afx

name

afx

description

Agent Farm CLI — the tool for spawning builders, managing Tower, workspaces, and cron tasks. ALWAYS consult this skill BEFORE running any `afx` command to get the exact syntax. This prevents wasting time guessing flags that don't exist. Use this whenever you need to spawn a builder, check status, send messages, clean up worktrees, manage Tower, or run cron tasks. If you're about to type `afx` followed by anything, check here first.

Agent Farm CLI

afx spawn

Spawns a new builder in an isolated git worktree.

afx spawn [number] [options]

The ONLY flags that exist:

Flag	Description
--protocol <name>	Protocol: spir, aspir, air, bugfix, tick, maintain, experiment. Required for numbered spawns.
--task <text>	Ad-hoc task (no issue number needed)
--shell	Bare Claude session
--worktree	Bare worktree session
--amends <number>	Original spec number (TICK only)
--files <files>	Context files, comma-separated. Requires --task.
--no-comment	Skip commenting on the GitHub issue
--force	Skip dirty-worktree and collision checks
--soft	Soft mode (AI follows protocol, you verify)
--strict	Strict mode (porch orchestrates) — this is the default
--resume	Resume builder in existing worktree
--no-role	Skip loading role prompt

There is NO -t, --title, --name, or --branch flag. The branch name is auto-generated from the issue title.

Examples:

afx spawn 42 --protocol spir           # SPIR builder for issue #42
afx spawn 42 --protocol aspir          # ASPIR (autonomous, no human gates)
afx spawn 42 --protocol air            # AIR (small features)
afx spawn 42 --protocol bugfix         # Bugfix
afx spawn 42 --protocol tick --amends 30  # TICK amendment to spec 30
afx spawn 42 --protocol spir --soft    # Soft mode
afx spawn 42 --resume                  # Resume existing builder
afx spawn --task "fix the flaky test"  # Ad-hoc task (no issue)
afx spawn 42 --protocol spir --force   # Skip dirty-worktree check

Pre-spawn checklist:

1. git status — worktree must be clean (or use --force)
2. Commit specs/plans first — builders branch from HEAD and can't see uncommitted files
3. --protocol is required for numbered spawns

afx send

Sends a message to a running builder.

afx send [builder] [message]

Flag	Description
--all	Send to all builders
--file <path>	Include file content
--interrupt	Send Ctrl+C first
--raw	Skip structured formatting
--no-enter	Don't press Enter after message

afx send 0042 "PR approved, please merge"
afx send 0585 "check the test output" --file /tmp/test-results.txt

Addressing forms — the recipient isn't only a builder ID:

Form	Routes to
afx send 0585 "…"	Builder 0585 (zero-padded).
afx send architect "…"	From a builder: its spawning architect. From an architect: the main architect (else first registered).
afx send architect:<name> "…"	A specific named architect (sibling-architect messaging). Architects can address any architect; a builder may only use its own spawnedByArchitect.
afx send <workspace>:architect "…"	The architect in another workspace (cross-workspace).

afx send architect:ob-refine "PR-iter-2 feedback ready"   # sibling architect, same workspace
afx send taqwabench:architect "use porch.checks, don't fork protocol.json"  # cross-workspace

Find the exact workspace name first — guessing fails with NOT_FOUND. The name is the basename of the workspace path, which can differ from how someone refers to it. List active workspaces via the Tower API:

curl -s http://localhost:4100/api/workspaces | python3 -m json.tool   # → each .name is a valid <workspace> address

afx interrupt

Sends an ESC keystroke to a builder's PTY — the only thing that reaches it mid-turn.

afx interrupt <builder>

Flag	Description
--no-enter	Send ESC alone, without the trailing Enter

A builder chaining foreground waits inside one turn queues every afx send unread — including your order to stop. ESC ends the turn so the queue processes. Distinct from afx send --interrupt (Ctrl+C).

afx interrupt 0042
afx send 0042 "That producer died — stop waiting and report."

afx refresh

Refreshes a builder's context: save working state → /clear → re-orient. Use when a builder's context window is exhausted; afx spawn --resume reattaches the same conversation and does not give it a fresh one.

afx refresh <builder>

Flag	Description
--dry-run	Print what would be sent; write nothing to the builder
--note <text>	Extra context appended to the re-orientation
--file <path>	Append file content (48KB max, read from your filesystem)
--interrupt-first	ESC before the save request, for a builder already wedged
--mode <strict|soft>	Override mode if it cannot be detected
--timeout <seconds>	Wait for the save-state receipt (default 300)
--min-bytes <n>	Minimum state-file size to accept (default 1000)
--quiet-window <ms>	Terminal silence counting as turn-ended (default 1500)

Every gate fails safe: if the state file never arrives, carries a stale nonce, is a stub, is still being written, or the builder will not go quiet, the command aborts without clearing and exits non-zero, naming the gate. Requires a harness with in-session context clearing (Claude Code); others abort loudly.

afx reset is a deprecated alias: it still works, prints a one-line notice to stderr, and will be removed in a future release.

afx refresh 0042 --dry-run                # inspect first — touches nothing
afx refresh 0042
afx refresh 0042 --note "PR #90 merged while you were mid-phase. Rebase first."
afx refresh 0042 --interrupt-first        # builder is wedged mid-turn

afx cleanup

Removes a builder's worktree and branch after work is done.

afx cleanup [options]

Flag	Description
-p, --project <id>	Builder project ID (no leading zeros: 585 not 0585)
-i, --issue <number>	Cleanup bugfix builder by issue number
-t, --task <id>	Cleanup task builder (e.g., task-bEPd)
-f, --force	Force cleanup even if branch not merged

afx cleanup -p 585              # Clean up project 585
afx cleanup -p 585 -f           # Force (unmerged branch)

Note: afx cleanup uses plain numbers (585), not zero-padded (0585). But afx send uses zero-padded IDs (0585).

afx status

afx status                      # Show all builders and workspace status

No flags needed. Shows Tower status, workspace, and all active builders.

afx whoami

afx whoami                      # Report this terminal's identity (workspace, type, name)
afx whoami --json               # Same, as a single JSON object

Resolves identity from Tower/global.db's perspective: builder-worktree cwd match first, then the Tower-injected CODEV_ARCHITECT_NAME env var. Exits 1 with an explanation when identity cannot be determined — it never guesses and never defaults to main (issue #1094). Builders also get an architect: field naming their spawning architect when recorded. Works without Tower.

afx tower

afx tower start                 # Start Tower on port 4100
afx tower stop                  # Stop Tower
afx tower log                   # Tail Tower logs
afx tower status                # Check daemon and cloud connection status
afx tower connect               # Connect to Codev Cloud
afx tower disconnect            # Disconnect from Codev Cloud

There is NO afx tower restart — use afx tower stop && afx tower start.

afx workspace

afx workspace start             # Start workspace for current project
afx workspace stop              # Stop workspace processes

afx dash is a deprecated alias — use afx workspace instead.

afx cron

afx cron list                   # List all cron tasks
afx cron status <name>          # Check task status
afx cron run <name>             # Run immediately
afx cron enable <name>          # Enable
afx cron disable <name>         # Disable

There is NO afx cron add — create YAML files in .af-cron/ directly:

name: Service Health Check      # required, unique per workspace
schedule: "*/15 * * * *"        # required, cron expression (or @hourly/@daily/@startup)
command: ./health-check.sh      # required, run via shell
message: "Health alert: ${output}"  # required, ${output} = trimmed command output
condition: "exitCode != 0"      # optional JS expression, see below
target: architect               # optional, default architect
timeout: 30                     # optional, seconds, default 30
enabled: true                   # optional, default true

condition is a JavaScript expression with two variables in scope: output (string — the command's trimmed output) and exitCode (number — 0 on success, the command's exit code on non-zero exit, 124 on timeout, -1 on spawn failure). With a condition, the message is delivered exactly when it evaluates truthy — including on failed runs (e.g. exitCode != 0 alerts when the command fails). Without a condition, the message is delivered only when the command exits 0.

Other commands

afx open <file>                 # Open file in annotation viewer (NOT system open)
afx shell                       # Spawn utility shell
afx attach                      # Attach to running builder terminal
afx rename <name>               # Rename current shell session
afx architect                   # Start architect session in current terminal