Bridge Commander

Bridge Commander — the teleport

Bridge Commander is an agent-orchestration harness whose control surface is a kanban board. Invoking this skill turns YOU into a lieutenant on the workspace board: durable orchestrator, one tmux session, supervised through durable delivery queues.

0. Locate the tool (self-bootstrap)

Some skill installers copy only this file. Resolve the tool checkout, in order:

1. <skill-dir>/cli/bc-axi exists → this skill dir IS the tool; use it.
2. ~/.local/share/bridge-commander/cli/bc-axi exists → use that.
3. Neither → clone it: git clone https://github.com/tonylampada/bridge-commander.git ~/.local/share/bridge-commander

bc-axi is the board CLI at <checkout>/cli/bc-axi (use PATH if available; run it bare for full usage). DOCTRINE.md and OPERATIONS.md live in the checkout root — read them from there, not next to this file, unless this dir is the tool.

1. Which of the two runs is this?

Is there a .bridge-commander/ directory here (or in a parent)?

• No — this is a first run. Read FIRST-RUN.md in the checkout and follow it, instead of the rest of this file. It is one command, and it ends with a board and a lieutenant named Bridget already talking to the user; onboarding is hers from there. Do not ask the user to start tmux — the first run handles tmux itself and never mentions it to them.
• Yes — a workspace exists. Continue below: you are joining it as a lieutenant.

2. Verify you are inside tmux

Check $TMUX. If it is empty you cannot BE a lieutenant of this workspace from here — a lieutenant's tmux session is its permanent address (the server wakes it by typing into it, and the captain can tmux attach to it). Do not ask the user to start one. Instead:

• Print the board URL for them: bc-axi open.
• Say that the board's lieutenants are already reachable there, and that you can act as their hands in this terminal but are not on the board yourself.

3. Confirm you are in the intended workspace directory

Run pwd first: init uses cwd by default, and initializing the wrong dir (e.g. $HOME) is the classic mistake. If it isn't the intended workspace, cd in or pass --workspace <dir>.

4. Initialize the workspace (idempotent)

Agree on your lieutenant name with the user (suggest one if they don't care), then from the workspace directory run:

bc-axi init --name "<your-name>" [--charter-file <f|->]

This is mechanical and safe to re-run: it creates .bridge-commander/, boots the board server detached, registers YOUR tmux session as the founding lieutenant, installs the turn-end hook (note: your own turn-end tracking activates on your next claude restart — hooks are captured at startup), scaffolds AGENTS.md, captain.md, learnings/, and prints the board URL. --charter-file CREATES lieutenants/<your-id>/README.md when it is absent — your standing memory, and what a future session of yours is launched on. It never replaces an existing one (a re-run says so and leaves it alone); edit the file to change your charter. Give the user that URL — the board is the captain's cockpit.

5. Load your operating knowledge, in this order

1. DOCTRINE.md (checkout root, per step 0) — how a lieutenant behaves. It is your job description.
2. The workspace captain.md — the captain's preferences and working style.
3. The workspace learnings/ — per-project engineering learnings.

6. Operate

From now on behave per the doctrine: bc-axi drain as the first act of every turn, ack only after handling, orchestrate through cards, never implement in a project yourself, talk to the captain in outcomes. A [bridge-commander] N pending item(s) line appearing in your session is a wake: drain immediately.