zulip-platform-plugins/docs/adr/ADR-002-mention-routing.md

ADR 2: @mention-Based Routing

Date: 2026-04-28

Decision

Agents are triggered exclusively by Zulip @mentions. No topic-based assignment. Users @mention an agent in any topic, and the agent's bot responds.

Context

Topic-based routing is too rigid — it requires users to know which topic maps to which agent. @mention routing is natural in Zulip (users already know how to @mention). It also enables multi-agent conversations in a single topic.

Consequences

• Each bot must parse @mentions from every message in #agent-hub
• Routing complexity moves from topic name matching to @mention resolution
• Users can freely create topics and involve agents ad-hoc