THE LAB NOTEBOOK / Ted Agent
Little updates.
Big plot twists.
New tricks. Fewer hiccups. The occasional “how did we live without this?” Here’s what’s happening with Ted Agent.
13 releases52 improvements & fixesSTILL TINKERING. ALWAYS.
CORTEX LABSFIELD NOTES
LATEST CHAPTER
v0.11.0October 10, 2026Ted Agent
13 chapters in the story so far.
Ted talks like you
3 things to get excited about
Ted talks like you
- Your voice on WhatsApp: say yes when Ted asks and he studies how you write: your words, your laugh, how you talk to each person. Whatever he sends from your number sounds like you, never like an assistant.
- Parcels in conversation: ask “track AE000580781BR” and Ted answers with the status and the latest event: Correios and 2,800+ carriers, no captcha.
- Tells you when it moves: say “let me know when it arrives” and every change, and the delivery, reach you on your Mac and WhatsApp.
Notices actually reach the island
3 things to get excited about
Notices actually reach the island
- Between two release builds, nothing Ted announced ever arrived on the Cortex Shelf island. It worked in development, which is why it survived two releases unnoticed.
- Cortex Shelf verifies who is connecting before showing anything, and Ted had already closed the connection by the time that question was asked — so a correctly-signed sender was refused.
- Ted now holds the connection open until Shelf has identified him. Requires Cortex Shelf 0.3.15 or later.
Robin's on the air
3 things to get excited about
Robin's on the air
- Robin's Bulletin: every morning, the news that matters to you: topics you pick, blogs and GitHub repositories you follow, each story with a link and why it matters to you. Read it in the new News screen, on WhatsApp or both.
- Security alerts right away: follow a repository or your projects’ libraries and a security release reaches you the moment it ships.
- Tell Ted what to cover: pick topics in the new onboarding step or just ask, like “follow Kubernetes releases”. More of this / less of this tunes the next editions.
No more onboarding on every launch
2 things to get excited about
No more onboarding on every launch
- Fixed: onboarding kept reappearing. On launch Ted asked the daemon once whether onboarding was done and, if the daemon hadn't finished booting — its Python runtime needs a few seconds — assumed it wasn't, walking you back through the welcome flow. It now waits for the real answer.
- The last onboarding step gains a Cortex Shelf card: if you have it, Ted tells you he'll also speak through your notch; if you don't, that's where you find out he can.
The island announcement actually arrives
4 things to get excited about
The island announcement actually arrives
- 0.9.7 added Ted's notices to the Cortex Shelf island, but on a fresh install they never got there.
- The announcement was made from inside the macOS notification path, which is skipped entirely when notification permission hasn't been granted — and Ted never prompts for it. The island is now its own channel.
- Being denied banners no longer silences the notch. The island has its own switch in Cortex Shelf → Settings → Privacy.
- Requires Cortex Shelf 0.3.14 or later.
Ted speaks through the notch
4 things to get excited about
Ted speaks through the notch
- What Ted already judges worth a banner now also lands on the Cortex Shelf island — the sparkle pulses and the subject waits in the pill until you look.
- Proactive notices interrupt: the brief, insights and the messages worth a look. Job runs and skill proposals wait for your next glance.
- The announcement travels over a local Unix socket where Cortex Shelf verifies the sender's code signature. No network, and nothing is queued while Shelf is closed.
- Requires Cortex Shelf 0.3.14 or later. Without it, nothing changes.
Ted gets a desk at work
2 things to get excited about
Ted gets a desk at work
- Microsoft Teams: sign in with your work or school account and Ted reads your chats, tells you what matters and sends messages as you when you ask. Like e-mail, nothing gets a reply on its own.
- @ted in your notes chat: write to yourself in Teams starting with @ted and he answers right there. “What did Ana say in the project group?” works too.
Ted meets Shelf
3 things to get excited about
Ted meets Shelf
- An optional local connection with Shelf: the apps recognize each other when both are open. Requires Shelf 0.3.12 or a later compatible version.
- The connection follows app launches and exits without continuous background checks. Each app continues to work on its own.
- This release establishes the foundation for integration. Ted alerts in the Shelf island will come in a later update.
Ted covers for you
4 things to get excited about
Ted covers for you
- Answers for you, only when you want: a WhatsApp watch can now reply in your voice when someone writes and you don’t answer in time. Ted only runs when that happens, and tells you when a message needs you.
- Cleans your inbox when you ask: Ted searches any connected inbox (Gmail search works too), replies to older e-mails and moves the ones you don’t want to the trash, where they can still be recovered. Nothing gets marked as read.
- Says what he’s doing: “Running a command on your Mac…” and “Reading a WhatsApp chat…” instead of “Bash” and “read chat”.
- Kids, he’s on it: the “on it” notes after @ted on WhatsApp sound like Ted Mosby now.
Ted gets the mail
6 things to get excited about
Ted gets the mail
- Sign in with Google or Microsoft: connect Gmail, Google Workspace, Outlook or Hotmail without an app password. IMAP is still there for everyone else, with iCloud, Fastmail and Yahoo filled in for you.
- Ted never answers your mail on his own: what arrives is kept and flagged when it matters. Ask “reply to Diego’s e-mail saying…” and he answers in the same thread, in your voice.
- Pick the account: “send it from my work e-mail” works now, because Ted knows your connected accounts by name and address.
- Automation shows up: allowing Automation asks macOS properly, so Ted appears in System Settings → Automation.
- Clean names at MacLaren’s: specialists no longer carry a made-up first name in their role.
- Stickers fold away: your sticker gallery starts closed, so Channels stays short.
Proper introductions
2 things to get excited about
Proper introductions
- Ted Agent, with a space: that's the app's name in Finder and Applications now, like the rest of the family. If you still have “TedAgent” in Applications, delete it.
- An install window worth opening: blueprint paper and an arrow from Ted to Applications. Kids, that's the easy part.
Ted gets the joke
3 things to get excited about
Ted gets the joke
- Stickers, your way: ask “send Diego a laughing sticker” and Ted picks one of the stickers you use most. He never sends one on his own.
- Ted sees photos and stickers: ask what someone sent and he looks at it, older messages included.
- Your stickers: Settings → Channels shows your favorites, what Ted thinks each one says, and how often you send it.
Ted moves in
13 things to get excited about
Ted moves in
- Meet Ted: the border collie is your agent now. Same brains, new face, new name. If you'd given yours a name of your own, it stays.
- Ted has a personality: he talks like Ted Mosby now — architect, storyteller, hopeless romantic. One touch per reply, never at the cost of the answer. Dial it in Settings → Brain.
- Ted's desk: replies on paper, your messages on sticky notes, and a live card that says what Ted is actually doing. A new sheet files the old one away.
- Home is a site report: today's numbers, live conditions, what's next on the calendar, Ted's latest brief and the site log.
- History is an archive: every conversation filed and searchable. Open one and it goes back on Ted's desk, or in its agent's window.
- Projects on the drawing board: the active plan up front, the rest pinned to the wall, and honest progress while Ted drafts a new one.
- The gang at MacLaren's: every agent gets a How I Met Your Mother name, “On air” shows who's working right now, and booth talk shows who asked whom.
- Memory where it happens: when Ted writes something down, a 📌 note shows up on his reply with Undo. Ask him to forget anything.
- The Playbook: skills are plays now, with a page number and a track record. When Ted notices you repeating something, he suggests writing it in the book.
- Settings are the specs now: a set of numbered drawings, from Ted's brain (A-1) to demolition (D-1). Every switch works in English and Portuguese.
- The schedule: errands on a timeline, in plain words (“Weekdays at 09:00”) instead of cron. Ask-Ted errands run Ted with his tools and keep every answer on a sheet.
- No more WhatsApp Web inside: Ted is an agent, not a chat client. He reads and answers for you; pairing lives on Home and in Settings. The self-chat trigger answers to @ted now.
- A brand-new welcome tour — blueprints, sticky notes and a dog who won't stop talking — and What's New told as episodes. Shortcuts follow the sidebar, from ⌘1 Ted to ⌘7 Scheduler.
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