Orchestrator

Orchestrator Skill: Autonomous Multi-Agent Coordination

This skill spawns and monitors parallel worker agents that execute beads autonomously.

Prerequisite: Run the planning skill first to generate history/<feature>/execution-plan.md.

Architecture (Mode B: Autonomous)

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                              ORCHESTRATOR                                   │
│                              (This Agent)                                   │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  1. Read execution-plan.md (from planning skill)                            │
│  2. Initialize Agent Mail                                                   │
│  3. Spawn worker subagents via Task tool                                    │
│  4. Monitor progress via Agent Mail                                         │
│  5. Handle cross-track blockers                                             │
│  6. Announce completion                                                     │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
           │
           │ Task tool spawns parallel workers
           ▼
┌──────────────────┐  ┌──────────────────┐  ┌──────────────────┐
│  BlueLake        │  │  GreenCastle     │  │  RedStone        │
│  Track 1         │  │  Track 2         │  │  Track 3         │
│  [a → b → c]     │  │  [x → y]         │  │  [m → n → o]     │
├──────────────────┤  ├──────────────────┤  ├──────────────────┤
│  For each bead:  │  │  For each bead:  │  │  For each bead:  │
│  • Reserve files │  │  • Reserve files │  │  • Reserve files │
│  • Do work       │  │  • Do work       │  │  • Do work       │
│  • Report mail   │  │  • Report mail   │  │  • Report mail   │
│  • Next bead     │  │  • Next bead     │  │  • Next bead     │
└──────────────────┘  └──────────────────┘  └──────────────────┘
           │                   │                   │
           └───────────────────┼───────────────────┘
                               ▼
                    ┌─────────────────────┐
                    │     Agent Mail      │
                    │  ─────────────────  │
                    │  Epic Thread:       │
                    │  • Progress reports │
                    │  • Bead completions │
                    │  • Blockers         │
                    │                     │
                    │  Track Threads:     │
                    │  • Bead context     │
                    │  • Learnings        │
                    └─────────────────────┘

Phase 1: Read Execution Plan

Use the Read tool to load the execution plan:

• path: history/<feature>/execution-plan.md

Extract:

• EPIC_ID - the epic bead id
• TRACKS - array of {agent_name, beads[], file_scope}
• CROSS_DEPS - any cross-track dependencies

Phase 2: Initialize Agent Mail

Step 1: Ensure project exists

Tool: mcp__mcp_agent_mail__ensure_project

Step 2: Register orchestrator identity

Tool: mcp__mcp_agent_mail__register_agent

Phase 3: Spawn Worker Subagents

Spawn all workers in parallel using the Task tool.

For each track, invoke:

Tool: Task

Example Task prompt for Track 1

You are agent BlueLake working on Track 1 of epic bd-42.

## Setup
1. Read /path/to/project/AGENTS.md for tool preferences
2. Load the worker skill: skill worker

## Your Track
Beads to complete IN ORDER: bd-43, bd-44, bd-45
File scope: packages/sdk/**

## Protocol for EACH bead:

### Start Bead
1. mcp__mcp_agent_mail__register_agent with name="BlueLake", task_description="<bead-id>"
2. mcp__mcp_agent_mail__summarize_thread with thread_id="track:BlueLake:bd-42"
3. mcp__mcp_agent_mail__file_reservation_paths with paths=["packages/sdk/**"], reason="<bead-id>"
4. Run: bd update <bead-id> --status in_progress

### Work on Bead
- Use preferred tools from AGENTS.md (gkg for exploration, morph for edits)
- Check inbox periodically with mcp__mcp_agent_mail__fetch_inbox

### Complete Bead
1. Run: bd close <bead-id> --reason "Summary of work"
2. mcp__mcp_agent_mail__send_message:
   - to: ["GoldFox"]
   - thread_id: "bd-42"
   - subject: "[<bead-id>] COMPLETE"
   - body_md: "Done: <summary>. Next: <next-bead-id>"
3. mcp__mcp_agent_mail__send_message (context for next bead):
   - to: ["BlueLake"]
   - thread_id: "track:BlueLake:bd-42"
   - subject: "<bead-id> Complete - Context for next"
   - body_md: "## Learnings\n- ...\n## Gotchas\n- ..."
4. mcp__mcp_agent_mail__release_file_reservations

### Continue to Next Bead
- Loop back to "Start Bead" with next bead in track
- Read your track thread for context from previous bead

## When Track Complete
mcp__mcp_agent_mail__send_message:
- to: ["GoldFox"]
- thread_id: "bd-42"
- subject: "[Track 1] COMPLETE"
- body_md: "All beads done. Summary: ..."

Return a summary of all work completed.

Phase 4: Monitor Progress

While workers execute, monitor via Agent Mail.

Check Epic Thread for Updates

Tool: mcp__mcp_agent_mail__search_messages

Check for Blockers

Tool: mcp__mcp_agent_mail__fetch_inbox

Check Bead Status

bv --robot-triage --graph-root <epic-id> 2>/dev/null | jq '.quick_ref'

Phase 5: Handle Cross-Track Issues

If Worker Reports Blocker

Tool: mcp__mcp_agent_mail__reply_message

If File Conflict

Tool: mcp__mcp_agent_mail__send_message

Phase 6: Epic Completion

When all workers report track complete:

Verify All Done

bv --robot-triage --graph-root <epic-id> 2>/dev/null | jq '.quick_ref.open_count'
# Should be 0

Send Completion Summary

Tool: mcp__mcp_agent_mail__send_message

## Epic Complete: <title>

### Track Summaries

- Track 1 (BlueLake): <summary>
- Track 2 (GreenCastle): <summary>
- Track 3 (RedStone): <summary>

### Deliverables

- <what was built>

### Learnings

- <key insights>

Close Epic

bd close <epic-id> --reason "All tracks complete"

Quick Reference

Additional Resources

• Worker Prompt Template: See reference/worker-template.md for the full template with variable substitution