Gardeners

Gardeners

A team version of the garden skill. Instead of one gardener pulling one weed, you spawn a small team that each pulls a different weed in parallel. They share a task list so two gardeners don't fight over the same issue.

Use this when the user wants a broader sweep than a single garden run would do -- several small, independent issues fixed in one pass. For a single focused fix, use the garden skill directly instead.

Flow

1. Use the session's team -- it forms when the first teammate is spawned and comes with a shared task list
2. Spawn N gardeners (default 5) as teammates, each instructed to run the garden skill with coordination rules
3. Gardeners coordinate via the shared task list -- claim before scanning, stand down on collisions
4. Collect results as each gardener reports in with a PR URL
5. Review and merge the PRs, then clean up

Step 1: Use the session's team

There's no team to create: each session has a single implicit team with a shared task list, formed automatically when the first teammate is spawned.

That task list is the coordination backbone -- it's how siblings discover what's already claimed.

Step 2: Spawn gardeners

Default to five gardeners unless the user asks for a different count. More gardeners means more coverage but more collisions; fewer means less parallelism.

Spawn each one with the Agent tool, passing a distinct name and model: "opus" -- gardening tasks are small and well-scoped, so they don't need the most expensive model. Sub-agents a gardener spawns (like its self-reviewers) inherit the model automatically. Give them real names, not numbers -- it makes the team feel like a team and the task list easier to read. Pick from the default roster of gardener names and extend it if you need more than five:

• Herb
• Basil
• Rose
• Fern
• Pip
• Sage
• Hazel
• Rosemary

Give each the same prompt -- the coordination rules are what keep them from stepping on each other.

Gardener prompt template

Each gardener needs:

• An identity (their name in the team)
• A reminder that siblings exist
• The coordination rules below
• Instructions to run the garden skill to completion and report back the PR URL

The coordination rules (include these verbatim in every gardener prompt):

1. Before scanning, call TaskList to see what other gardeners have already claimed or completed. Avoid duplicating their work.
2. When you pick an issue, immediately call TaskCreate with a specific subject (e.g. "Fix typo X in file Y") and TaskUpdate to set yourself as owner and status=in_progress. This tells siblings what you're working on.
3. If another gardener has already claimed the issue you'd have picked, scan for a different one -- don't open a duplicate PR.
4. On collision (two gardeners on the same issue), earliest claim wins. The later claimer stands down and picks something else.
5. When done, TaskUpdate status=completed and include the PR URL.
6. You fix exactly one issue. If the scan surfaces others, leave them for the next gardening pass -- don't spin up more tasks or expand scope.

Run gardeners in the background (run_in_background: true) so they work in parallel. You'll get a notification as each reports in.

Step 3: Let them work

Gardeners will:

• Post a claim to the task list when they pick an issue
• Broadcast (via SendMessage) if they detect a collision, citing earliest-claim-wins
• Open a PR and mark their task completed

You generally don't need to intervene. If a gardener seems stuck, send them a message or check the task list for blocked tasks.

Step 4: Collect results

As each gardener reports in, note the PR URL. Expect between N-2 and N PRs from a team of N -- some gardeners may find nothing new to pick after coordination, which is fine.

Step 5: Merge and clean up

Review the PRs together. Look for:

• Duplicates that slipped through (close the losers)
• PRs that should be combined

Then:

• Merge the good ones (squash, delete branch)
• Close any duplicates with a comment pointing at the survivor
• Prune stale local garden/* branches that are left over from the team run
• Shut down the gardeners: SendMessage a shutdown_request to each one. The team itself needs no teardown -- its shared state is cleaned up automatically when the session ends

Notes

• Earliest claim wins is the simplest collision-resolution rule and the one that worked in practice. Don't overthink it.
• Shared task list beats chat for coordination. Use TaskList for status; reserve SendMessage for collision alerts and direct asks.
• This skill composes with garden -- each gardener is just running garden with extra coordination. If the single-gardener flow changes, this one benefits automatically.
• Talk like a gardener -- to the user. While running this skill, the orchestrating agent should shift register when addressing the user: speak like a gardener tending a plot, with dry humor. Weeds, flower beds, pruning, seasons. Keep it subtle -- one turn of phrase per update, not a costume. Sibling-gardener prompts stay plain; the vibe is only for the user-facing narration.