team

name	team
description	N coordinated agents on a shared task list using tmux-based crew execution
surface-class	operator
domain	creator-runtime
audience	operator
artifact-type	skill

Team Skill

$team is the tmux-based parallel crew execution mode for RCS. It starts real worker Codex and/or Claude CLI sessions in split panes and coordinates them through .rcs/state/team/... files plus CLI team interop (rcs team api ...) and state files.

This skill is operationally sensitive. Treat it as an operator workflow, not a generic prompt pattern. In Codex App or plain outside-tmux sessions, do not present $team / rcs team as directly available; launch RCS CLI from shell first, or stay on the nearest app-safe surface until the user explicitly wants the tmux runtime.

Team vs Native Subagents

• Use Codex native subagents for bounded, in-session parallelism where one leader thread can fan out a few independent subtasks and wait for them directly.
• Use rcs team when you need durable tmux workers, shared task state, mailbox/dispatch coordination, worktrees, explicit lifecycle control, or long-running parallel execution that must survive beyond one local reasoning burst.
• Native subagents can complement team/forge execution, but they do not replace the tmux team runtime's stateful coordination contract.

What This Skill Must Do

GPT-5.5 Guidance Alignment

Use the shared workflow guidance pattern: outcome-first framing, concise visible updates for multi-step work, local overrides for the active workflow branch, validation proportional to risk, explicit stop rules, and automatic continuation for safe reversible steps. Ask only for material, destructive, credentialed, external-production, or preference-dependent branches.

When user triggers $team, the agent must:

1. Invoke RCS runtime directly with rcs team ...
2. Avoid replacing the flow with in-process spawn_agent fanout
3. Verify startup and surface concrete state/pane evidence
4. If active team mode state is missing, initialize/sync it from canonical team runtime state before proceeding
5. Keep team state alive until workers are terminal (unless explicit abort)
6. Handle cleanup and stale-pane recovery when needed

If rcs team is unavailable, stop with a hard error.

Invocation Contract

rcs team [N:agent-type] "<task description>"

Examples:

rcs team 3:executor "analyze feature X and report flaws"
rcs team "debug flaky integration tests"
rcs team "ship end-to-end fix with verification"

Team-first launch contract

rcs team ... is now the canonical launch path for coordinated execution. Team mode should carry its own parallel delivery + verification lanes without requiring a separate linked Forge launch up front.

• Canonical launch: use plain rcs team ... / $team ... for coordinated workers.
• Verification ownership: keep one lane focused on tests, regression coverage, and evidence before shutdown.
• Escalation: start a separate rcs forge ... / $forge ... only when a later manual follow-up still needs a persistent single-owner fix/verification loop.

Claude teammates (v0.6.0+)

Important: N:agent-type (for example 2:executor) selects the worker role prompt, not the worker CLI (codex vs claude).

To launch Claude teammates, use the team worker CLI env vars:

# Force all teammates to Claude CLI
RCS_TEAM_WORKER_CLI=claude rcs team 2:executor "update docs and report"

# Mixed team (worker 1 = Codex, worker 2 = Claude)
RCS_TEAM_WORKER_CLI_MAP=codex,claude rcs team 2:executor "split doc/code tasks"

# Auto mode: Claude is selected when worker launch args/model contains 'claude'
RCS_TEAM_WORKER_CLI=auto RCS_TEAM_WORKER_LAUNCH_ARGS="--model claude-..." rcs team 2:executor "run mixed validation"

Preconditions

Before running $team, confirm:

1. tmux installed (tmux -V)
2. Current leader session is inside tmux ($TMUX is set)
3. rcs command resolves to the intended install/build
4. If running repo-local node bin/rcs.js ..., run npm run build after src changes
5. Check HUD pane count in the leader window and avoid duplicate hud --watch panes before split

Suggested preflight:

tmux list-panes -F '#{pane_id}\t#{pane_start_command}' | rg 'hud --watch' || true

If duplicates exist, remove extras before rcs team to prevent HUD ending up in worker stack.

Pre-context Intake Gate

Before launching rcs team, require a grounded context snapshot:

1. Derive a task slug from the request.
2. Reuse the latest relevant snapshot in .rcs/context/{slug}-*.md when available.
3. If none exists, create .rcs/context/{slug}-{timestamp}.md (UTC YYYYMMDDTHHMMSSZ) with:
   • task statement
   • desired outcome
   • known facts/evidence
   • constraints
   • unknowns/open questions
   • likely codebase touchpoints
4. If ambiguity remains high, run explore first for brownfield facts, then run $deep-interview --quick <task> before team launch.
5. If current correctness depends on official docs, version-aware framework guidance, best practices, or external dependency behavior, auto-delegate researcher as an evidence lane before or alongside worker launch instead of relying on repo-local recall alone.

Do not start worker panes until this gate is satisfied; if forced to proceed quickly, state explicit scope/risk limitations in the launch report.

For simple read-only brownfield lookups during intake, follow active session guidance: when USE_RCS_EXPLORE_CMD is enabled, prefer rcs explore with narrow, concrete prompts; otherwise use the richer normal explore path and fall back normally if rcs explore is unavailable.

Follow-up Staffing Contract

When $team is used as a follow-up mode from blueprint, carry forward the approved plan's explicit available-agent-types roster and convert it into concrete staffing guidance before launch:

• keep worker-role choices inside the known roster
• state the recommended headcount and role counts
• state the suggested reasoning level for each lane when available
• explain why each lane exists (delivery, verification, specialist support)
• include an explicit launch hint (rcs team N "<task>" / $team N "<task>") for the coordinated team run; mention a later separate Forge follow-up only when genuinely needed
• if the ideal role is unavailable, choose the closest role from the roster and say so

Current Runtime Behavior (As Implemented)

rcs team currently performs:

1. Parse args (N, agent-type, task)
2. Sanitize team name from task text
3. Initialize team state:
   • .rcs/state/team/<team>/config.json
   • .rcs/state/team/<team>/manifest.v2.json
   • .rcs/state/team/<team>/tasks/task-<id>.json
4. Compose team-scoped worker instructions file at:
   • .rcs/state/team/<team>/worker-agents.md
   • Uses project AGENTS.md content (if present) + worker overlay, without mutating project AGENTS.md
5. Resolve canonical shared state root from leader cwd (<leader-cwd>/.rcs/state)
6. Split current tmux window into worker panes
7. Launch workers with:
   • RCS_TEAM_WORKER=<team>/worker-<n>
   • RCS_TEAM_STATE_ROOT=<leader-cwd>/.rcs/state
   • RCS_TEAM_LEADER_CWD=<leader-cwd>
   • worker CLI selected by RCS_TEAM_WORKER_CLI / RCS_TEAM_WORKER_CLI_MAP (codex or claude)
   • optional worktree metadata envs when --worktree is used
8. Wait for worker readiness (capture-pane polling)
9. Write per-worker inbox.md and trigger via tmux send-keys
10. Return control to leader; follow-up uses status / resume / shutdown

If coarse active team mode state is missing while canonical team runtime state exists, restore/sync the active team mode state before relying on hook/mode-aware behavior.

Important:

• Leader remains in existing pane
• Worker panes are independent full Codex/Claude CLI sessions
• Workers may run in separate git worktrees (rcs team --worktree[=<name>]) while sharing one team state root
• Worker ACKs go to mailbox/leader-fixed.json
• Notify hook updates worker heartbeat and nudges leader during active team mode
• Submit routing uses this CLI resolution order per worker trigger:
  1. explicit worker CLI provided by runtime state (persisted on worker identity/config),
  2. RCS_TEAM_WORKER_CLI_MAP entry for that worker index,
  3. fallback RCS_TEAM_WORKER_CLI / auto detection.
• Mixed CLI-map teams are supported for both startup and trigger submit behavior.
• Trigger submit differs by CLI:
  • Codex may use queue-first Tab on busy panes (strategy-dependent).
  • Claude always uses direct Enter-only (C-m) rounds (never queue-first Tab).

Team worker model + thinking resolution (current contract)

Team mode resolves worker model flags from one shared launch-arg set (not per-worker model selection).

Model precedence (highest to lowest):

1. Explicit worker model in RCS_TEAM_WORKER_LAUNCH_ARGS
2. Inherited leader --model flag
3. Low-complexity default from RCS_DEFAULT_SPARK_MODEL (legacy alias: RCS_SPARK_MODEL) when 1+2 are absent and team agentType is low-complexity

Default-model rule:

• Do not assume a frontier or spark model from recency or model-family heuristics.
• Use RCS_DEFAULT_FRONTIER_MODEL for frontier-default guidance.
• Use RCS_DEFAULT_SPARK_MODEL for spark/low-complexity worker-default guidance.

Thinking-level rule (critical):

• No model-name heuristic mapping.
• Team runtime must not infer model_reasoning_effort from model-name substrings (e.g., spark, high-capability, mini).
• When the leader assigns teammate roles/tasks, RCS allocates per-worker reasoning effort dynamically from the resolved worker role (low, medium, high).
• Explicit launch args still win: if RCS_TEAM_WORKER_LAUNCH_ARGS already includes -c model_reasoning_effort=..., that explicit value overrides dynamic allocation for every worker.

Normalization requirements:

• Parse both --model <value> and --model=<value>
• Remove duplicate/conflicting model flags
• Emit exactly one final canonical flag: --model <value>
• Preserve unrelated args in worker launch config
• If explicit reasoning exists, preserve canonical -c model_reasoning_effort="<level>"; otherwise inject the worker role's default reasoning level

Required Lifecycle (Operator Contract)

Follow this exact lifecycle when running $team:

1. Start team and verify startup evidence (team line, tmux target, panes, ACK mailbox)
2. Monitor task and worker progress with runtime/state tools first (rcs team status <team>, rcs team resume <team>, mailbox/state files)
3. Wait for terminal task state before shutdown:
   • pending=0
   • in_progress=0
   • failed=0 (or explicitly acknowledged failure path)
4. Only then run rcs team shutdown <team>
5. Verify shutdown evidence and state cleanup

Do not run shutdown while workers are actively writing updates unless user explicitly requested abort/cancel. Do not treat ad-hoc pane typing as primary control flow when runtime/state evidence is available.

Active leader monitoring rule

While a team is ON/running, the leader must not go blind. Keep checking live team state until terminal completion.

Minimum acceptable loop:

sleep 30 && rcs team status <team-name>

Repeat that check while the team stays active, or use rcs team await <team-name> --timeout-ms 30000 --json when event-driven waiting is a better fit.

If the leader gets a stale/team-stalled nudge, immediately run rcs team status <team-name> before taking any manual intervention.

Message Dispatch Policy (CLI-first, state-first)

To avoid brittle behavior, message/task delivery must not be driven by ad-hoc tmux typing.

Required default path:

1. Use rcs team ... runtime lifecycle commands for crew execution.
2. Use rcs team api ... --json for mailbox/task mutations.
3. Verify delivery via mailbox/state evidence (mailbox/*.json, task status, rcs team status).

Strict rules:

• MUST NOT use direct tmux send-keys as the primary mechanism to deliver instructions/messages.
• MUST NOT spam Enter/trigger keys without first checking runtime/state evidence.
• MUST prefer durable state writes + runtime dispatch (dispatch/requests.json, mailbox, inbox).
• Direct tmux interaction is fallback-only and only after failure checks (for example worker_notify_failed:<worker>) or explicit user request (for example “press enter”).

Operational Commands

rcs team status <team-name>
rcs team resume <team-name>
rcs team shutdown <team-name>

Semantics:

• status: reads team snapshot (task counts, dead/non-reporting workers)
• resume: reconnects to live team session if present
• shutdown: graceful shutdown request, then cleanup (deletes .rcs/state/team/<team>)

Data Plane and Control Plane

Control Plane

• tmux panes/processes (RCS_TEAM_WORKER per worker)
• leader notifications via tmux display-message

Data Plane

• .rcs/state/team/<team>/... files
• Team mailbox files:
• .rcs/state/team/<team>/mailbox/leader-fixed.json
• .rcs/state/team/<team>/mailbox/worker-<n>.json
• .rcs/state/team/<team>/dispatch/requests.json (durable dispatch queue; hook-preferred, fallback-aware)

Key Files

• .rcs/state/team/<team>/config.json
• .rcs/state/team/<team>/manifest.v2.json
• .rcs/state/team/<team>/tasks/task-<id>.json
• .rcs/state/team/<team>/workers/worker-<n>/identity.json
• .rcs/state/team/<team>/workers/worker-<n>/inbox.md
• .rcs/state/team/<team>/workers/worker-<n>/heartbeat.json
• .rcs/state/team/<team>/workers/worker-<n>/status.json
• .rcs/state/team-leader-nudge.json

Team Mutation Interop (CLI-first)

Use rcs team api for machine-readable mutation/reads instead of legacy team_* MCP tools.

rcs team api <operation> --input '{"team_name":"my-team",...}' --json

Examples:

rcs team api send-message --input '{"team_name":"my-team","from_worker":"worker-1","to_worker":"leader-fixed","body":"ACK"}' --json
rcs team api claim-task --input '{"team_name":"my-team","task_id":"1","worker":"worker-1"}' --json
rcs team api transition-task-status --input '{"team_name":"my-team","task_id":"1","from":"in_progress","to":"completed","claim_token":"<token>"}' --json

--json responses include stable metadata for automation:

• schema_version
• timestamp
• command
• ok
• operation
• data or error

Team + Worker Protocol Notes

Leader-to-worker:

• Write full assignment to worker inbox.md
• Send short trigger (<200 chars) with tmux send-keys

Worker-to-leader:

• Send ACK to leader-fixed mailbox via rcs team api send-message --json
• Claim/transition/release task lifecycle via rcs team api <operation> --json

Worker commit protocol (critical for incremental integration):

• After completing task work and before reporting completion, workers MUST commit: git add -A && git commit -m "task: <task-subject>"
• This ensures changes are available for incremental integration into the leader branch
• If a worker forgets to commit, the runtime auto-commits as a fallback, but explicit commits are preferred

Task ID rule (critical):

• File path uses task-<id>.json (example task-1.json)
• MCP API task_id uses bare id (example "1", not "task-1")
• Never instruct workers to read tasks/{id}.json

Environment Knobs

Useful runtime env vars:

• RCS_TEAM_READY_TIMEOUT_MS
  • Worker readiness timeout (default 45000)
• RCS_TEAM_SKIP_READY_WAIT=1
  • Skip readiness wait (debug only)
• RCS_TEAM_AUTO_TRUST=0
  • Disable auto-advance for trust prompt (default behavior auto-advances)
• RCS_TEAM_AUTO_ACCEPT_BYPASS=0
  • Disable Claude bypass-permissions prompt auto-accept (default behavior auto-accepts 2 + Enter)
• RCS_TEAM_WORKER_LAUNCH_ARGS
  • Extra args passed to worker launch command
• RCS_TEAM_WORKER_CLI
  • Worker CLI selector: auto|codex|claude (default: auto)
  • auto chooses claude when worker --model contains claude, otherwise codex
  • In claude mode, workers launch with exactly one --dangerously-skip-permissions and ignore explicit model/config/effort launch overrides (uses default settings.json)
• RCS_TEAM_WORKER_CLI_MAP
  • Per-worker CLI selector (comma-separated auto|codex|claude)
  • Length must be 1 (broadcast) or exactly the team worker count
  • Example: RCS_TEAM_WORKER_CLI_MAP=codex,codex,claude,claude
  • When present, overrides RCS_TEAM_WORKER_CLI
• RCS_TEAM_AUTO_INTERRUPT_RETRY
  • Trigger submit fallback (default: enabled)
  • 0 disables adaptive queue->resend escalation
• RCS_TEAM_LEADER_NUDGE_MS
  • Leader nudge interval in ms (default 120000)
• RCS_TEAM_STRICT_SUBMIT=1
  • Force strict send-keys submit failure behavior

Failure Modes and Diagnosis

Operator note (important for Claude panes):

• Manual Enter injection (tmux send-keys ... C-m) can appear to "do nothing" when a worker is actively processing; Enter may be queued by the pane/task flow.
• This is not necessarily a runtime bug. Confirm worker/team state before diagnosing dispatch failure.
• Avoid repeated blind Enter spam; it can create noisy duplicate submits once the pane becomes idle.

Safe Manual Intervention (last resort)

Use only after checking rcs team status <team> and mailbox/state evidence:

1. Capture pane tail to confirm current worker state:
   • tmux capture-pane -t %<worker-pane> -p -S -120
   • If a larger-tail read or bounded summary would help, prefer explicit opt-in inspection via rcs sparkshell --tmux-pane %<worker-pane> --tail-lines 400 before improvising extra tmux commands.
2. If the pane is stuck in an interactive state, safely return to idle prompt first:
   • optional interrupt C-c or escape flow (CLI-specific) once, then re-check pane capture
3. Send one concise trigger (single line) and wait for evidence:
   • tmux send-keys -t %<worker-pane> "ack + continue current task; report status" C-m
4. Re-check:
   • pane output via capture-pane
   • mailbox updates (mailbox/leader-fixed.json or worker mailbox)
   • rcs team status <team>

worker_notify_failed:<worker>

Meaning:

• Leader wrote inbox but trigger submit path failed

Checks:

1. tmux list-panes -F '#{pane_id}\t#{pane_start_command}'
2. tmux capture-pane -t %<worker-pane> -p -S -120
3. Verify worker process alive and not stuck on trust prompt
4. Rebuild if running repo-local (npm run build)

Team starts but leader gets no ACK

Checks:

1. Worker pane capture shows inbox processing
2. .rcs/state/team/<team>/mailbox/leader-fixed.json exists
3. Worker skill loaded and rcs team api send-message --json called
4. Task-id mismatch not blocking worker flow

Worker logs rcs team api ... ENOENT (or legacy team_send_message ENOENT / team_update_task ENOENT)

Meaning:

• Team state path no longer exists while worker is still running.
• Typical cause: leader/manual flow ran rcs team shutdown <team> (or removed .rcs/state/team/<team>) before worker finished.

Checks:

1. rcs team status <team> and confirm whether tasks were still in_progress when shutdown occurred
2. Verify whether .rcs/state/team/<team>/ exists
3. Inspect worker pane tail for post-shutdown writes
4. Confirm no external cleanup (rm -rf .rcs/state/team/<team>) happened during execution

Prevention:

1. Enforce completion gate (no in-progress tasks) before shutdown
2. Use shutdown only for terminal completion or explicit abort
3. If aborting, expect late worker writes to fail and treat ENOENT as expected teardown artifact

Shutdown reports success but stale worker panes remain

Cause:

• stale pane outside config tracking or previous failed run

Fix:

• manual pane cleanup (see clean-slate commands)

Clean-Slate Recovery

Run from leader pane:

# 1) Inspect panes
tmux list-panes -F '#{pane_id}\t#{pane_current_command}\t#{pane_start_command}'

# 2) Kill stale worker panes only (examples)
tmux kill-pane -t %450
tmux kill-pane -t %451

# 3) Remove stale team state (example)
rm -rf .rcs/state/team/<team-name>

# 4) Retry
rcs team 1:executor "fresh retry"

Guidelines:

• Do not kill leader pane
• Do not kill HUD pane (rcs hud --watch) unless intentionally restarting HUD

Required Reporting During Execution

When operating this skill, provide concrete progress evidence:

1. Team started line (Team started: <name>)
2. tmux target and worker pane presence
3. leader mailbox ACK path/content check
4. status/shutdown outcomes

Do not claim success without file/pane evidence. Do not claim clean completion if shutdown occurred with in_progress>0. Use rcs sparkshell --tmux-pane ... as an explicit opt-in operator aid for pane inspection and summaries; keep raw tmux capture-pane evidence available for manual intervention and proof.

Programmatic Team Execution

Use the rcs team ... CLI as the supported team-launch surface. For automation, drive the same CLI flow from scripts or supervising agents rather than relying on a separate MCP runner.

Supported current surfaces

• rcs team ... CLI — Primary method for interactive or automated team execution. Use this when you want direct tmux-pane visibility or a scriptable launch path.
• Team state files — Inspect .rcs/state/team/<team>/ when you need status, task, or mailbox evidence after launch.

Cleanup distinction

Two cleanup paths exist and must not be confused:

• team_cleanup (state-server): Deletes team state files on disk (.rcs/state/team/<team>/). Use after a team run is fully complete.
• tmux/session cleanup: Use the documented rcs team shutdown / cleanup flow when you need to stop worker panes or clean up an interrupted run.

Automation example

1. rcs team 1:executor "fix bugs"
2. rcs team status <team-name>
3. rcs team shutdown <team-name>
4. Clean up the finished team state for <team-name>

Limitations

• Worktree provisioning requires a git repository and can fail on branch/path collisions
• send-keys interactions can be timing-sensitive under load
• stale panes from prior runs can interfere until manually cleaned

Scenario Examples

Good: The user says continue after the workflow already has a clear next step. Continue the current branch of work instead of restarting or re-asking the same question.

Good: The user changes only the output shape or downstream delivery step (for example make a PR). Preserve earlier non-conflicting workflow constraints and apply the update locally.

Bad: The user says continue, and the workflow restarts discovery or stops before the missing verification/evidence is gathered.