shared

name	shared
description	Run shared.

Shared References

This directory contains shared reference documents used by multiple skills:

• validation-contract.md - Verification requirements for accepting spawned work
• references/backend-codex-subagents.md - Concrete examples for Codex session agents
• references/backend-background-tasks.md - Fallback: background shell tasks
• references/backend-inline.md - Degraded single-agent mode (no spawn)
• references/codex-cli-verified-commands.md - Verified Codex CLI command shapes and caveats
• references/cli-command-failures-2026-02-26.md - Dated failure log and mitigations from live runs
• references/content-hash-cache.md - SHA-256 content-based caching for file processing
• references/compaction-signals.md - Tool-call-based strategic compaction signals

These are not directly invocable skills. They are loaded by other skills (council, crank, swarm, research, implement) when needed.

CLI Availability Pattern

All skills that reference external CLIs MUST degrade gracefully when those CLIs are absent.

Check Pattern

# Before using any external CLI, check availability
if command -v bd &>/dev/null; then
  # Full behavior with bd
else
  echo "Note: bd CLI not installed. Using plain text tracking."
fi

Fallback Table

Capability	When Missing	Fallback Behavior
ao	Knowledge flywheel unavailable	Write learnings to .agents/learnings/ directly. Skip flywheel metrics
gt	Workspace management unavailable	Work in current directory. Skip convoy/sling operations
codex	CLI missing or model unavailable	Fall back to runtime-native agents. Council pre-flight checks CLI presence (which codex) and model availability for --mixed mode.
cass	Session search unavailable	Skip transcript search. Note "install cass for session history"

Required Multi-Agent Capabilities

Council, swarm, and crank require a runtime that provides these capabilities. If a capability is missing, the corresponding feature degrades.

Capability	What it does	If missing
Spawn subagent	Create a parallel agent with a prompt	Cannot run multi-agent. Fall back to --quick (inline single-agent).
Agent-to-agent messaging	Send a message to a specific agent	No follow-up round. Workers run fire-and-forget.
Broadcast	Message all agents at once	Per-agent messaging fallback.
Graceful shutdown	Request an agent to terminate	Agents terminate on their own when done.
Shared task list	Agents see shared work state	Lead tracks manually.

Every runtime maps these capabilities to its own API. Skills describe WHAT to do, not WHICH tool to call.

After detecting your backend (see Backend Detection below), load the matching reference for concrete tool call examples:

Backend	Reference
Codex session agents	references/backend-codex-subagents.md
Background Tasks (fallback)	references/backend-background-tasks.md
Inline (no spawn)	references/backend-inline.md

Backend Detection

Use capability detection at runtime, not hardcoded tool names. The same skill must work across any agent harness that provides multi-agent primitives. If no multi-agent capability is detected, degrade to single-agent inline mode (--quick).

Selection policy (runtime-native first):

1. If running in a Codex session and spawn_agent is available, use Codex session agents as the primary backend.
2. If both are technically available, pick the backend native to the current runtime unless the user explicitly requests mixed/cross-vendor execution.
3. Only use background tasks when neither native backend is available.

Operation	Codex Session Agents	OpenCode Subagents	Inline Fallback
Spawn (read-only)	spawn_agent(message=...)	Read-only subagent prompt	Execute inline
Follow-up	send_input(target=..., message=...)	not supported	N/A
Wait	wait_agent(targets=[...])	Read-only task polling	N/A
Cleanup	close_agent(target=...)	not supported	N/A

OpenCode limitations:

• No inter-agent messaging — workers run as independent sub-sessions
• No follow-up mode — requires messaging between judges
• --quick (inline) mode works identically across all backends

Backend Capabilities Matrix

Prefer native teams over background tasks. Native teams provide messaging, redirect, and graceful shutdown. Background tasks are fire-and-forget with no steering.

Capability	Codex Session Agents	Background Tasks
File conflict prevention	Manual git worktree routing or native isolation: worktree + lead-only commits	None
Process isolation	YES (sub-process)	Shared worktree

Skill Invocation Across Runtimes

Skills that chain to other skills (e.g., $rpi calls $research, $validate calls $council) MUST handle runtime differences:

Runtime	Tool	Behavior	Pattern
Codex	$X ...	Executable — skill runs as a sub-invocation	$council --quick validate recent
Codex	N/A	Skills not available — inline the logic or skip	Check if spawn_agent exists before delegating
OpenCode	skill tool (read-only)	Load-only — returns <skill_content> blocks into context	Call skill(skill="council"), then follow the loaded instructions inline

OpenCode skill chaining rules:

1. Call the skill tool to load the target skill's content into context
2. Read and follow the loaded instructions directly — do NOT expect automatic execution
3. NEVER use slashcommand syntax (e.g., $council) in OpenCode — it triggers a command lookup, not skill loading
4. If the loaded skill references tools by Codex names, use OpenCode equivalents (see tool mapping below)

Cross-runtime tool mapping:

Codex	OpenCode	Notes
spawn_agent	Read-only subagent prompt	Same semantic role, different surface
wait_agent	Read-only task polling	Wait for completion
send_input	not available	Use a fresh task instead
close_agent	not available	Let the task exit
$X	skill tool (read-only)	Load content, then follow inline
Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, Grep	Same names	Identical across runtimes

Rules

1. Never crash — missing CLI = skip or fallback, not error
2. Always inform — tell the user what was skipped and how to enable it
3. Preserve core function — the skill's primary purpose must still work without optional CLIs
4. Progressive enhancement — CLIs add capabilities, their absence removes them cleanly

Reference Documents

• references/backend-background-tasks.md
• references/backend-codex-subagents.md
• references/backend-inline.md
• references/codex-cli-verified-commands.md
• references/cli-command-failures-2026-02-26.md
• references/ralph-loop-contract.md
• references/orchestration-as-prompt.md
• references/strict-delegation-contract.md — canonical contract loaded by $rpi, $discovery, $validate: strict sub-skill delegation is the default for top-level orchestrators.

Local Resources

references/

• references/backend-background-tasks.md
• references/backend-codex-subagents.md
• references/backend-inline.md
• references/cli-command-failures-2026-02-26.md
• references/codex-cli-verified-commands.md
• references/ralph-loop-contract.md

scripts/

• scripts/validate.sh