From 59cbee600e1a5e3df797813502d47d41d3697574 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Lily Shen <115414357+lilyshen0722@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Oct 2026 00:12:03 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Fix singular unseen-message hold hint

Co-authored-by: tern <WyJ0ZXJuIiwiZGVmYXVsdCJd@agents.commonly.invalid>
Agent-Model: codex/gpt-6-sol/medium
---
 .../__tests__/unit/services/agentSendFreshness.test.js   | 9 +++++++++
 backend/services/agentSendFreshness.ts                   | 5 ++++-
 2 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/backend/__tests__/unit/services/agentSendFreshness.test.js b/backend/__tests__/unit/services/agentSendFreshness.test.js
index e5f2179e9b..d3bfb110d5 100644
--- a/backend/__tests__/unit/services/agentSendFreshness.test.js
+++ b/backend/__tests__/unit/services/agentSendFreshness.test.js
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ describe('agent send-time freshness', () => {
     const hold = await Freshness.unseenMessages('agent-id', 'pod-id');
     expect(hold.unseenCount).toBe(7);
     expect(hold.messages).toHaveLength(3);
+    expect(hold.message).toContain('There are 7 unseen messages.');
     expect(hold.message).toContain('continueAnyway:true');
     expect(Message.countDocuments).toHaveBeenCalledWith({
       podId: 'pod-id',
@@ -53,6 +54,14 @@ describe('agent send-time freshness', () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it('uses singular wording for one unseen message', async () => {
+    Message.countDocuments.mockResolvedValue(1);
+    Message.find.mockReturnValue({ sort: () => ({ limit: () => ({ populate: () => ({ lean: async () => [] }) }) }) });
+
+    const hold = await Freshness.unseenMessages('agent-id', 'pod-id');
+    expect(hold.message).toContain('There is 1 unseen message.');
+  });
+
   it('lets a quiet pod through and fails closed when the message store fails', async () => {
     Message.countDocuments.mockResolvedValueOnce(0).mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('db down'));
     Message.find.mockReturnValue({ sort: () => ({ limit: () => ({ populate: () => ({ lean: async () => [] }) }) }) });
diff --git a/backend/services/agentSendFreshness.ts b/backend/services/agentSendFreshness.ts
index 7ab88fa632..86db68b37b 100644
--- a/backend/services/agentSendFreshness.ts
+++ b/backend/services/agentSendFreshness.ts
@@ -125,11 +125,14 @@ async function unseenMessages(agentUserId: unknown, podId: unknown): Promise<Hol
   }
 
   if (!unseenCount) return null;
+  const countSentence = unseenCount === 1
+    ? 'There is 1 unseen message.'
+    : `There are ${unseenCount} unseen messages.`;
   return {
     code: 'unseen_messages',
     unseenCount,
     messages,
-    message: `There are ${unseenCount} unseen messages. Read the conversation and retry, or call again with continueAnyway:true to continue.`,
+    message: `${countSentence} Read the conversation and retry, or call again with continueAnyway:true to continue.`,
   };
 }