converge-control

name

converge-control

description

Operate a Converge playbook end-to-end — start runs, monitor progress, narrow failures with `--select`, inspect runtime state, validate definitions, surgically reset subtrees, and stop stuck or orphaned runs. Use this skill whenever the user says "run my playbook", "execute this", "monitor the run", "converge failed", "the run is stuck", "retry failures", "babysit this playbook", "what's the status?", "show me the gantt", or asks how to use `converge run` / `--select` / `inspect` / `doctor` / `clean` / `stop`. Also use it for `HTTP 401` / `Invalid API key` failures on the first task — those are environment-not-playbook problems — and for any post-run cleanup work. Hand off to `converge-planning` if the user wants to design or restructure the playbook itself.

Converge Control

When to use this skill

Trigger this skill whenever the user is operating an existing playbook — not authoring a new one. Concrete signals:

• A .converge/project.yaml + playbooks/<name>/ already exist; the user wants the playbook to actually run, or wants to know what happened on the last run.
• The user reports a failure mid-run, a stuck task, an error in the journal, or wants to retry only what failed.
• The user asks operational questions: what's running right now?, which tasks are blocked?, what did task X produce?, how much did the last run cost?, how do I re-run just the failures?
• The user hits HTTP 401 / Invalid API key — that's an environment conflict between shell ANTHROPIC_* vars and the project's provider config, not a playbook bug. See entry §13 in troubleshooting/playbook.md.

If the user wants to design a new playbook, change its task tree, or factor reusable instructions into skills, hand off to converge-planning. This skill only operates what already exists.

Current mental model

Converge has three important layers:

1. Source blueprint — .converge/playbooks/<name>/
   • playbook.yml — the manifest (top-level tasks, depends_on, goals).
   • tasks/**/TASK.md — task contracts (id, inputs, outputs, checks).
   • templates/<name>/TASK.md — runtime spawn templates for dynamic children.
   • skills/<name>/SKILL.md — playbook-scoped skills (the how paired with each task's what). Also searched at .claude/skills/ (project-scoped) and .codex/skills/.
   • scripts/ — orchestration helpers invoked from task bodies (e.g., to compute converge spawn calls from a catalog).
2. Runtime state — .converge/journal/<playbook>/, .converge/inventory/<playbook>/ Execution state, event stream, per-task forensics, and the spawned-task ledger.
3. Operator surface — the CLI run, status, list, show, inspect, doctor, playbook validate, tasks mark, skills list, clean, stop.

The playbook is the source of truth. Do not hand-edit runstate.json, manifest.json, or journal files to "fix" a run.

Three-layer task model

When interpreting failures or proposing fixes, remember each task carries content across three layers — different problems live in different layers:

• TASK.md frontmatter — the contract (id, inputs, outputs, checks, depends_on). Failures here look like dependency cycles, missing-input gaps, check-syntax errors. Fix the frontmatter.
• TASK.md body — the subjective + context for this invocation (which name, which path, which catalog row). Failures here look like a wrong-but-runnable result on this specific input. Fix the body's specifics or the project data the body reads.
• SKILL.md — the general how-to the task references via skills: [<name>]. Failures here look like the same wrong-result shape across many tasks that share the skill. Fix the skill body once, not each task.

If three tasks fail the same way and they all share skills: [X], the bug is in skill X, not in the tasks.

The per-task execution dir ($CONVERGE_TASK_DIR)

Every task gets a stable directory the runtime sets before the body runs:

.converge/journal/<playbook>/tasks/<task-id>/exec/

Exposed as $CONVERGE_TASK_DIR to the body. Bodies write evidence there; the framework reads from there. When a task misbehaves, this is the first place to look.

File	What it means
spawn/<id>/	Framework-managed per-child directory. STATUS.md is the single AI-facing transparency surface; EXPANDED.md is the framework-rendered template.
spawn/STATUS.md	The single AI-facing transparency surface. One - [x] / - [ ] row per child invocation. Failed rows carry a fix: block.
spawn.plan.jsonl	(Legacy) the JSONL manifest path. Body authoring rejected with SPAWN_MANIFEST_AUTHORED_BY_BODY for new-surface playbooks. Old playbooks that haven't migrated still write here.
spawn.plan.result.jsonl	(Legacy) per-row outcome of the legacy converge apply.
wave.counter	Current wave number for mode: converger tasks. Persists across re-leases so wave state survives crashes.
halt.marker	The body's explicit "I'm done" signal for a converger. Highest-priority halt signal — overrides halt_when: and wave_check:.
mode-violation.json	RFC 0022 contract violation evidence. Read this first when a parent reports FRONTIER_UNRESOLVED or refuses to converge. Contains errorCode, declaredMode, message, fixHint.

The directory persists across attempts on purpose — a crashed body's partial invocations survive into the next attempt's repair. See reference/events.md for the matching event-stream interpretation (e.g., SEED_SPAWN, FRONTIER_UNRESOLVED).

Primary workflow

Use this loop unless a narrower recipe in troubleshooting/playbook.md fits exactly.

1. Preflight the playbook

Validate the definition before running:

converge playbook validate <name>

If the user is editing tasks live and wants a pure preview of what would execute:

converge run --playbook=<name> --dry

Use --dry instead of teaching an explicit compile-first workflow by default. compile still exists as a compatibility command, but the modern operator path is run --dry.

2. Start the run

converge run --playbook=<name>

Common narrowed runs:

# Only changed work and downstream
converge run --playbook=<name> --select 'state:modified+'

# Retry failures and their downstream consumers
converge run --playbook=<name> --select 'result:error+'

# One task / subtree
converge run --playbook=<name> --select '03-build+'

# Fail fast when debugging one subtree
converge run --playbook=<name> --select '03-build+' --fail-fast

3. Watch the run

Primary operator views:

converge status --playbook=<name>
converge list --playbook=<name> --exclude 'status:complete'
converge show gantt --playbook=<name>
converge show graph --playbook=<name> --detail

Raw event stream:

tail -f .converge/journal/<playbook>/events.jsonl
tail -f .converge/journal/<playbook>/events.jsonl | grep -E '(NODE_COMPLETE|NODE_FAIL|CHECK_FAIL|ERROR|CYCLE)'

4. If the run fails

First classify whether the problem is:

• definition-shape → converge playbook validate <name>
• runtime-shape → converge doctor --playbook=<name>
• task / check-shape → converge inspect --playbook=<name> --task=<id>
• selection / graph-shape → converge list --playbook=<name> --select ... or converge show graph

Then use the smallest surgical next step:

# Inspect one failed task
converge inspect --playbook=<name> --task=<taskId>

# Health-check the runtime state
converge doctor --playbook=<name>

# Reset only the failed subtree
converge clean --playbook=<name> --select '<taskId>+'

# Re-run just failures
converge run --playbook=<name> --select 'result:error+'

5. If the run is stuck or orphaned

# Stop the live process and release the lock
converge stop --playbook=<name>

If a single dynamic-container task is wedged in a continue-loop and the operator (with the user's consent) wants to retire it manually:

# Mark one task done / dropped / blocked so the parent stops re-spawning
converge tasks mark <taskId> --playbook=<name> --status done
converge tasks mark <taskId> --playbook=<name> --status dropped --reasoning "user opted out"

Then restart with a narrowed selection if possible.

6. If the first task fails with Invalid API key / HTTP 401

This is almost always environment, not the playbook. The spawned agent CLI (claude, codex) inherits ANTHROPIC_* / OPENAI_* env vars from the shell, and a stale value from a previous proxy setup will override the project's .converge/project.yaml env block.

env | grep -E 'ANTHROPIC_|OPENAI_|CLAUDE_'
# Reconcile against .converge/project.yaml's provider env:
cat .converge/project.yaml | grep -A20 'ai:'
# If the shell vars conflict with what project.yaml expects, unset them
# (or re-export to match) before re-running.

See troubleshooting/playbook.md §13 for the full recipe.

Preferred command set

Use these first. They reflect the actual CLI surface and current docs.

# Run
converge run --playbook=<name>

# Preview
converge run --playbook=<name> --dry

# Current status tree
converge status --playbook=<name>

# Selection-aware listing
converge list --playbook=<name> --exclude 'status:complete'

# Graph / gantt / metrics / journal views
converge show graph --playbook=<name> --detail
converge show gantt --playbook=<name>
converge show metrics --playbook=<name> --by-model --top=5

# Forensics
converge inspect --playbook=<name> --task=<taskId>

# Definition health
converge playbook validate <name>

# Runtime health
converge doctor --playbook=<name>

# Surgical cleanup
converge clean --playbook=<name> --select '<taskId>+'

# Stop a live / stale run
converge stop --playbook=<name>

# Mark a task done/dropped/blocked (use sparingly — prefer fixing the cause)
converge tasks mark <taskId> --playbook=<name> --status done

# List installed skills (project-scoped + bundled)
converge skills list

# Goal progress (for goal-driven epoch playbooks)
converge goals --playbook=<name>

When to use compatibility commands

These still exist, but they are not the first teaching surface:

• converge compile → compatibility / low-level preview path
• converge build → run --fail-fast
• converge retry → run --resume
• converge test → checks-only execution

Use them when the user explicitly asks for them or when a fixture / test / older note already uses them.

Hard rules

• Prefer run --dry over teaching compile first.
• Always scope with --playbook=<name> when more than one playbook exists.
• Use doctor for runtime-health questions.
• Use playbook validate for definition-health questions.
• Use inspect --task=<id> before proposing a novel fix.
• Use clean --select instead of deleting .converge/journal/ or .converge/inventory/ by hand.
• Use stop instead of ad-hoc pkill when possible.
• Do not edit generated runtime state. Fix the playbook source or the project inputs.
• If the failure is in user domain code or missing credentials, surface it clearly instead of inventing framework fixes.
• HTTP 401 / "Invalid API key" on the first task is environment, not the playbook. Check env | grep ANTHROPIC_ and reconcile against .converge/project.yaml's ai.providers.<name>.env block before touching the playbook itself.
• --backend and --provider are init-time flags, not run-time flags. Don't pass them to converge run. To change provider routing, edit .converge/project.yaml (or re-run converge init --force --backend=… --provider=…).
• When playbook state is out of sync (0 DAG nodes, orphaned spawned tasks, stale "doing" status), use the manual recovery workflow. See troubleshooting entry #14 in troubleshooting/playbook.md.
• Step-through execution: use run --select to run one task or subset at a time, tasks mark to correct individual status, and clean --select to wipe specific broken subtrees. Rebuild incrementally.

Manual recovery workflow

When a playbook's runtime state is out of sync with reality (orphaned spawned tasks, stale statuses, missing DAG nodes), follow this three-layer approach:

1. Audit — converge doctor, converge playbook validate, compare converge list vs converge tasks list counts
2. Repair — converge reset <name> --yes (nuclear) or converge clean --select=X --yes (surgical) or converge tasks mark X --status done/dropped/todo (manual correction)
3. Step-through — converge run --select=02-spawn → verify → converge run --select="screen-chat-*" → verify → converge run (full)

Full recipe with troubleshooting fingerprints: see troubleshooting/playbook.md entry #14.

Hand-off rules

Situation	Hand off to
User wants to design or restructure a playbook	converge-planning
User wants to debug framework code under packages/	converge-development
Failure is novel and crosses framework/runtime boundaries	user escalation with evidence

File map

SKILL.md
reference/
  cli.md
  events.md
troubleshooting/
  playbook.md

Load reference/cli.md for concrete command patterns, reference/events.md for event interpretation, and troubleshooting/playbook.md only when a concrete failure fingerprint matches.