by non-controller [When a tool is involved,
+                this will not give intended results. See `done_if_response`,
+                `done_if_no_response` below].
+                termination]. If false, runs for the specified number of turns in
+                `run`, or until `done()` is true.
+                One run of step() is considered a "turn".
+                See also: `done_if_response`, `done_if_no_response` for more granular
+                control of task termination.
+            system_message (str): if not empty, overrides agent's system_message
+            user_message (str): if not empty, overrides agent's user_message
+            restart (bool): if true, resets the agent's message history *at every run*.
+            default_human_response (str|None): default response from user; useful for
+                testing, to avoid interactive input from user.
+                [Instead of this, setting `interactive` usually suffices]
+            default_return_type: if not None, extracts a value of this type from the
+                result of self.run()
+            interactive (bool): if true, wait for human input after each non-human
+                response (prevents infinite loop of non-human responses).
+                Default is true. If false, then `default_human_response` is set to ""
+                Note: When interactive = False, the one exception is when the user
+                is explicitly addressed, via "@user" or using RecipientTool, in which
+                case the system will wait for a user response. In other words, use
+                `interactive=False` when you want a "largely non-interactive"
+                run, with the exception of explicit user addressing.
+            only_user_quits_root (bool): if true, when interactive=True, only user can
+                quit the root task (Ignored when interactive=False).
+            erase_substeps (bool): if true, when task completes, erase intermediate
+                conversation with subtasks from this agent's `message_history`, and also
+                erase all subtask agents' `message_history`.
+                Note: erasing can reduce prompt sizes, but results in repetitive
+                sub-task delegation.
+            allow_null_result (bool):
+                If true, create dummy NO_ANSWER response when no valid response is found
+                in a step.
+                Optional, default is False.
+                *Note:* In non-interactive mode, when this is set to True,
+                you can have a situation where an LLM generates (non-tool) text,
+                and no other responders have valid responses, and a "Null result"
+                is inserted as a dummy response from the User entity, so the LLM
+                will now respond to this Null result, and this will continue
+                until the LLM emits a DONE signal (if instructed to do so),
+                otherwise langroid detects a potential infinite loop after
+                a certain number of such steps (= `TaskConfig.inf_loop_wait_factor`)
+                and will raise an InfiniteLoopException.
+            max_stalled_steps (int): task considered done after this many consecutive
+                steps with no progress. Default is 3.
+            done_if_no_response (List[Responder]): consider task done if NULL
+                response from any of these responders. Default is empty list.
+            done_if_response (List[Responder]): consider task done if NON-NULL
+                response from any of these responders. Default is empty list.
+        """
+        if agent is None:
+            agent = ChatAgent()
+        self.callbacks = SimpleNamespace(
+            show_subtask_response=noop_fn,
+            set_parent_agent=noop_fn,
+        )
+        self.config = config
+        # how to behave as a sub-task; can be overridden by `add_sub_task()`
+        self.config_sub_task = copy.deepcopy(config)
+        # counts of distinct pending messages in history,
+        # to help detect (exact) infinite loops
+        self.message_counter: Counter[str] = Counter()
+        self._init_message_counter()
+
+        self.history: Deque[str] = deque(
+            maxlen=self.config.inf_loop_cycle_len * self.config.inf_loop_wait_factor
+        )
+        # copy the agent's config, so that we don't modify the original agent's config,
+        # which may be shared by other agents.
+        try:
+            config_copy = copy.deepcopy(agent.config)
+            agent.config = config_copy
+        except Exception:
+            logger.warning(
+                """
+                Failed to deep-copy Agent config during task creation, 
+                proceeding with original config. Be aware that changes to 
+                the config may affect other agents using the same config.
+                """
+            )
+        self.restart = restart
+        agent = cast(ChatAgent, agent)
+        self.agent: ChatAgent = agent
+        if isinstance(agent, ChatAgent) and len(agent.message_history) == 0 or restart:
+            self.agent.init_state()
+            # possibly change the system and user messages
+            if system_message:
+                # we always have at least 1 task_message
+                self.agent.set_system_message(system_message)
+            if user_message:
+                self.agent.set_user_message(user_message)
+        self.max_cost: float = 0
+        self.max_tokens: int = 0
+        self.session_id: str = ""
+        self.logger: None | RichFileLogger = None
+        self.tsv_logger: None | logging.Logger = None
+        self.color_log: bool = False if settings.notebook else True
+
+        self.n_stalled_steps = 0  # how many consecutive steps with no progress?
+        # how many 2-step-apart alternations of no_answer step-result have we had,
+        # i.e. x1, N/A, x2, N/A, x3, N/A ...
+        self.n_no_answer_alternations = 0
+        self._no_answer_step: int = -5
+        self._step_idx = -1  # current step index
+        self.max_stalled_steps = max_stalled_steps
+        self.done_if_response = [r.value for r in done_if_response]
+        self.done_if_no_response = [r.value for r in done_if_no_response]
+        self.is_done = False  # is task done (based on response)?
+        self.is_pass_thru = False  # is current response a pass-thru?
+        if name:
+            # task name overrides name in agent config
+            agent.config.name = name
+        self.name = name or agent.config.name
+        self.value: str = self.name
+
+        self.default_human_response = default_human_response
+        if default_human_response is not None:
+            # only override agent's default_human_response if it is explicitly set
+            self.agent.default_human_response = default_human_response
+        self.interactive = interactive
+        self.agent.interactive = interactive
+        self.only_user_quits_root = only_user_quits_root
+        self.message_history_idx = -1
+        self.default_return_type = default_return_type
+
+        # set to True if we want to collapse multi-turn conversation with sub-tasks into
+        # just the first outgoing message and last incoming message.
+        # Note this also completely erases sub-task agents' message_history.
+        self.erase_substeps = erase_substeps
+        self.allow_null_result = allow_null_result
+
+        agent_entity_responders = agent.entity_responders()
+        agent_entity_responders_async = agent.entity_responders_async()
+        self.responders: List[Responder] = [e for e, _ in agent_entity_responders]
+        self.responders_async: List[Responder] = [
+            e for e, _ in agent_entity_responders_async
+        ]
+        self.non_human_responders: List[Responder] = [
+            r for r in self.responders if r != Entity.USER
+        ]
+        self.non_human_responders_async: List[Responder] = [
+            r for r in self.responders_async if r != Entity.USER
+        ]
+
+        self.human_tried = False  # did human get a chance to respond in last step?
+        self._entity_responder_map: Dict[
+            Entity, Callable[..., Optional[ChatDocument]]
+        ] = dict(agent_entity_responders)
+
+        self._entity_responder_async_map: Dict[
+            Entity, Callable[..., Coroutine[Any, Any, Optional[ChatDocument]]]
+        ] = dict(agent_entity_responders_async)
+
+        self.name_sub_task_map: Dict[str, Task] = {}
+        # latest message in a conversation among entities and agents.
+        self.pending_message: Optional[ChatDocument] = None
+        self.pending_sender: Responder = Entity.USER
+        self.single_round = single_round
+        self.turns = -1  # no limit
+        self.llm_delegate = llm_delegate
+        if llm_delegate:
+            if self.single_round:
+                # 0: User instructs (delegating to LLM);
+                # 1: LLM (as the Controller) asks;
+                # 2: user replies.
+                self.turns = 2
+        else:
+            if self.single_round:
+                # 0: User (as Controller) asks,
+                # 1: LLM replies.
+                self.turns = 1
+        # other sub_tasks this task can delegate to
+        self.sub_tasks: List[Task] = []
+        self.caller: Task | None = None  # which task called this task's `run` method
+
+    def clone(self, i: int) -> "Task":
+        """
+        Returns a copy of this task, with a new agent.
+        """
+        assert isinstance(self.agent, ChatAgent), "Task clone only works for ChatAgent"
+        agent: ChatAgent = self.agent.clone(i)
+        return Task(
+            agent,
+            name=self.name + f"-{i}",
+            llm_delegate=self.llm_delegate,
+            single_round=self.single_round,
+            system_message=self.agent.system_message,
+            user_message=self.agent.user_message,
+            restart=self.restart,
+            default_human_response=self.default_human_response,
+            interactive=self.interactive,
+            erase_substeps=self.erase_substeps,
+            allow_null_result=self.allow_null_result,
+            max_stalled_steps=self.max_stalled_steps,
+            done_if_no_response=[Entity(s) for s in self.done_if_no_response],
+            done_if_response=[Entity(s) for s in self.done_if_response],
+            config=self.config,
+        )
+
+    @classmethod
+    def cache(cls) -> RedisCache:
+        if cls._cache is None:
+            cls._cache = RedisCache(RedisCacheConfig(fake=False))
+        return cls._cache
+
+    @classmethod
+    def _start_background_tasks(cls) -> None:
+        """Start background object registry cleanup thread. NOT USED."""
+        if cls._background_tasks_started:
+            return
+        cls._background_tasks_started = True
+        cleanup_thread = threading.Thread(
+            target=scheduled_cleanup,
+            args=(600,),
+            daemon=True,
+        )
+        cleanup_thread.start()
+
+    def __repr__(self) -> str:
+        return f"{self.name}"
+
+    def __str__(self) -> str:
+        return f"{self.name}"
+
+    def _init_message_counter(self) -> None:
+        self.message_counter.clear()
+        # create a unique string that will not likely be in any message,
+        # so we always have a message with count=1
+        self.message_counter.update([hash("___NO_MESSAGE___")])
+
+    def _cache_session_store(self, key: str, value: str) -> None:
+        """
+        Cache a key-value pair for the current session.
+        E.g. key = "kill", value = "1"
+        """
+        try:
+            self.cache().store(f"{self.session_id}:{key}", value)
+        except Exception as e:
+            logging.error(f"Error in Task._cache_session_store: {e}")
+
+    def _cache_session_lookup(self, key: str) -> Dict[str, Any] | str | None:
+        """
+        Retrieve a value from the cache for the current session.
+        """
+        session_id_key = f"{self.session_id}:{key}"
+        try:
+            cached_val = self.cache().retrieve(session_id_key)
+        except Exception as e:
+            logging.error(f"Error in Task._cache_session_lookup: {e}")
+            return None
+        return cached_val
+
+    def _is_kill(self) -> bool:
+        """
+        Check if the current session is killed.
+        """
+        return self._cache_session_lookup("kill") == "1"
+
+    def _set_alive(self) -> None:
+        """
+        Initialize the kill status of the current session.
+        """
+        self._cache_session_store("kill", "0")
+
+    @classmethod
+    def kill_session(cls, session_id: str = "") -> None:
+        """
+        Kill the session with the given session_id.
+        """
+        session_id_kill_key = f"{session_id}:kill"
+        cls.cache().store(session_id_kill_key, "1")
+
+    def kill(self) -> None:
+        """
+        Kill the task run associated with the current session.
+        """
+        self._cache_session_store("kill", "1")
+
+    @property
+    def _level(self) -> int:
+        if self.caller is None:
+            return 0
+        return self.caller._level + 1
+
+    @property
+    def _indent(self) -> str:
+        return "...|" * self._level
+
+    @property
+    def _enter(self) -> str:
+        return self._indent + ">>>"
+
+    @property
+    def _leave(self) -> str:
+        return self._indent + "<<<"
+
+    def add_sub_task(
+        self,
+        task: (
+            Task | List[Task] | Tuple[Task, TaskConfig] | List[Tuple[Task, TaskConfig]]
+        ),
+    ) -> None:
+        """
+        Add a sub-task (or list of subtasks) that this task can delegate
+        (or fail-over) to. Note that the sequence of sub-tasks is important,
+        since these are tried in order, as the parent task searches for a valid
+        response (unless a sub-task is explicitly addressed).
+
+        Args:
+            task: A task, or list of tasks, or a tuple of task and task config,
+                or a list of tuples of task and task config.
+                These tasks are added as sub-tasks of the current task.
+                The task configs (if any) dictate how the tasks are run when
+                invoked as sub-tasks of other tasks. This allows users to specify
+                behavior applicable only in the context of a particular task-subtask
+                combination.
+        """
+        if isinstance(task, list):
+            for t in task:
+                self.add_sub_task(t)
+            return
+
+        if isinstance(task, tuple):
+            task, config = task
+        else:
+            config = TaskConfig()
+        task.config_sub_task = config
+        self.sub_tasks.append(task)
+        self.name_sub_task_map[task.name] = task
+        self.responders.append(cast(Responder, task))
+        self.responders_async.append(cast(Responder, task))
+        self.non_human_responders.append(cast(Responder, task))
+        self.non_human_responders_async.append(cast(Responder, task))
+
+    def init(self, msg: None | str | ChatDocument = None) -> ChatDocument | None:
+        """
+        Initialize the task, with an optional message to start the conversation.
+        Initializes `self.pending_message` and `self.pending_sender`.
+        Args:
+            msg (str|ChatDocument): optional message to start the conversation.
+
+        Returns:
+            (ChatDocument|None): the initialized `self.pending_message`.
+            Currently not used in the code, but provided for convenience.
+        """
+        self.pending_sender = Entity.USER
+        if isinstance(msg, str):
+            self.pending_message = ChatDocument(
+                content=msg,
+                metadata=ChatDocMetaData(
+                    sender=Entity.USER,
+                ),
+            )
+        elif msg is None and len(self.agent.message_history) > 1:
+            # if agent has a history beyond system msg, set the
+            # pending message to the ChatDocument linked from
+            # last message in the history
+            last_agent_msg = self.agent.message_history[-1]
+            self.pending_message = ChatDocument.from_id(last_agent_msg.chat_document_id)
+            if self.pending_message is not None:
+                self.pending_sender = self.pending_message.metadata.sender
+        else:
+            if isinstance(msg, ChatDocument):
+                # carefully deep-copy: fresh metadata.id, register
+                # as new obj in registry
+                self.pending_message = ChatDocument.deepcopy(msg)
+            if self.pending_message is not None and self.caller is not None:
+                # msg may have come from `caller`, so we pretend this is from
+                # the CURRENT task's USER entity
+                self.pending_message.metadata.sender = Entity.USER
+                # update parent, child, agent pointers
+                if msg is not None:
+                    msg.metadata.child_id = self.pending_message.metadata.id
+                    self.pending_message.metadata.parent_id = msg.metadata.id
+                self.pending_message.metadata.agent_id = self.agent.id
+
+        self._show_pending_message_if_debug()
+
+        if self.caller is not None and self.caller.logger is not None:
+            self.logger = self.caller.logger
+        elif self.logger is None:
+            self.logger = RichFileLogger(
+                str(Path(self.config.logs_dir) / f"{self.name}.log"),
+                color=self.color_log,
+            )
+
+        if self.caller is not None and self.caller.tsv_logger is not None:
+            self.tsv_logger = self.caller.tsv_logger
+        elif self.tsv_logger is None:
+            self.tsv_logger = setup_file_logger(
+                "tsv_logger",
+                str(Path(self.config.logs_dir) / f"{self.name}.tsv"),
+            )
+            header = ChatDocLoggerFields().tsv_header()
+            self.tsv_logger.info(f" \tTask\tResponder\t{header}")
+
+        self.log_message(Entity.USER, self.pending_message)
+        return self.pending_message
+
+    def reset_all_sub_tasks(self) -> None:
+        """
+        Recursively reset message history & state of own agent and
+        those of all sub-tasks.
+        """
+        self.agent.init_state()
+        for t in self.sub_tasks:
+            t.reset_all_sub_tasks()
+
+    def __getitem__(self, return_type: type) -> Self:
+        """Returns a (shallow) copy of `self` with a default return type."""
+        clone = copy.copy(self)
+        clone.default_return_type = return_type
+        return clone
+
+    @overload
+    def run(  # noqa
+        self,
+        msg: Any = None,
+        *,
+        turns: int = -1,
+        caller: None | Task = None,
+        max_cost: float = 0,
+        max_tokens: int = 0,
+        session_id: str = "",
+        allow_restart: bool = True,
+    ) -> Optional[ChatDocument]: ...  # noqa
+
+    @overload
+    def run(  # noqa
+        self,
+        msg: Any = None,
+        *,
+        turns: int = -1,
+        caller: None | Task = None,
+        max_cost: float = 0,
+        max_tokens: int = 0,
+        session_id: str = "",
+        allow_restart: bool = True,
+        return_type: Type[T],
+    ) -> Optional[T]: ...  # noqa
+
+    def run(
+        self,
+        msg: Any = None,
+        turns: int = -1,
+        caller: None | Task = None,
+        max_cost: float = 0,
+        max_tokens: int = 0,
+        session_id: str = "",
+        allow_restart: bool = True,
+        return_type: Optional[Type[T]] = None,
+    ) -> Optional[ChatDocument | T]:
+        """Synchronous version of `run_async()`.
+        See `run_async()` for details."""
+        if allow_restart and (
+            (self.restart and caller is None)
+            or (self.config_sub_task.restart_as_subtask and caller is not None)
+        ):
+            # We are either at top level, with restart = True, OR
+            # we are a sub-task with restart_as_subtask = True,
+            # so reset own agent and recursively for all sub-tasks
+            self.reset_all_sub_tasks()
+
+        self.n_stalled_steps = 0
+        self._no_answer_step = -5  # last step where the best explicit response was N/A
+        # how many N/A alternations have we had so far? (for Inf loop detection)
+        self.n_no_answer_alternations = 0
+        self.max_cost = max_cost
+        self.max_tokens = max_tokens
+        self.session_id = session_id
+        self._set_alive()
+        self._init_message_counter()
+        self.history.clear()
+
+        msg_input = self.agent.to_ChatDocument(msg, author_entity=Entity.USER)
+
+        if (
+            isinstance(msg_input, ChatDocument)
+            and msg_input.metadata.recipient != ""
+            and msg_input.metadata.recipient != self.name
+        ):
+            # this task is not the intended recipient so return None
+            return None
+
+        self._pre_run_loop(
+            msg=msg_input,
+            caller=caller,
+            is_async=False,
+        )
+        # self.turns overrides if it is > 0 and turns not set (i.e. = -1)
+        turns = self.turns if turns < 0 else turns
+        i = 0
+        while True:
+            self._step_idx = i  # used in step() below
+            self.step()
+            done, status = self.done()
+            if done:
+                if self._level == 0 and not settings.quiet:
+                    print("[magenta]Bye, hope this was useful!")
+                break
+            i += 1
+            max_turns = (
+                min(turns, settings.max_turns)
+                if turns > 0 and settings.max_turns > 0
+                else max(turns, settings.max_turns)
+            )
+            if max_turns > 0 and i >= max_turns:
+                # Important to distinguish between:
+                # (a) intentional run for a
+                #     fixed number of turns, where we expect the pending message
+                #     at that stage to be the desired result, and
+                # (b) hitting max_turns limit, which is not intentional, and is an
+                #     exception, resulting in a None task result
+                status = (
+                    StatusCode.MAX_TURNS
+                    if i == settings.max_turns
+                    else StatusCode.FIXED_TURNS
+                )
+                break
+            if (
+                self.config.inf_loop_cycle_len > 0
+                and i % self.config.inf_loop_cycle_len == 0
+                and self._maybe_infinite_loop()
+                or self.n_no_answer_alternations > self.config.inf_loop_wait_factor
+            ):
+                raise InfiniteLoopException(
+                    """Possible infinite loop detected!
+                    You can adjust infinite loop detection (or turn it off)
+                    by changing the params in the TaskConfig passed to the Task 
+                    constructor; see here:
+                    https://langroid.github.io/langroid/reference/agent/task/#langroid.agent.task.TaskConfig
+                    """
+                )
+
+        final_result = self.result(status)
+        self._post_run_loop()
+        if final_result is None:
+            return None
+
+        if return_type is None:
+            return_type = self.default_return_type
+
+        # If possible, take a final strict decoding step
+        # when the output does not match `return_type`
+        if return_type is not None and return_type != ChatDocument:
+            parsed_result = self.agent.from_ChatDocument(final_result, return_type)
+
+            if (
+                parsed_result is None
+                and isinstance(self.agent, ChatAgent)
+                and self.agent._json_schema_available()
+            ):
+                strict_agent = self.agent[return_type]
+                output_args = strict_agent._function_args()[-1]
+                if output_args is not None:
+                    schema = output_args.function.parameters
+                    strict_result = strict_agent.llm_response(
+                        f"""
+                        A response adhering to the following JSON schema was expected:
+                        {schema}
+
+                        Please resubmit with the correct schema. 
+                        """
+                    )
+
+                    if strict_result is not None:
+                        return cast(
+                            Optional[T],
+                            strict_agent.from_ChatDocument(strict_result, return_type),
+                        )
+
+            return parsed_result
+
+        return final_result
+
+    @overload
+    async def run_async(  # noqa
+        self,
+        msg: Any = None,
+        *,
+        turns: int = -1,
+        caller: None | Task = None,
+        max_cost: float = 0,
+        max_tokens: int = 0,
+        session_id: str = "",
+        allow_restart: bool = True,
+    ) -> Optional[ChatDocument]: ...  # noqa
+
+    @overload
+    async def run_async(  # noqa
+        self,
+        msg: Any = None,
+        *,
+        turns: int = -1,
+        caller: None | Task = None,
+        max_cost: float = 0,
+        max_tokens: int = 0,
+        session_id: str = "",
+        allow_restart: bool = True,
+        return_type: Type[T],
+    ) -> Optional[T]: ...  # noqa
+
+    async def run_async(
+        self,
+        msg: Any = None,
+        turns: int = -1,
+        caller: None | Task = None,
+        max_cost: float = 0,
+        max_tokens: int = 0,
+        session_id: str = "",
+        allow_restart: bool = True,
+        return_type: Optional[Type[T]] = None,
+    ) -> Optional[ChatDocument | T]:
+        """
+        Loop over `step()` until task is considered done or `turns` is reached.
+        Runs asynchronously.
+
+        Args:
+            msg (Any): initial *user-role* message to process; if None,
+                the LLM will respond to its initial `self.task_messages`
+                which set up and kick off the overall task.
+                The agent tries to achieve this goal by looping
+                over `self.step()` until the task is considered
+                done; this can involve a series of messages produced by Agent,
+                LLM or Human (User). Note that `msg`, if passed, is treated as
+                message with role `user`; a "system" role message should not be
+                passed here.
+            turns (int): number of turns to run the task for;
+                default is -1, which means run until task is done.
+            caller (Task|None): the calling task, if any
+            max_cost (float): max cost allowed for the task (default 0 -> no limit)
+            max_tokens (int): max tokens allowed for the task (default 0 -> no limit)
+            session_id (str): session id for the task
+            allow_restart (bool): whether to allow restarting the task
+            return_type (Optional[Type[T]]): desired final result type
+
+        Returns:
+            Optional[ChatDocument]: valid result of the task.
+        """
+
+        # Even if the initial "sender" is not literally the USER (since the task could
+        # have come from another LLM), as far as this agent is concerned, the initial
+        # message can be considered to be from the USER
+        # (from the POV of this agent's LLM).
+
+        if allow_restart and (
+            (self.restart and caller is None)
+            or (self.config_sub_task.restart_as_subtask and caller is not None)
+        ):
+            # We are either at top level, with restart = True, OR
+            # we are a sub-task with restart_as_subtask = True,
+            # so reset own agent and recursively for all sub-tasks
+            self.reset_all_sub_tasks()
+
+        self.n_stalled_steps = 0
+        self._no_answer_step = -5  # last step where the best explicit response was N/A
+        # how many N/A alternations have we had so far? (for Inf loop detection)
+        self.n_no_answer_alternations = 0
+        self.max_cost = max_cost
+        self.max_tokens = max_tokens
+        self.session_id = session_id
+        self._set_alive()
+        self._init_message_counter()
+        self.history.clear()
+
+        msg_input = self.agent.to_ChatDocument(msg, author_entity=Entity.USER)
+
+        if (
+            isinstance(msg_input, ChatDocument)
+            and msg_input.metadata.recipient != ""
+            and msg_input.metadata.recipient != self.name
+        ):
+            # this task is not the intended recipient so return None
+            return None
+
+        self._pre_run_loop(
+            msg=msg_input,
+            caller=caller,
+            is_async=False,
+        )
+        # self.turns overrides if it is > 0 and turns not set (i.e. = -1)
+        turns = self.turns if turns < 0 else turns
+        i = 0
+        while True:
+            self._step_idx = i  # used in step() below
+            await self.step_async()
+            await asyncio.sleep(0.01)  # temp yield to avoid blocking
+            done, status = self.done()
+            if done:
+                if self._level == 0 and not settings.quiet:
+                    print("[magenta]Bye, hope this was useful!")
+                break
+            i += 1
+            max_turns = (
+                min(turns, settings.max_turns)
+                if turns > 0 and settings.max_turns > 0
+                else max(turns, settings.max_turns)
+            )
+            if max_turns > 0 and i >= max_turns:
+                # Important to distinguish between:
+                # (a) intentional run for a
+                #     fixed number of turns, where we expect the pending message
+                #     at that stage to be the desired result, and
+                # (b) hitting max_turns limit, which is not intentional, and is an
+                #     exception, resulting in a None task result
+                status = (
+                    StatusCode.MAX_TURNS
+                    if i == settings.max_turns
+                    else StatusCode.FIXED_TURNS
+                )
+                break
+            if (
+                self.config.inf_loop_cycle_len > 0
+                and i % self.config.inf_loop_cycle_len == 0
+                and self._maybe_infinite_loop()
+                or self.n_no_answer_alternations > self.config.inf_loop_wait_factor
+            ):
+                raise InfiniteLoopException(
+                    """Possible infinite loop detected!
+                    You can adjust infinite loop detection (or turn it off)
+                    by changing the params in the TaskConfig passed to the Task 
+                    constructor; see here:
+                    https://langroid.github.io/langroid/reference/agent/task/#langroid.agent.task.TaskConfig
+                    """
+                )
+
+        final_result = self.result(status)
+        self._post_run_loop()
+        if final_result is None:
+            return None
+
+        if return_type is None:
+            return_type = self.default_return_type
+
+        # If possible, take a final strict decoding step
+        # when the output does not match `return_type`
+        if return_type is not None and return_type != ChatDocument:
+            parsed_result = self.agent.from_ChatDocument(final_result, return_type)
+
+            if (
+                parsed_result is None
+                and isinstance(self.agent, ChatAgent)
+                and self.agent._json_schema_available()
+            ):
+                strict_agent = self.agent[return_type]
+                output_args = strict_agent._function_args()[-1]
+                if output_args is not None:
+                    schema = output_args.function.parameters
+                    strict_result = await strict_agent.llm_response_async(
+                        f"""
+                        A response adhering to the following JSON schema was expected:
+                        {schema}
+
+                        Please resubmit with the correct schema. 
+                        """
+                    )
+
+                    if strict_result is not None:
+                        return cast(
+                            Optional[T],
+                            strict_agent.from_ChatDocument(strict_result, return_type),
+                        )
+
+            return parsed_result
+
+        return final_result
+
+    def _pre_run_loop(
+        self,
+        msg: Optional[str | ChatDocument] = None,
+        caller: None | Task = None,
+        is_async: bool = False,
+    ) -> None:
+        self.caller = caller
+        self.init(msg)
+        # sets indentation to be printed prior to any output from agent
+        self.agent.indent = self._indent
+        self.message_history_idx = -1
+        if isinstance(self.agent, ChatAgent):
+            # mark where we are in the message history, so we can reset to this when
+            # we are done with the task
+            self.message_history_idx = (
+                max(
+                    len(self.agent.message_history),
+                    len(self.agent.task_messages),
+                )
+                - 1
+            )
+        # TODO decide on whether or not to print, based on is_async
+        llm_model = (
+            "no-LLM" if self.agent.llm is None else self.agent.llm.config.chat_model
+        )
+        if not settings.quiet:
+            print(
+                f"[bold magenta]{self._enter} Starting Agent "
+                f"{self.name} ({self.message_history_idx+1}) "
+                f"{llm_model} [/bold magenta]"
+            )
+
+    def _post_run_loop(self) -> None:
+        # delete all messages from our agent's history, AFTER the first incoming
+        # message, and BEFORE final result message
+        n_messages = 0
+        if isinstance(self.agent, ChatAgent):
+            if self.erase_substeps:
+                # TODO I don't like directly accessing agent message_history. Revisit.
+                # (Pchalasani)
+                # Note: msg history will consist of:
+                # - H: the original msg history, ending at idx= self.message_history_idx
+                # - R: this agent's response, which presumably leads to:
+                # - X: a series of back-and-forth msgs (including with agent's own
+                #     responders and with sub-tasks)
+                # - F: the final result message, from this agent.
+                # Here we are deleting all of [X] from the agent's message history,
+                # so that it simply looks as if the sub-tasks never happened.
+
+                dropped = self.agent.message_history[
+                    self.message_history_idx + 2 : n_messages - 1
+                ]
+                # first delete the linked ChatDocuments (and descendants) from
+                # ObjectRegistry
+                for msg in dropped:
+                    ChatDocument.delete_id(msg.chat_document_id)
+                # then delete the messages from the agent's message_history
+                del self.agent.message_history[
+                    self.message_history_idx + 2 : n_messages - 1
+                ]
+            n_messages = len(self.agent.message_history)
+        if self.erase_substeps:
+            for t in self.sub_tasks:
+                # erase our conversation with agent of subtask t
+
+                # erase message_history of agent of subtask t
+                # TODO - here we assume that subtask-agents are
+                # ONLY talking to the current agent.
+                if isinstance(t.agent, ChatAgent):
+                    t.agent.clear_history(0)
+        if not settings.quiet:
+            print(
+                f"[bold magenta]{self._leave} Finished Agent "
+                f"{self.name} ({n_messages}) [/bold magenta]"
+            )
+
+    def step(self, turns: int = -1) -> ChatDocument | None:
+        """
+        Synchronous version of `step_async()`. See `step_async()` for details.
+        TODO: Except for the self.response() calls, this fn should be identical to
+        `step_async()`. Consider refactoring to avoid duplication.
+        """
+        self.is_done = False
+        parent = self.pending_message
+        recipient = (
+            ""
+            if self.pending_message is None
+            else self.pending_message.metadata.recipient
+        )
+        if not self._valid_recipient(recipient):
+            logger.warning(f"Invalid recipient: {recipient}")
+            error_doc = ChatDocument(
+                content=f"Invalid recipient: {recipient}",
+                metadata=ChatDocMetaData(
+                    sender=Entity.AGENT,
+                    sender_name=Entity.AGENT,
+                ),
+            )
+            self._process_valid_responder_result(Entity.AGENT, parent, error_doc)
+            return error_doc
+
+        responders: List[Responder] = self.non_human_responders.copy()
+
+        if (
+            Entity.USER in self.responders
+            and not self.human_tried
+            and not self.agent.has_tool_message_attempt(self.pending_message)
+        ):
+            # Give human first chance if they haven't been tried in last step,
+            # and the msg is not a tool-call attempt;
+            # (When `interactive=False`, human is only allowed to respond only if
+            #  if explicitly addressed)
+            # This ensures human gets a chance to respond,
+            #   other than to a LLM tool-call.
+            # When there's a tool msg attempt we want the
+            #  Agent to be the next responder; this only makes a difference in an
+            #  interactive setting: LLM generates tool, then we don't want user to
+            #  have to respond, and instead let the agent_response handle the tool.
+
+            responders.insert(0, Entity.USER)
+
+        found_response = False
+        # (responder, result) from a responder who explicitly said NO_ANSWER
+        no_answer_response: None | Tuple[Responder, ChatDocument] = None
+        n_non_responders = 0
+        for r in responders:
+            self.is_pass_thru = False
+            if not self._can_respond(r):
+                n_non_responders += 1
+                # create dummy msg for logging
+                log_doc = ChatDocument(
+                    content="[CANNOT RESPOND]",
+                    metadata=ChatDocMetaData(
+                        sender=r if isinstance(r, Entity) else Entity.USER,
+                        sender_name=str(r),
+                        recipient=recipient,
+                    ),
+                )
+                # no need to register this dummy msg in ObjectRegistry
+                ChatDocument.delete_id(log_doc.id())
+                self.log_message(r, log_doc)
+                if n_non_responders == len(responders):
+                    # don't stay in this "non-response" loop forever
+                    break
+                continue
+            self.human_tried = r == Entity.USER
+            result = self.response(r, turns)
+            if result and NO_ANSWER in result.content:
+                no_answer_response = (r, result)
+            self.is_done = self._is_done_response(result, r)
+            self.is_pass_thru = PASS in result.content if result else False
+            if self.valid(result, r):
+                found_response = True
+                assert result is not None
+                self._process_valid_responder_result(r, parent, result)
+                break
+            else:
+                self.log_message(r, result)
+            if self.is_done:
+                # skip trying other responders in this step
+                break
+        if not found_response:  # did not find a valid response
+            if no_answer_response:
+                # even though there was no valid response from anyone in this step,
+                # if there was at least one who EXPLICITLY said NO_ANSWER, then
+                # we process that as a valid response.
+                r, result = no_answer_response
+                self._process_valid_responder_result(r, parent, result)
+            else:
+                self._process_invalid_step_result(parent)
+        self._show_pending_message_if_debug()
+        return self.pending_message
+
+    async def step_async(self, turns: int = -1) -> ChatDocument | None:
+        """
+        A single "turn" in the task conversation: The "allowed" responders in this
+        turn (which can be either the 3 "entities", or one of the sub-tasks) are
+        tried in sequence, until a _valid_ response is obtained; a _valid_
+        response is one that contributes to the task, either by ending it,
+        or producing a response to be further acted on.
+        Update `self.pending_message` to the latest valid response (or NO_ANSWER
+        if no valid response was obtained from any responder).
+
+        Args:
+            turns (int): number of turns to process. Typically used in testing
+                where there is no human to "quit out" of current level, or in cases
+                where we want to limit the number of turns of a delegated agent.
+
+        Returns (ChatDocument|None):
+            Updated `self.pending_message`. Currently the return value is not used
+                by the `task.run()` method, but we return this as a convenience for
+                other use-cases, e.g. where we want to run a task step by step in a
+                different context.
+        """
+        self.is_done = False
+        parent = self.pending_message
+        recipient = (
+            ""
+            if self.pending_message is None
+            else self.pending_message.metadata.recipient
+        )
+        if not self._valid_recipient(recipient):
+            logger.warning(f"Invalid recipient: {recipient}")
+            error_doc = ChatDocument(
+                content=f"Invalid recipient: {recipient}",
+                metadata=ChatDocMetaData(
+                    sender=Entity.AGENT,
+                    sender_name=Entity.AGENT,
+                ),
+            )
+            self._process_valid_responder_result(Entity.AGENT, parent, error_doc)
+            return error_doc
+
+        responders: List[Responder] = self.non_human_responders_async.copy()
+
+        if (
+            Entity.USER in self.responders
+            and not self.human_tried
+            and not self.agent.has_tool_message_attempt(self.pending_message)
+        ):
+            # Give human first chance if they haven't been tried in last step,
+            # and the msg is not a tool-call attempt;
+            # This ensures human gets a chance to respond,
+            #   other than to a LLM tool-call.
+            # When there's a tool msg attempt we want the
+            #  Agent to be the next responder; this only makes a difference in an
+            #  interactive setting: LLM generates tool, then we don't want user to
+            #  have to respond, and instead let the agent_response handle the tool.
+            responders.insert(0, Entity.USER)
+
+        found_response = False
+        # (responder, result) from a responder who explicitly said NO_ANSWER
+        no_answer_response: None | Tuple[Responder, ChatDocument] = None
+        for r in responders:
+            self.is_pass_thru = False
+            if not self._can_respond(r):
+                # create dummy msg for logging
+                log_doc = ChatDocument(
+                    content="[CANNOT RESPOND]",
+                    metadata=ChatDocMetaData(
+                        sender=r if isinstance(r, Entity) else Entity.USER,
+                        sender_name=str(r),
+                        recipient=recipient,
+                    ),
+                )
+                # no need to register this dummy msg in ObjectRegistry
+                ChatDocument.delete_id(log_doc.id())
+                self.log_message(r, log_doc)
+                continue
+            self.human_tried = r == Entity.USER
+            result = await self.response_async(r, turns)
+            if result and NO_ANSWER in result.content:
+                no_answer_response = (r, result)
+            self.is_done = self._is_done_response(result, r)
+            self.is_pass_thru = PASS in result.content if result else False
+            if self.valid(result, r):
+                found_response = True
+                assert result is not None
+                self._process_valid_responder_result(r, parent, result)
+                break
+            else:
+                self.log_message(r, result)
+            if self.is_done:
+                # skip trying other responders in this step
+                break
+        if not found_response:
+            if no_answer_response:
+                # even though there was no valid response from anyone in this step,
+                # if there was at least one who EXPLICITLY said NO_ANSWER, then
+                # we process that as a valid response.
+                r, result = no_answer_response
+                self._process_valid_responder_result(r, parent, result)
+            else:
+                self._process_invalid_step_result(parent)
+        self._show_pending_message_if_debug()
+        return self.pending_message
+
+    def _update_no_answer_vars(self, result: ChatDocument) -> None:
+        """Update variables related to NO_ANSWER responses, to aid
+        in alternating NO_ANSWER infinite-loop detection."""
+
+        if NO_ANSWER in result.content:
+            if self._no_answer_step == self._step_idx - 2:
+                # N/A two steps ago
+                self.n_no_answer_alternations += 1
+            else:
+                # reset alternations counter
+                self.n_no_answer_alternations = 0
+
+            # record the last step where the best explicit response was N/A
+            self._no_answer_step = self._step_idx
+
+    def _process_valid_responder_result(
+        self,
+        r: Responder,
+        parent: ChatDocument | None,
+        result: ChatDocument,
+    ) -> None:
+        """Processes valid result from a responder, during a step"""
+
+        self._update_no_answer_vars(result)
+
+        # pending_sender is of type Responder,
+        # i.e. it is either one of the agent's entities
+        # OR a sub-task, that has produced a valid response.
+        # Contrast this with self.pending_message.metadata.sender, which is an ENTITY
+        # of this agent, or a sub-task's agent.
+        if not self.is_pass_thru:
+            if self.pending_message is not None and not isinstance(r, Task):
+                # when pending msg is from our own agent, respect the sender set there,
+                # since sometimes a response may "mock" as if the response is from
+                # another entity (e.g when using RewindTool, the agent handler
+                # returns a result as if it were from the LLM).
+                self.pending_sender = result.metadata.sender
+            else:
+                # when pending msg is from a sub-task, the sender is the sub-task
+                self.pending_sender = r
+            self.pending_message = result
+        # set the parent/child links ONLY if not already set by agent internally,
+        # which may happen when using the RewindTool, or in other scenarios.
+        if parent is not None and not result.metadata.parent_id:
+            result.metadata.parent_id = parent.id()
+        if parent is not None and not parent.metadata.child_id:
+            parent.metadata.child_id = result.id()
+
+        self.log_message(self.pending_sender, result, mark=True)
+        if self.is_pass_thru:
+            self.n_stalled_steps += 1
+        else:
+            # reset stuck counter since we made progress
+            self.n_stalled_steps = 0
+
+        if self.pending_message is not None:
+            if (
+                self._is_done_response(result, r)
+                and self._level == 0
+                and self.only_user_quits_root
+                and self._user_can_respond()
+            ):
+                # We're ignoring the DoneTools (if any) in this case,
+                # so remove them from the pending msg, to ensure
+                # they don't affect the next step.
+                self.pending_message.tool_messages = [
+                    t
+                    for t in self.pending_message.tool_messages
+                    if not isinstance(t, (DoneTool, AgentDoneTool))
+                ]
+            # update counters for infinite loop detection
+            hashed_msg = hash(str(self.pending_message))
+            self.message_counter.update([hashed_msg])
+            self.history.append(hashed_msg)
+
+    def _process_invalid_step_result(self, parent: ChatDocument | None) -> None:
+        """
+        Since step had no valid result from any responder, decide whether to update the
+        self.pending_message to a NO_ANSWER message from the opposite entity,
+        or leave it as is.
+        Args:
+           parent (ChatDocument|None): parent message of the current message
+        """
+        self.n_stalled_steps += 1
+        if self.allow_null_result and not self.is_pass_thru:
+            # Null step-result is allowed, and we're not in a "pass-thru" situation,
+            # so we update the pending_message to a dummy NO_ANSWER msg
+            # from the entity 'opposite' to the current pending_sender,
+            # so that the task can continue.
+            # CAUTION: unless the LLM is instructed to signal DONE at an appropriate
+            # time, this can result in an infinite loop.
+            responder = (
+                Entity.LLM if self.pending_sender == Entity.USER else Entity.USER
+            )
+            parent_id = "" if parent is None else parent.id()
+            self.pending_message = ChatDocument(
+                content=NO_ANSWER,
+                metadata=ChatDocMetaData(sender=responder, parent_id=parent_id),
+            )
+            self.pending_sender = responder
+            self._update_no_answer_vars(self.pending_message)
+        self.log_message(self.pending_sender, self.pending_message, mark=True)
+
+    def _show_pending_message_if_debug(self) -> None:
+        if self.pending_message is None:
+            return
+        if settings.debug:
+            sender_str = escape(str(self.pending_sender))
+            msg_str = escape(str(self.pending_message))
+            print(f"[grey37][{sender_str}]{msg_str}[/grey37]")
+
+    def _forbid_multi_oai_tools(self, e: Responder) -> ChatDocument:
+        # Passing multiple OpenAI Tools to be handled by another agent
+        # is not supported yet (we need to carefully establish correspondence
+        # between the original tool-calls of agent A, and the returned results,
+        # which may involve recursive-called tools by agent B).
+        # So we set an error result corresponding to each tool-call.
+        assert isinstance(
+            e, Task
+        ), "Forbidding multiple OAI tools only applies to a responder of type Task"
+        err_str = """
+                    ERROR: cannot pass multiple tools to another agent!
+                    Please use ONE tool at a time!
+                """
+        id2result = OrderedDict((tc.id, err_str) for tc in self.agent.oai_tool_calls)
+        result = e.agent.create_user_response(
+            content="",
+            oai_tool_id2result=id2result,
+        )
+        return result
+
+    def response(
+        self,
+        e: Responder,
+        turns: int = -1,
+    ) -> Optional[ChatDocument]:
+        """
+        Sync version of `response_async()`. See `response_async()` for details.
+        """
+        if isinstance(e, Task):
+            actual_turns = e.turns if e.turns > 0 else turns
+            e.agent.callbacks.set_parent_agent(self.agent)
+            # e.callbacks.set_parent_agent(self.agent)
+            pending_tools = self.agent.try_get_tool_messages(self.pending_message)
+            # TODO disable this
+            if (
+                len(pending_tools) > 1
+                and len(self.agent.oai_tool_calls) > 1
+                and not self.config.allow_subtask_multi_oai_tools
+            ):
+                result = self._forbid_multi_oai_tools(e)
+            else:
+                result = e.run(
+                    self.pending_message,
+                    turns=actual_turns,
+                    caller=self,
+                    max_cost=self.max_cost,
+                    max_tokens=self.max_tokens,
+                )
+                # update result.tool_messages if any
+                if isinstance(result, ChatDocument):
+                    self.agent.try_get_tool_messages(result)
+                if result is not None:
+                    content, id2result, oai_tool_id = self.agent.process_tool_results(
+                        result.content,
+                        result.oai_tool_id2result,
+                        (
+                            self.pending_message.oai_tool_calls
+                            if isinstance(self.pending_message, ChatDocument)
+                            else None
+                        ),
+                    )
+                    result.content = content
+                    result.oai_tool_id2result = id2result
+                    result.metadata.oai_tool_id = oai_tool_id
+
+            result_str = (  # only used by callback to display content and possible tool
+                "NONE"
+                if result is None
+                else "\n\n".join(str(m) for m in ChatDocument.to_LLMMessage(result))
+            )
+            maybe_tool = len(extract_top_level_json(result_str)) > 0
+            self.callbacks.show_subtask_response(
+                task=e,
+                content=result_str,
+                is_tool=maybe_tool,
+            )
+        else:
+            response_fn = self._entity_responder_map[cast(Entity, e)]
+            result = response_fn(self.pending_message)
+            # update result.tool_messages if any
+            if isinstance(result, ChatDocument):
+                self.agent.try_get_tool_messages(result)
+
+        result_chat_doc = self.agent.to_ChatDocument(
+            result,
+            chat_doc=self.pending_message,
+            author_entity=e if isinstance(e, Entity) else Entity.USER,
+        )
+        return self._process_result_routing(result_chat_doc, e)
+
+    def _process_result_routing(
+        self, result: ChatDocument | None, e: Responder
+    ) -> ChatDocument | None:
+        # process result in case there is a routing instruction
+        if result is None:
+            return None
+        if isinstance(result, ToolMessage):
+            # this supports Agent responders and Task.run() to
+            # return a ToolMessage, in addition str, ChatDocument
+            if isinstance(e, Task):
+                # With the curr defn of Task.result(),
+                # Task.run() can't return a ToolMessage, so this case doesn't occur,
+                # but we leave it here in case a
+                # Task subclass overrides default behavior
+                return e.agent.create_user_response(tool_messages=[result])
+            else:
+                # e must be this agent's Entity (LLM, AGENT or USER)
+                return self.agent.response_template(e=e, tool_messages=[result])
+        if not self.config.recognize_string_signals:
+            # ignore all string-based signaling/routing
+            return result
+        # parse various routing/addressing strings in result
+        is_pass, recipient, content = self._parse_routing(
+            result,
+            addressing_prefix=self.config.addressing_prefix,
+        )
+        if is_pass is None:  # no routing, i.e. neither PASS nor SEND
+            return result
+        if is_pass:
+            if recipient is None or self.pending_message is None:
+                # Just PASS, no recipient
+                # This means pass on self.pending_message to the next responder
+                # in the default sequence of responders.
+                # So leave result intact since we handle "PASS" in step()
+                return result
+            # set recipient in self.pending_message
+            self.pending_message.metadata.recipient = recipient
+            # clear out recipient, replace with just PASS
+            result.content = result.content.replace(
+                f"{PASS_TO}:{recipient}", PASS
+            ).strip()
+            return result
+        elif recipient is not None:
+            # we are sending non-empty content to non-null recipient
+            # clean up result.content, set metadata.recipient and return
+            result.content = content or ""
+            result.metadata.recipient = recipient
+            return result
+        else:
+            return result
+
+    async def response_async(
+        self,
+        e: Responder,
+        turns: int = -1,
+    ) -> Optional[ChatDocument]:
+        """
+        Get response to `self.pending_message` from a responder.
+        If response is __valid__ (i.e. it ends the current turn of seeking
+        responses):
+            -then return the response as a ChatDocument object,
+            -otherwise return None.
+        Args:
+            e (Responder): responder to get response from.
+            turns (int): number of turns to run the task for.
+                Default is -1, which means run until task is done.
+
+        Returns:
+            Optional[ChatDocument]: response to `self.pending_message` from entity if
+            valid, None otherwise
+        """
+        if isinstance(e, Task):
+            actual_turns = e.turns if e.turns > 0 else turns
+            e.agent.callbacks.set_parent_agent(self.agent)
+            pending_tools = self.agent.try_get_tool_messages(self.pending_message)
+            # TODO disable this
+            if (
+                len(pending_tools) > 1
+                and len(self.agent.oai_tool_calls) > 1
+                and not self.config.allow_subtask_multi_oai_tools
+            ):
+                result = self._forbid_multi_oai_tools(e)
+            else:
+                # e.callbacks.set_parent_agent(self.agent)
+                result = await e.run_async(
+                    self.pending_message,
+                    turns=actual_turns,
+                    caller=self,
+                    max_cost=self.max_cost,
+                    max_tokens=self.max_tokens,
+                )
+                # update result.tool_messages if any
+                if isinstance(result, ChatDocument):
+                    self.agent.try_get_tool_messages(result)
+                if result is not None:
+                    content, id2result, oai_tool_id = self.agent.process_tool_results(
+                        result.content,
+                        result.oai_tool_id2result,
+                        (
+                            self.pending_message.oai_tool_calls
+                            if isinstance(self.pending_message, ChatDocument)
+                            else None
+                        ),
+                    )
+                    result.content = content
+                    result.oai_tool_id2result = id2result
+                    result.metadata.oai_tool_id = oai_tool_id
+
+            result_str = (  # only used by callback to display content and possible tool
+                "NONE"
+                if result is None
+                else "\n\n".join(str(m) for m in ChatDocument.to_LLMMessage(result))
+            )
+            maybe_tool = len(extract_top_level_json(result_str)) > 0
+            self.callbacks.show_subtask_response(
+                task=e,
+                content=result_str,
+                is_tool=maybe_tool,
+            )
+        else:
+            response_fn = self._entity_responder_async_map[cast(Entity, e)]
+            result = await response_fn(self.pending_message)
+            # update result.tool_messages if any
+            if isinstance(result, ChatDocument):
+                self.agent.try_get_tool_messages(result)
+
+        result_chat_doc = self.agent.to_ChatDocument(
+            result,
+            chat_doc=self.pending_message,
+            author_entity=e if isinstance(e, Entity) else Entity.USER,
+        )
+        return self._process_result_routing(result_chat_doc, e)
+
+    def result(self, status: StatusCode | None = None) -> ChatDocument | None:
+        """
+        Get result of task. This is the default behavior.
+        Derived classes can override this.
+
+        Note the result of a task is returned as if it is from the User entity.
+
+        Args:
+            status (StatusCode): status of the task when it ended
+        Returns:
+            ChatDocument: result of task
+        """
+        if status in [StatusCode.STALLED, StatusCode.MAX_TURNS, StatusCode.INF_LOOP]:
+            # In these case we don't know (and don't want to try to guess)
+            # what the task result should be, so we return None
+            return None
+
+        result_msg = self.pending_message
+
+        content = result_msg.content if result_msg else ""
+        content_any = result_msg.content_any if result_msg else None
+        if DONE in content and self.config.recognize_string_signals:
+            # assuming it is of the form "DONE: <content>"
+            content = content.replace(DONE, "").strip()
+        oai_tool_calls = result_msg.oai_tool_calls if result_msg else None
+        oai_tool_id2result = result_msg.oai_tool_id2result if result_msg else None
+        fun_call = result_msg.function_call if result_msg else None
+        tool_messages = result_msg.tool_messages if result_msg else []
+        # if there is a DoneTool or AgentDoneTool among these,
+        # we extract content and tools from here, and ignore all others
+        for t in tool_messages:
+            if isinstance(t, FinalResultTool):
+                content = ""
+                content_any = None
+                tool_messages = [t]  # pass it on to parent so it also quits
+                break
+            elif isinstance(t, (AgentDoneTool, DoneTool)):
+                # there shouldn't be multiple tools like this; just take the first
+                content = to_string(t.content)
+                content_any = t.content
+                fun_call = None
+                oai_tool_calls = None
+                if isinstance(t, AgentDoneTool):
+                    # AgentDoneTool may have tools, unlike DoneTool
+                    tool_messages = t.tools
+                break
+        # drop the "Done" tools since they should not be part of the task result,
+        # or else they would cause the parent task to get unintentionally done!
+        tool_messages = [
+            t for t in tool_messages if not isinstance(t, (DoneTool, AgentDoneTool))
+        ]
+        block = result_msg.metadata.block if result_msg else None
+        recipient = result_msg.metadata.recipient if result_msg else ""
+        tool_ids = result_msg.metadata.tool_ids if result_msg else []
+
+        # regardless of which entity actually produced the result,
+        # when we return the result, we set entity to USER
+        # since to the "parent" task, this result is equivalent to a response from USER
+        result_doc = ChatDocument(
+            content=content,
+            content_any=content_any,
+            oai_tool_calls=oai_tool_calls,
+            oai_tool_id2result=oai_tool_id2result,
+            function_call=fun_call,
+            tool_messages=tool_messages,
+            metadata=ChatDocMetaData(
+                source=Entity.USER,
+                sender=Entity.USER,
+                block=block,
+                status=status or (result_msg.metadata.status if result_msg else None),
+                sender_name=self.name,
+                recipient=recipient,
+                tool_ids=tool_ids,
+                parent_id=result_msg.id() if result_msg else "",
+                agent_id=str(self.agent.id),
+            ),
+        )
+        if self.pending_message is not None:
+            self.pending_message.metadata.child_id = result_doc.id()
+
+        return result_doc
+
+    def _is_empty_message(self, msg: str | ChatDocument | None) -> bool:
+        """
+        Check if msg is empty or None
+        Args:
+            msg (str|ChatDocument|None): message to check
+        Returns:
+            bool: True if msg is (equivalent to) empty or None, False otherwise
+        """
+        # if ignoring string-based signaling, set pass_str to ""
+        pass_str = PASS if self.config.recognize_string_signals else ""
+        return (
+            msg is None
+            or (isinstance(msg, str) and msg.strip() in [pass_str, ""])
+            or (
+                isinstance(msg, ChatDocument)
+                and msg.content.strip() in [pass_str, ""]
+                and msg.function_call is None
+                and msg.oai_tool_calls is None
+                and msg.oai_tool_id2result is None
+                and msg.tool_messages == []
+            )
+        )
+
+    def _is_done_response(
+        self, result: str | None | ChatDocument, responder: Responder
+    ) -> bool:
+        """Is the task done based on the response from the given responder?"""
+
+        allow_done_string = self.config.recognize_string_signals
+        response_says_done = result is not None and (
+            (isinstance(result, str) and DONE in result and allow_done_string)
+            or (
+                isinstance(result, ChatDocument)
+                and (
+                    (DONE in result.content and allow_done_string)
+                    or (
+                        any(
+                            isinstance(t, (DoneTool, AgentDoneTool, FinalResultTool))
+                            for t in result.tool_messages
+                            # this condition ensures agent had chance to handle tools
+                        )
+                        and responder == Entity.AGENT
+                    )
+                )
+            )
+        )
+        return (
+            (
+                responder.value in self.done_if_response
+                and not self._is_empty_message(result)
+            )
+            or (
+                responder.value in self.done_if_no_response
+                and self._is_empty_message(result)
+            )
+            or (not self._is_empty_message(result) and response_says_done)
+        )
+
+    def _maybe_infinite_loop(self) -> bool:
+        """
+        Detect possible infinite loop based on message frequencies.
+        NOTE: This detects two types of loops:
+        - Alternating NO_ANSWER loops, specifically of the form
+        x1 NO_ANSWER x2 NO_ANSWER x3 NO_ANSWER...
+        (e.g. an LLM repeatedly saying something different, and another responder
+        or sub-task saying NO_ANSWER -- i.e. "DO-NOT-KNOW")
+
+        - "exact" loops, i.e. a cycle of messages that repeats exactly, e.g.
+        a r b i t r a t e r a t e r a t e r a t e ...
+
+        [It does not detect more general "approximate" loops, where two entities are
+        responding to each other potentially forever, with (slightly) different
+        messages each time]
+
+        Here is the logic for the exact-loop detection:
+        Intuition: when you look at a sufficiently long sequence with an m-message
+        loop, then the frequencies of these m messages will "dominate" those
+        of all other messages.
+
+        1. First find m "dominant" messages, i.e. when arranged in decreasing
+            frequency order, find the m such that
+                freq[m] > F * freq[m+1] and
+                freq[m] > W + freq[m+1]
+            where F = config.inf_loop_dominance_factor (default 1.5) and
+            W = config.inf_loop_wait_factor (default 5).
+            So if you plot these frequencies in decreasing order,
+            you will see a big drop in the plot, from m to m+1.
+            We call the freqs until m the "dominant" freqs.
+        2. Say we found m such dominant messages
+           If the set of last (W * m) messages are the same as the
+           set of m dominant messages,  then we are likely in a loop.
+        """
+
+        max_cycle_len = self.config.inf_loop_cycle_len
+        if max_cycle_len <= 0:
+            # no loop detection
+            return False
+        wait_factor = self.config.inf_loop_wait_factor
+        if sum(self.message_counter.values()) < wait_factor * max_cycle_len:
+            # we haven't seen enough messages to detect a loop
+            return False
+
+        # recall there's always a dummy msg with freq = 1
+        most_common_msg_counts: List[Tuple[str, int]] = (
+            self.message_counter.most_common(max_cycle_len + 1)
+        )
+        # get the most dominant msgs, i.e. these are at least 1.5x more freq
+        # than the rest
+        F = self.config.inf_loop_dominance_factor
+        # counts array in non-increasing order
+        counts = np.array([c for _, c in most_common_msg_counts])
+        # find first index where counts[i] > F * counts[i+1]
+        ratios = counts[:-1] / counts[1:]
+        diffs = counts[:-1] - counts[1:]
+        indices = np.where((ratios > F) & (diffs > wait_factor))[0]
+        m = indices[-1] if indices.size > 0 else -1
+        if m < 0:
+            # no dominance found, but...
+            if len(most_common_msg_counts) <= max_cycle_len:
+                # ...The most-common messages are at most max_cycle_len,
+                # even though we looked for the most common (max_cycle_len + 1) msgs.
+                # This means there are only at most max_cycle_len distinct messages,
+                # which also indicates a possible loop.
+                m = len(most_common_msg_counts) - 1
+            else:
+                # ... we have enough messages, but no dominance found,
+                # so there COULD be loops longer than max_cycle_len,
+                # OR there is no loop at all; we can't tell, so we return False.
+                return False
+
+        dominant_msg_counts = most_common_msg_counts[: m + 1]
+        # if the SET of dominant m messages is the same as the
+        # the SET of last m*w messages, (where w = config.inf_loop_wait_factor),
+        # then we are likely in a loop
+        dominant_msgs = set([msg for msg, _ in dominant_msg_counts])
+        lookback = wait_factor * (m + 1)
+        recent_msgs = set(list(self.history)[-lookback:])
+        return dominant_msgs == recent_msgs
+
+    def done(
+        self, result: ChatDocument | None = None, r: Responder | None = None
+    ) -> Tuple[bool, StatusCode]:
+        """
+        Check if task is done. This is the default behavior.
+        Derived classes can override this.
+        Args:
+            result (ChatDocument|None): result from a responder
+            r (Responder|None): responder that produced the result
+                Not used here, but could be used by derived classes.
+        Returns:
+            bool: True if task is done, False otherwise
+            StatusCode: status code indicating why task is done
+        """
+        if self._is_kill():
+            return (True, StatusCode.KILL)
+        result = result or self.pending_message
+        allow_done_string = self.config.recognize_string_signals
+        # An entity decided task is done, either via DoneTool,
+        # or by explicitly saying DONE
+        done_result = result is not None and (
+            (
+                DONE in (result.content if isinstance(result, str) else result.content)
+                and allow_done_string
+            )
+            or any(
+                isinstance(t, (DoneTool, AgentDoneTool, FinalResultTool))
+                for t in result.tool_messages
+            )
+        )
+
+        user_quit = (
+            result is not None
+            and (result.content in USER_QUIT_STRINGS or done_result)
+            and result.metadata.sender == Entity.USER
+        )
+
+        if self.n_stalled_steps >= self.max_stalled_steps:
+            # we are stuck, so bail to avoid infinite loop
+            logger.warning(
+                f"Task {self.name} stuck for {self.max_stalled_steps} steps; exiting."
+            )
+            return (True, StatusCode.STALLED)
+
+        if self.max_cost > 0 and self.agent.llm is not None:
+            try:
+                if self.agent.llm.tot_tokens_cost()[1] > self.max_cost:
+                    logger.warning(
+                        f"Task {self.name} cost exceeded {self.max_cost}; exiting."
+                    )
+                    return (True, StatusCode.MAX_COST)
+            except Exception:
+                pass
+
+        if self.max_tokens > 0 and self.agent.llm is not None:
+            try:
+                if self.agent.llm.tot_tokens_cost()[0] > self.max_tokens:
+                    logger.warning(
+                        f"Task {self.name} uses > {self.max_tokens} tokens; exiting."
+                    )
+                    return (True, StatusCode.MAX_TOKENS)
+            except Exception:
+                pass
+
+        if self._level == 0 and self._user_can_respond() and self.only_user_quits_root:
+            # for top-level task, only user can quit out
+            return (user_quit, StatusCode.USER_QUIT if user_quit else StatusCode.OK)
+
+        if self.is_done:
+            return (True, StatusCode.DONE)
+
+        final = (
+            # no valid response from any entity/agent in current turn
+            result is None
+            or done_result
+            or (  # current task is addressing message to caller task
+                self.caller is not None
+                and self.caller.name != ""
+                and result.metadata.recipient == self.caller.name
+            )
+            or user_quit
+        )
+        return (final, StatusCode.OK)
+
+    def valid(
+        self,
+        result: Optional[ChatDocument],
+        r: Responder,
+    ) -> bool:
+        """
+        Is the result from a Responder (i.e. an entity or sub-task)
+        such that we can stop searching for responses in this step?
+        """
+        # TODO caution we should ensure that no handler method (tool) returns simply
+        # an empty string (e.g when showing contents of an empty file), since that
+        # would be considered an invalid response, and other responders will wrongly
+        # be given a chance to respond.
+
+        # if task would be considered done given responder r's `result`,
+        # then consider the result valid.
+        if result is not None and self.done(result, r)[0]:
+            return True
+        return (
+            result is not None
+            and not self._is_empty_message(result)
+            # some weaker LLMs, including even GPT-4o, may say "DO-NOT-KNOW."
+            # (with a punctuation at the end), so need to strip out punctuation
+            and re.sub(r"[,.!?:]", "", result.content.strip()) != NO_ANSWER
+        )
+
+    def log_message(
+        self,
+        resp: Responder,
+        msg: ChatDocument | None = None,
+        mark: bool = False,
+    ) -> None:
+        """
+        Log current pending message, and related state, for lineage/debugging purposes.
+
+        Args:
+            resp (Responder): Responder that generated the `msg`
+            msg (ChatDocument, optional): Message to log. Defaults to None.
+            mark (bool, optional): Whether to mark the message as the final result of
+                a `task.step()` call. Defaults to False.
+        """
+        default_values = ChatDocLoggerFields().dict().values()
+        msg_str_tsv = "\t".join(str(v) for v in default_values)
+        if msg is not None:
+            msg_str_tsv = msg.tsv_str()
+
+        mark_str = "*" if mark else " "
+        task_name = self.name if self.name != "" else "root"
+        resp_color = "white" if mark else "red"
+        resp_str = f"[{resp_color}] {resp} [/{resp_color}]"
+
+        if msg is None:
+            msg_str = f"{mark_str}({task_name}) {resp_str}"
+        else:
+            color = {
+                Entity.LLM: "green",
+                Entity.USER: "blue",
+                Entity.AGENT: "red",
+                Entity.SYSTEM: "magenta",
+            }[msg.metadata.sender]
+            f = msg.log_fields()
+            tool_type = f.tool_type.rjust(6)
+            tool_name = f.tool.rjust(10)
+            tool_str = f"{tool_type}({tool_name})" if tool_name != "" else ""
+            sender = f"[{color}]" + str(f.sender_entity).rjust(10) + f"[/{color}]"
+            sender_name = f.sender_name.rjust(10)
+            recipient = "=>" + str(f.recipient).rjust(10)
+            block = "X " + str(f.block or "").rjust(10)
+            content = f"[{color}]{f.content}[/{color}]"
+            msg_str = (
+                f"{mark_str}({task_name}) "
+                f"{resp_str} {sender}({sender_name}) "
+                f"({recipient}) ({block}) {tool_str} {content}"
+            )
+
+        if self.logger is not None:
+            self.logger.log(msg_str)
+        if self.tsv_logger is not None:
+            resp_str = str(resp)
+            self.tsv_logger.info(f"{mark_str}\t{task_name}\t{resp_str}\t{msg_str_tsv}")
+
+    def _valid_recipient(self, recipient: str) -> bool:
+        """
+        Is the recipient among the list of responders?
+        Args:
+            recipient (str): Name of recipient
+        """
+        if recipient == "":
+            return True
+        # native responders names are USER, LLM, AGENT,
+        # and the names of subtasks are from Task.name attribute
+        responder_names = [self.name.lower()] + [
+            r.name.lower() for r in self.responders
+        ]
+        return recipient.lower() in responder_names
+
+    def _recipient_mismatch(self, e: Responder) -> bool:
+        """
+        Is the recipient explicitly specified and does not match responder "e" ?
+        """
+        # Note that recipient could be specified as an Entity or a Task name
+        return (
+            self.pending_message is not None
+            and (recipient := self.pending_message.metadata.recipient) != ""
+            and not (recipient == e)  # case insensitive for entities
+            and recipient != e.name
+            and recipient != self.name  # case sensitive
+        )
+
+    def _user_can_respond(self) -> bool:
+        return self.interactive or (
+            # regardless of self.interactive, if a msg is explicitly addressed to
+            # user, then wait for user response
+            self.pending_message is not None
+            and self.pending_message.metadata.recipient == Entity.USER
+            and not self.agent.has_tool_message_attempt(self.pending_message)
+        )
+
+    def _can_respond(self, e: Responder) -> bool:
+        user_can_respond = self._user_can_respond()
+
+        if self.pending_sender == e or (e == Entity.USER and not user_can_respond):
+            # sender is same as e (an entity cannot respond to its own msg),
+            # or user cannot respond
+            return False
+
+        if self.pending_message is None:
+            return True
+        if isinstance(e, Task) and not e.agent.can_respond(self.pending_message):
+            return False
+
+        if self._recipient_mismatch(e):
+            # Cannot respond if not addressed to this entity
+            return False
+        return self.pending_message.metadata.block != e
+
+    def set_color_log(self, enable: bool = True) -> None:
+        """
+        Flag to enable/disable color logging using rich.console.
+        In some contexts, such as Colab notebooks, we may want to disable color logging
+        using rich.console, since those logs show up in the cell output rather than
+        in the log file. Turning off this feature will still create logs, but without
+        the color formatting from rich.console
+        Args:
+            enable (bool): value of `self.color_log` to set to,
+                which will enable/diable rich logging
+
+        """
+        self.color_log = enable
+
+    def _parse_routing(
+        self,
+        msg: ChatDocument | str,
+        addressing_prefix: str = "",
+    ) -> Tuple[bool | None, str | None, str | None]:
+        """
+        Parse routing instruction if any, of the form:
+        PASS:<recipient>  (pass current pending msg to recipient)
+        SEND:<recipient> <content> (send content to recipient)
+        @<recipient> <content> (send content to recipient)
+        Args:
+            msg (ChatDocument|str|None): message to parse
+            addressing_prefix (str): prefix to address other agents or entities,
+                 (e.g. "@". See documentation of `TaskConfig` for details).
+        Returns:
+            Tuple[bool|None, str|None, str|None]:
+                bool: true=PASS, false=SEND, or None if neither
+                str: recipient, or None
+                str: content to send, or None
+        """
+        # handle routing instruction-strings in result if any,
+        # such as PASS, PASS_TO, or SEND
+
+        msg_str = msg.content if isinstance(msg, ChatDocument) else msg
+        if (
+            self.agent.has_tool_message_attempt(msg)
+            and not msg_str.startswith(PASS)
+            and not msg_str.startswith(PASS_TO)
+            and not msg_str.startswith(SEND_TO)
+        ):
+            # if there's an attempted tool-call, we ignore any routing strings,
+            # unless they are at the start of the msg
+            return None, None, None
+
+        content = msg.content if isinstance(msg, ChatDocument) else msg
+        content = content.strip()
+        if PASS in content and PASS_TO not in content:
+            return True, None, None
+        if PASS_TO in content and content.split(":")[1] != "":
+            return True, content.split(":")[1], None
+        if (
+            SEND_TO in content
+            and (addressee_content := parse_addressed_message(content, SEND_TO))[0]
+            is not None
+        ):
+            # Note this will discard any portion of content BEFORE SEND_TO.
+            # TODO maybe make this configurable.
+            (addressee, content_to_send) = addressee_content
+            # if no content then treat same as PASS_TO
+            if content_to_send == "":
+                return True, addressee, None
+            else:
+                return False, addressee, content_to_send
+        if (
+            addressing_prefix != ""
+            and addressing_prefix in content
+            and (
+                addressee_content := parse_addressed_message(content, addressing_prefix)
+            )[0]
+            is not None
+        ):
+            (addressee, content_to_send) = addressee_content
+            # if no content then treat same as PASS_TO
+            if content_to_send == "":
+                return True, addressee, None
+            else:
+                return False, addressee, content_to_send
+
+        return None, None, None