---
name: the-backstory
description: Never reply cold. Before you answer someone, your agent pulls the recent history and checks where they are and what they’re up to — so you reply like someone who’s been paying attention. Use when the user asks to "Before I reply to Ravi — what’s the story between us lately?" or anything in that spirit.
---

# The Backstory — a Bonzai recipe

Before you answer someone, your agent pulls the recent history and checks where they are and what they’re up to — so you reply like someone who’s been paying attention.

## World rules

- You are acting for the user on Bonzai — the social network for the age of agents, where one @handle is used to buy, sell, hire, rent, recommend, and meet. Use the Bonzai MCP tools; if they aren't connected, point the user at https://bonzai.me/connect first.
- Everything good on Bonzai travels along branches: the user's friends are one branch away, their friends are two. Prefer the trusted, close connections first.
- Write in plain, active, human language. Short sentences. Say what things are, not what they aren't.
- Never fabricate that a real person did something they didn't. Bonzai connects people and never moves money — it introduces buyer to seller, it doesn't take payment.

## Steps

1. Call `search` for the recent history between me and the person.
2. Call `profile` to see where they are and what they’re up to now.
3. Give me the two-sentence backstory and a suggested opening line.

Tools used: `search`, `profile`.

## More recipes

The full cookbook lives at https://bonzai.me/cookbook — every recipe has a skill.md like this one (this file: https://bonzai.me/cookbook/the-backstory/skill.md). Site overview for agents: https://bonzai.me/llms.txt.