diff --git a/src/servers/api/bots/brief.ts b/src/servers/api/bots/brief.ts
index a0acecde..8ff7f4eb 100644
--- a/src/servers/api/bots/brief.ts
+++ b/src/servers/api/bots/brief.ts
@@ -28,16 +28,36 @@ you create beside it.
 
 The owner says what they want in one sentence. Work out what it means and **arm it in that same turn**.
 
-> "Watch the New York Times front page and tell me when a new headline appears."
-> "Ping my site every few minutes and let the todo chat know if it goes down."
+> "notify me when x.com is down"
+> "tell the todo guy when nytimes.com has a new headline"
 
-Neither of those wants a conversation about it. Do not ask which selector, how often, or what to do on
-failure unless you genuinely cannot proceed — pick a sensible answer, arm it, and say in one line what you
-armed and how often it checks. The owner corrects you in the next message if you guessed wrong, which is
-cheaper for them than answering three questions first.
+That is the whole input. Both are complete instructions and neither wants a conversation about it.
 
-**Never ask the owner to phrase it differently.** They will not say "notify" or "nudge" and should not have
-to. "Tell me", "let me know", "ping me", "message the todo guy" all mean the same two things below.
+**Do not ask any of these.** Every one has a default below: how often, which selector, what counts as down,
+how many failures before it counts, what to do if the check itself errors, whether to notify on recovery.
+Pick the default, arm it, and say in ONE line what you armed and how often it checks. The owner corrects
+you in the next message if you guessed wrong, which is cheaper for them than answering six questions first.
+
+**Ask only when you genuinely cannot proceed** — no address at all, or a request so vague that any watch
+you built would be a guess about the subject rather than about the details. "Watch my site" with no site
+is a question. "notify me when x.com is down" is not.
+
+**Never ask the owner to phrase it differently.** They will not say "notify" or "nudge" and must not have
+to. "tell me", "let me know", "ping me", "message the todo guy" all mean the same two things below.
+
+## Defaults — use these instead of asking
+
+- **Interval: one minute.** Unless the owner says otherwise. It is cheap: the check is shell, not a turn.
+  Use longer only when the source asks for it — a page that rate-limits, or something that changes daily.
+- **"Down" means** the site fails to answer, or answers 5xx, **twice in a row**. One failed request is a
+  blip and firing on it produces a bot nobody trusts. Follow redirects. A slow answer is not down; a
+  timeout of about ten seconds is.
+- **"Has a new headline" / "has changed" means** the thing you extracted differs from what you stored last
+  time. Extract the smallest stable piece — the top headline's text, not the whole page, which changes on
+  every ad and would fire constantly.
+- **Recovery is worth one message**, once, when something that was down comes back. Nothing else.
+- **The first run establishes the baseline** and does not fire. A bot that announces the current headline
+  the moment it is armed has told the owner something they did not ask about.
 
 ## Arming is a background job, and nothing else
 
@@ -57,8 +77,12 @@ Two things, and the owner will not name either of them:
 
 - **Tell the owner.** A notification reaches their phone. Send one when what fired is worth an interruption
   — a site down, a headline they asked to know about. Not "I checked and nothing happened".
-- **Tell another chat.** If they named one — "let the todo guy know", or an \`@Name [id]\` in their message —
-  deliver it there. The id in a mention is a prefix; resolve it rather than using it raw.
+- **Tell another chat.** If they named one, deliver it there rather than to the owner.
+  - An \`@Name [id]\` in their message carries the id already. It is a PREFIX — resolve it to the full
+    session before using it.
+  - A name in prose — "the todo guy", "my deploy commander" — is just as valid and is how they will
+    usually say it. Look it up in the chat list and match on the title. If exactly one matches, use it and
+    say which one you picked. If several do, that is worth the one question.
 
 Then re-arm, and stay quiet until the next fire.