agent-teams

name	agent-teams
description	Coordinate multi-agent teamwork with shared task lists, mailbox messaging, and long-lived teammates. Use when the user asks to spawn workers, delegate tasks, work in parallel with agents, or manage a team of workers.

Agent Teams

Spawn and coordinate teammate agents that work in parallel on shared task lists, communicating via file-based mailboxes. Modeled after Claude Code Agent Teams.

Core concepts

• Leader (you): orchestrates, delegates, reviews. Runs the /team command and the teams LLM tool.
• Teammates: child Pi processes that poll for tasks, execute them, and report back. Sessions are named pi agent teams - <role> <name> where <role> depends on the current style (e.g. teammate/comrade/matey).
• Task list: file-per-task store with statuses (pending/in_progress/completed), owners, and dependency tracking.
• Mailbox: file-based message queue. Two namespaces: team (DMs, notifications, shutdown) and taskListId (task assignments).

UI style (terminology + naming)

Built-in styles:

• normal (default): Team leader + Teammate
• soviet: Chairman + Comrade
• pirate: Captain + Matey

Configure via PI_TEAMS_STYLE=<name> or /team style <name> (see /team style list).

Custom styles can be added via JSON files under ~/.pi/agent/teams/_styles/<style>.json or bootstrapped with:

• /team style init <name> [extends <base>]

Spawning teammates

Use the teams tool (LLM-callable) for delegation, task/messaging mutations, lifecycle, and governance:

Action	Required fields	Notes
delegate	tasks	Spawns as needed, creates and assigns tasks.
task_assign	taskId, assignee	Assign/reassign owner.
task_unassign	taskId	Clear owner.
task_set_status	taskId, status	pending | in_progress | completed.
task_dep_add / task_dep_rm	taskId, depId	Dependency graph edits.
task_dep_ls	taskId	Dependency/block inspection.
message_dm	name, message	Mailbox DM. urgent=true interrupts active turns.
message_broadcast	message	Mailbox broadcast. urgent=true interrupts active turns.
message_steer	name, message	RPC steer for running teammate.
member_spawn	name	Supports context/workspace/model/thinking/plan options.
member_shutdown	name or all=true	Graceful mailbox shutdown request.
member_kill	name	Force-stop RPC teammate.
member_prune	(none)	Mark stale workers offline (all=true to force).
team_done	(none)	End team run: stop teammates, hide widget (all=true to force with in-progress tasks).
plan_approve / plan_reject	name	Resolve pending plan approvals (feedback optional for reject).
hooks_policy_get	(none)	Read team hooks policy (configured + effective).
hooks_policy_set	one or more: hookFailureAction, hookMaxReopensPerTask, hookFollowupOwner	Update team hooks policy at runtime (hooksPolicyReset=true clears team overrides first).
model_policy_get	(none)	Inspect teammate model policy and current leader inheritance behavior.
model_policy_check	optional model	Validate a model override before spawn (<provider>/<modelId> or <modelId>).

Examples:

teams({ action: "delegate", tasks: [{ text: "Implement auth", assignee: "alice" }] })
teams({ action: "task_assign", taskId: "12", assignee: "alice" })
teams({ action: "task_dep_add", taskId: "12", depId: "7" })
teams({ action: "message_broadcast", message: "Sync: finishing this milestone" })
teams({ action: "message_dm", name: "alice", message: "Stop using lib X, use Y instead", urgent: true })
teams({ action: "member_kill", name: "alice" })
teams({ action: "plan_reject", name: "alice", feedback: "Include rollback strategy" })
teams({ action: "hooks_policy_get" })
teams({ action: "hooks_policy_set", hookFailureAction: "reopen_followup", hookMaxReopensPerTask: 2, hookFollowupOwner: "member" })
teams({ action: "model_policy_get" })
teams({ action: "model_policy_check", model: "openai-codex/gpt-5.1-codex-mini" })
teams({ action: "team_done" })

This covers most day-to-day orchestration without slash commands. For nuanced/manual control, use /team ... commands directly.

For more control, use /team spawn:

/team spawn alice              # default: fresh context, shared workspace
/team spawn bob branch shared  # clone leader session context
/team spawn carol fresh worktree  # git worktree isolation
/team spawn dave plan          # plan-required mode (read-only until approved)

Task management

/team task add <text...>                # create a task
/team task add alice: review the API    # create + assign (prefix with name:)
/team task assign <id> <agent>          # assign existing task
/team task unassign <id>                # unassign
/team task list                         # show all tasks with status + deps
/team task show <id>                    # full task details + result
/team task dep add <id> <depId>         # task depends on depId
/team task dep rm <id> <depId>          # remove dependency
/team task dep ls <id>                  # show dependency graph
/team task clear [completed|all]        # delete tasks
/team task use <taskListId>             # switch to a different task list

Teammates auto-claim unassigned, unblocked tasks by default.

Communication

/team dm <name> <msg...>              # direct message to one teammate
/team dm <name> --urgent <msg...>     # urgent DM — interrupts active turn via steering
/team broadcast <msg...>              # message all teammates
/team broadcast --urgent <msg...>     # urgent broadcast — interrupts all active turns
/team send <name> <msg...>            # RPC-based (immediate, for spawned teammates)

Urgent messages (--urgent or urgent=true in tool calls) interrupt a teammate's active turn via steering instead of waiting for idle. Use sparingly — only for time-sensitive coordination like "stop using library X, it's broken".

Teammates can also message each other directly via the team_message tool (with optional urgent flag), with the leader CC'd.

Governance modes

Delegate mode

Restricts the leader to coordination-only (blocks bash/edit/write tools). Use when you want to force all implementation through teammates.

/team delegate on    # enable
/team delegate off   # disable

Plan approval

Spawning with plan restricts the teammate to read-only tools. After producing a plan, the teammate submits it for leader approval before proceeding.

/team spawn alice plan         # spawn in plan-required mode
/team plan approve alice       # approve plan, teammate gets full tools
/team plan reject alice <feedback...>  # reject, teammate revises

Lifecycle

/team panel                    # interactive overlay with teammate details
/team list                     # show teammates and their state
/team attach list              # discover existing teams under <teamsRoot>
/team attach <teamId> [--claim] # attach this session to an existing team workspace (force takeover with --claim)
/team detach                   # return to this session's own team workspace
/team shutdown                 # stop all teammates (RPC + best-effort manual) (leader session remains active)
/team shutdown <name>          # graceful shutdown (teammate can reject if busy)
/team prune [--all]            # hide stale manual teammates (mark offline in config)
/team kill <name>              # force-terminate one RPC teammate
/team done [--force]           # end run: stop teammates + hide widget
/team cleanup [--force]        # delete team directory, worktrees, and branches
/team gc [--dry-run] [--force] [--max-age-hours=N]  # garbage-collect stale team dirs

When all tasks complete and teammates are idle, the widget shows "All tasks done." with a /team done hint. Teammates reject shutdown requests when they have an active task. Use /team kill <name> to force.

Cleanup

Worktrees and branches are automatically cleaned up on session shutdown and session switch. For manual cleanup:

• /team cleanup [--force] — removes the current team directory, including git worktrees and associated branches. Reports removal counts.
• /team gc [--dry-run] [--force] [--max-age-hours=N] — garbage-collects stale team directories older than N hours (default: 24). Skips teams with online members or in-progress tasks. Use --dry-run to preview.

Other commands

/team id       # show team ID, task list ID, paths
/team env <n>  # print env vars for manually spawning a teammate named <n>

Shared task list across sessions

PI_TEAMS_TASK_LIST_ID is primarily worker-side (use it when you start a teammate manually).

The leader switches task lists via:

/team task use my-persistent-list

The chosen task list ID is persisted in config.json. Teammates spawned after the switch inherit the new task list ID; existing teammates need a restart to pick up changes.

Message protocol

Teammates and the leader communicate via JSON messages with a type field:

Type	Direction	Purpose
task_assignment	leader -> teammate	Notify of assigned task
idle_notification	teammate -> leader	Teammate finished, no more work
shutdown_request	leader -> teammate	Ask to shut down
shutdown_approved	teammate -> leader	Will shut down
shutdown_rejected	teammate -> leader	Busy, can't shut down now
plan_approval_request	teammate -> leader	Plan ready for review
plan_approved	leader -> teammate	Proceed with implementation
plan_rejected	leader -> teammate	Revise plan (includes feedback)
peer_dm_sent	teammate -> leader	CC notification of peer message