Work-order texts: who AppFolio tells, who Clara tells

Handoff to Smith for the "stop duplicate work-order created texts" change. Read from AppFolio's own logs at Western Slope, Oct 27–28.

2026-10-28 · Western Slope + Situs · Handoff — Fede asked for it · from session 004

AppFolio texts a resident only when the resident submitted the request through the portal. A work order typed in on the manager side, by staff or by Clara, triggers nothing from AppFolio: no text to the resident, no text or email to the office. So the fix must skip Clara's "work order created" text only for portal submissions, not for every work order that comes from AppFolio.

What AppFolio does, by how the work order was entered

Entered how	AppFolio texts resident	AppFolio texts/emails office primary contact	Clara's text today	Result
Resident, online portal (Maintenance Performer)	yes "Your maintenance request has been submitted. Your maintenance request number is #6137-1 …" from "System"	yes "WO #6137-1 - NORMAL - …" to Ryan Dyer	"Work order created" on sync	duplicate
Staff, manager-side form (Jonathan)	no	no	"Work order created" on sync	only notice the resident gets
Clara, manager-side form (from a call)	no	no	"Your work order number is N" (held when Supervised)	nothing if the hold lapses

The evidence: seven Western Slope work orders, Oct 27–28

WO	Resident	Entered by	AppFolio Actions Log on creation	Resident's AppFolio text log	Clara
6137	Jennifer B.	resident, portal, 6:01 PM Oct 27	"Submitted online using Maintenance Performer"; text + email to primary contact Ryan Dyer, by System	System text 6:01 PM Oct 27: "Your maintenance request has been submitted … #6137-1"	"Work order created" text (the duplicate)
6136	Shari L.	Clara, 5:14 PM Oct 27	"Created – Clara Propflow". Vendor assigned by a person 8:06 AM Oct 28; AppFolio texted and emailed the vendor then	nothing since Oct 23	"Your work order number is 6136" held since 5:14 PM Oct 27, lapses 24 h later
6138	Nancy V.	Jonathan, 8:13 AM Oct 28	"Created – Jonathan Balding", nothing else	nothing in October (her July and August portal requests did get System texts)	"Work order COUR-6138 created", 8:16 AM, auto-approved
6139	Laura M.	Jonathan, 8:13 AM	"Created", nothing else	nothing	"Work order MORS-6139 created", 8:16 AM
6140	Jennifer Z.	Jonathan, 8:16 AM	"Created", nothing else	nothing	"Work order COUR-6140 created", 8:22 AM
6141	(no unit)	Ryan, 8:36 AM	"Created"; assignment email Ryan sent himself	n/a	none
6134	vacant	Jonathan, Oct 27	"Created", "Assigned", "Scheduled", no notices	n/a	none

Read with GET-only page loads on the robot's warm session (no login, no clicks). Work-order pages: Actions Log, Emails and Texts sections. Tenant pages: the Texts block, which is where AppFolio's "System" resident texts show up; they do not appear on the work-order page.

What to change in the fix

As planned

Skip Clara's "work order created" text for every work order whose source is AppFolio.

Breaks: Nancy and Jennifer Z. today would have heard nothing. Staff enter work orders by hand all day.

Proposed

Skip it only when AppFolio's Actions Log for that work order says "Submitted online using Maintenance Performer" (or the resident-portal equivalent). Every other AppFolio work order keeps Clara's text, because nothing else tells the resident.

The sync already reads the work-order page; the Actions Log line is on it. Normalise it at the sync boundary into our own field (e.g. submittedByResident: true), never an AppFolio string in core code.

Still open, Fede's calls

Shari's held "your work order number is 6136" text: approve or let it lapse (24 h after 5:14 PM MT Oct 27).
Whether Clara should also tell the office when she creates a work order, the way AppFolio tells the office's primary contact on a portal submission. Today nobody gets an AppFolio ping for a Clara-created work order; the office learns of it from the Slack card and the work-order list. Recommendation: yes, one office text/email in AppFolio's shape ("WO #6136-1 - LOW - Black flying bugs, Courtyard 24, Shari Lee" plus link), no switch.
Plain AppFolio numbers everywhere (Fede, Oct 28 in #situs-group: "use only and exactly the number AppFolio already provides"). Already in Smith's change.

Context

Fede, Oct 28, #situs-group: "Stop the work order created texts. AppFolio already does it" and "Check Western Slope configuration as well". "Work order created" texts are back on Supervised at Situs and Western Slope since 8:42 AM MDT; the rating ask and "your work order number" text still send on their own.
AppFolio help: "Send Maintenance Request Updates to the Online Portal" (automatic resident emails are a company setting; texts need Maintenance Performer) and "Work Order Actions & Status Updates".
Related, same lane: A caller's message always reaches the office.