Symphony Claude Lane

Symphony + Claude Lane

Use this skill when a team has Symphony + Linear and wants their orchestrator to pick the right agent for each task — routing work to Claude Code or Codex based on what the task actually needs, not just a static label.

This skill also works for teams that want to run Claude-only workers without Codex.

Prerequisites

• The target repo already uses Symphony + Linear, or is clearly intended to.
• The target repo has a place for durable orchestration guidance such as AGENTS.md or .orchestration/.
• At least one of Claude Code or Codex can be run as a worker against the repo.
• Browser verification can be done with Playwright or an equivalent automation path (recommended but not required).

If those conditions are not true, explain the gap and stop or redirect to a more appropriate setup skill.

Required workflow

1. Inspect the target repo, existing AGENTS.md, workflow docs, and issue contract.
2. Confirm the repo is a real candidate for multi-model dispatch, not just a generic coding repo.
3. Confirm the base Symphony workflow already has workspace bootstrap assertions, a no-progress stop-loss, and a stable issue contract before adding model routing.
4. Analyze the repo's work patterns to recommend a routing strategy. Consider what types of tasks appear in the backlog: bounded implementation, UI/frontend, complex reasoning, browser-dependent verification, code review, documentation, security-sensitive changes, E2E testing.
5. Ask the user about their routing preferences: should the orchestrator analyze task characteristics automatically, or use label-only routing? Which agent capabilities matter most for this repo? Is this a mixed-model or Claude-only setup?
6. Create or update a repo-local routing profile from assets/claude-lane-profile.example.yaml, including routing strategy, model selection criteria, privacy rules, and cleanup or retention rules for that adopter's actual storage hotspots.
7. Prefer same-project label-filtered routing when labels are used. Recommend a separate queue or Linear project only when the adopter needs stronger operational separation.
8. Add routing and dispatch guidance to the target repo's orchestration docs. Use assets/claude-lane-guidance.snippet.md as a starting point. Do not hardcode repo specifics back into this shared skill.
9. Help the adopter set up Claude worker launch capability. Use references/worker-launch.md for the secure launch pattern and assets/claude-worker.reference.sh as a starting point for the launcher script. Use assets/worker-prompt.template.md as the basis for worker prompts. Adapt all paths, auth, and MCP config to the adopter's environment.
10. For tickets that affect rendered output, default to Playwright-based verification before closeout.
11. Define closeout, retry, In Review, and cleanup behavior as part of the routing contract, including how worktrees, snapshots, and other heavy local artifacts are removed safely.

Safety defaults

• Route based on task characteristics by default. Use labels as overrides, not as the sole routing mechanism.
• When task characteristics are ambiguous and no label override exists, prefer the safer choice: Codex for bounded sandbox-compatible work, Claude for anything requiring tools, browser access, or deep reasoning.
• Keep ambiguous tickets in the more conservative path until the repo proves the routing is stable.
• Persist user routing choices into the repo-local profile, not only in chat.
• Inherit the base workflow guardrails instead of treating any model's lane as exempt from them.
• Prefer operator-reviewed closeout unless the adopter already has a safe self-close path.
• If issue state cannot be confirmed during closeout or cleanup, preserve artifacts and stop rather than guessing.
• Do not assume every adopter's storage pressure looks the same; document repo-specific cleanup hotspots in the repo-local profile.
• Do not put secrets, credentials, tokens, session cookies, personal data, or raw customer payloads into issues, comments, screenshots, traces, or other artifacts.

Reference map

• Read references/setup.md first when deciding whether the target repo is ready.
• Read references/routing.md before analyzing work patterns or asking the user about routing preferences.
• Read references/dispatch.md when defining queue split, model selection, and worker lifecycle.
• Read references/worker-launch.md when helping the adopter set up the Claude worker launcher, MCP config, or security practices.
• Read references/visual-verification.md before writing browser-verification policy.
• Read references/closeout.md when defining In Review, outcome blocks, retry behavior, or self-close rules.
• Read references/troubleshooting.md when a worker stalls, exhausts turns, or drifts from the routing contract.
• Read references/examples.md when you need concrete ticket-routing examples or model selection patterns.

Output expectations

When this skill is applied well, the target repo should end up with:

• a working Claude worker launch setup (launcher script, MCP config, prompt template)
• a durable routing profile with model selection criteria
• clear routing rules — task-characteristic analysis, label overrides, or both
• explicit privacy and redaction rules for all worker artifacts
• repo-local orchestration guidance describing what each model handles and why
• a Playwright-first visual verification rule for tickets that affect rendered output
• inherited base-workflow guardrails called out explicitly
• explicit closeout and retry behavior for all workers regardless of model
• a documented fallback for control-plane outages or missing tracker state
• a cleanup and retention policy that covers worktrees, snapshots, and repo-specific storage hotspots