| name | hivemind-power-on |
| description | LOAD FIRST — session governance core. Use actual tools to discover session state, filter active/resumable sessions, query hierarchy, and aggregate cross-session data. No aspirational workflow — only real tool capabilities. |
| version | 2.2.0 |
| lineage | hivemind |
| load_priority | 1 |
| consumed-by | ["orchestrator (L0)","coordinator (L1)","conductor (L2)","meta-builder (L2)"] |
| allowed-tools | ["skill","read","grep","glob","bash","task","todowrite","session-tracker","session-hierarchy","session-context","hivemind-session-view","delegate-task","delegation-status","prompt-skim","prompt-analyze","hivemind-doc","hivemind-trajectory","hivemind-pressure"] |
Hivemind Power-On — Session Governance Core
1. Overview (30-second read)
This skill discovers which sessions are active, which can be resumed, and how to explore delegation hierarchy through actual tools. The session-tracker at .hivemind/session-tracker/ records every session that ever ran. Use the tools below to query this data — no aspirational workflows, no fake capabilities.
What this skill does NOT do: It does not auto-preserve context across restarts. It does not guarantee resume works without SDK support. It does not provide detailed session operation workflows (those belong to session-foundation).
Boundary with session-foundation: This skill governs session authority and load-first discovery. session-foundation provides detailed session workflows (discover→navigate→aggregate→act), tool reference tables, and self-correction patterns. Load session-foundation when you need step-by-step session operations.
2. Core Tools — Discovery and Navigation
Primary tools (always available)
| Tool | Purpose | Key Actions |
|---|
session-tracker | Session discovery | list-sessions, filter-sessions, search-sessions, get-status, get-summary |
session-hierarchy | Delegation structure | get-children, get-manifest (preferred), get-parent-chain, get-delegation-depth |
session-context | Cross-session aggregation | aggregate({groupBy}), find-related, cross-reference, synthesize-context |
hivemind-session-view | Unified cross-root view | get({sessionId}) — reads session data + delegations + trajectory |
delegate-task | Create child session | Dispatch subagents; stack onto existing sessions via parentSessionId |
delegation-status | Poll delegation state | status({delegationId}), list({status}) |
TBD tools (future capability reference)
These tools are catalogued but have partial or pending implementations. Use with awareness of their current state:
| Tool | Status | Future Purpose |
|---|
hivemind-trajectory | 🟡 PARTIAL (P24) | Execution trajectory inspection, checkpointing, event tracking |
hivemind-pressure | 🟡 PARTIAL (P26) | Runtime pressure classification, tool authority inspection |
For the complete tool catalog with permission levels, load tool-capability-matrix.
3. Resuming Sessions — The Truth
Context is NOT auto-preserved across restarts. Resume depends on SDK support.
The real resume workflow:
-
Discover:
session-tracker({action: "filter-sessions", status: "active"})
-
Inspect:
session-hierarchy({action: "get-manifest", sessionId: "<id>"})
-
Unified view (optional):
hivemind-session-view({action: "get", sessionId: "<id>"})
-
Attempt resume:
task({subagent_type: "<agentType>", task_id: "<sessionId>", prompt: "Continue"})
Critical caveat: Task tool resume DEPENDS ON SDK support. If the SDK does not support task_id context restoration, the resume starts a new session instead of continuing the existing one. Verify SDK version before attempting resume.
Decision Matrix: Resume vs Stack vs Create
| Situation | Approach | Tool |
|---|
| Session active, same agent type | Resume | task tool with task_id |
| Session completed, add work | Stack | task tool with task_id (preferred) or delegate-task with parentSessionId (async background only) |
| No relevant session exists | Create | task tool (PREFERRED, full control) or delegate-task (async background only) |
| Not sure if resumable | Check first | delegation-status before dispatch |
4. Jump Links — Reference Files
Read on demand, not all at once:
| # | File | Contains | Read When |
|---|
| 1 | references/01-session-tracker-anatomy.md | Full session-tracker schemas | You need data format details |
| 2 | references/02-task-tool-resume.md | Real resume workflow with step-by-step | Planning a resume |
| 3 | references/03-lineage-routing-tree.md | Lineage routing decision tree | Unsure which lineage to route to |
| 4 | references/04-project-phase-routing.md | Phase-to-specialist mapping | Dispatching a phase |
| 5 | references/05-continuity-navigation.md | Manual continuity.json navigation | Navigating data without tools |
| 6 | references/06-delegation-depth-recovery.md | Deep recovery cascade protocol | Recovering from deep delegation chain |
| 7 | references/terminology-map.md | Harness terminology (session, delegation, tool, agent) | Clarifying runtime concepts |
| 8 | references/philosophy.md | Governance philosophy — why load-first, why tool-first | Understanding the design rationale |
5. Quality Gate Triad
Every delegation return should pass the gate triad. Load gate skills independently:
Sequence: lifecycle-integration → spec-compliance → evidence-truth
HALT rule: If any gate FAILS, stop. Produce remediation. Do not proceed.
For detailed gate execution, load gate-orchestrator or individual gate skills:
gate-lifecycle-integration — 9-surface mutation authority, CQRS boundaries, actor hierarchy
gate-spec-compliance — Bidirectional traceability, gap detection, EARS criteria
gate-evidence-truth — L1-L5 evidence hierarchy, mock detection
6. Load at Every User Turn
This is not a "load once at start" skill:
| When | Why |
|---|
| Session start | Get the current session landscape |
| Every user turn | Session state may have changed |
| After disconnect | Find sessions needing attention |
| After compact | Reconstruct awareness from disk |
| Before delegation | Check if resume vs stack vs create |
7. Escalation — When to Tell the User
| Situation | Action |
|---|
| 3 consecutive gate failures on same delegation | Escalate with full gap report and retry history |
| Delegation depth reaches 3 | "This chain is too deep. Consider architectural split." |
| session-tracker not responding | Fallback: glob(".hivemind/session-tracker/*/") |
| Ambiguous lineage routing | Load user-intent-interactive-loop → clarify with user |
| task_id not found | Session may not be resumable. Check SDK version. Create fresh dispatch. |