| name | cloud-communication-protocols |
| description | Umbrella skill for cloud-bridged communication protocols between agents on different machines (Ping-Pong, agent-beam, listeners and future protocols). Use when coordinating work across machines via a shared sync folder or message yard. |
cloud-communication-protocols
Family of protocols that let two or more agents on different machines
coordinate through a shared, cloud-synchronized folder (the "yard") instead of
a direct channel. This skill is the umbrella: it collects the protocols,
names which one is proven, and gates the ones still in concept.
When to use
- Work spans two or more machines (verification, mirrored setups, pilots)
and there is no direct agent-to-agent channel.
- You need a common vocabulary for assignments, answers, cadence and
escalation across those machines.
Protocols in this family
1. Ping-Pong (proven, base protocol)
Two or more workers with offset scheduled scans bridge the cloud-sync
latency: each side scans the yard for assignments addressed to itself,
executes, leaves the answer, and may issue follow-ups for the other side.
Core rules: write only in your own slot, receipts for every action,
idempotency, no secrets in the yard (public keys/fingerprints/paths only),
cooperative error deltas, readback-over-log verification.
Cadence control is not part of the base protocol; it is provided by the
companion skill cron-tuner (self-tuning loop) and by peer-instructed
cadence signals (CADENCE: match 15m / CADENCE: pause …). A mutual WAKE:
channel allows out-of-cycle scans as a hint, never as authority.
Full specification and reference evidence:
dev-bricks/system-gap-master → docs/communications-protocols-skill.md.
2. agent-beam (concept, gated)
For urgent work: a package of prompt + starter script is placed in the
target slot, and a watcher on the target machine starts a local agent run
on it — the agent "lands" with assignment and starter and begins immediately.
Gated: requires a signed-starter trust contract, quarantine/review step and
explicit operator approval before any activation.
3. listeners / ear-to-ear-listening (concept, gated)
Watchers observe triggers in the yard (file arrivals, flag files, registry
changes) and start agents on the other machine. "Ear-to-ear": one host's
listener watches the other host's inbox.
Gated: debouncing rules, trigger whitelists per slot and a security contract
are required first.
Shared invariants (all protocols)
- The yard is transport, never a workspace and never a secret store.
- Every action leaves a verifiable receipt; "done" without an artifact is
not done.
- Failure handling is cooperative: error deltas with hypothesis and
counter-test, second opinions welcome.
- Absence of a partner is handled by the platform's vacancy rule
(e.g. 48 h), not by escalation.
Adding new protocols
New protocols join this family as a subchapter in
communications-protocols-skill.md (concept first, with its own security
contract and evidence before "proven"). List them here with one line each:
name, state (concept/pilot/proven), purpose.
