| name | engines |
| description | Dispatch coding work to an installed terminal agent — Codex, Cursor, Devin, Grok, or Atris Fast — as an interchangeable worker engine. Claude orchestrates: writes the bounded prompt, the engine builds, Claude verifies and lands. Triggers on: use codex, use cursor, use devin, use grok, use atris, engine, dispatch to, worker agent, second opinion build. |
| version | 1.2.0 |
| tags | ["engines","codex","cursor","devin","grok","atris","orchestration"] |
Engines — interchangeable terminal workers
One contract, five engines. The orchestrator (you, Claude) writes a bounded task prompt, dispatches it to an engine, then independently verifies, lands, and pushes the result. Engines never self-certify.
Invocation
| Engine | Command | Notes |
|---|
| Codex | node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/codex-companion.mjs" task --background [--write] "<prompt>" (via codex plugin / codex:codex-rescue agent) | Poll with status, fetch with result <job-id> |
| Cursor | cursor-agent --trust -p "<prompt>" (run from the target repo) | Headless print mode; --trust required for non-interactive |
| Devin | devin -p --permission-mode dangerous -- "<prompt>" (run from the target repo) | Default permission mode is read-only for writes — build work NEEDS --permission-mode dangerous, so only run it in an isolated worktree. Also devin cloud for sessions that outlive this machine. Supports --model swe-1.7 |
| Grok | grok --always-approve -p "<prompt>" (run from the target repo) | Headless single-turn via -p; default model grok-4.5. Very fast on lookups (~10s, reads MAP first). Great for quick second opinions; use --best-of-n <N> for tricky bounded builds. Uses grok.com login |
| Atris Fast | atris chat --print "<prompt>" (run from the target repo; equivalently ax --fast --print) | Headless JSON result {ok, model, output, durationMs}; exit 0 = ok. Serves via the api.atris.ai fast lane (glm-5.2) with a local tool runtime scoped to the cwd — reads, greps, small verified edits. ~1% of frontier cost, typical turns 5–40s |
Picking an engine
- Codex — deep root-cause work, long autonomous builds, second-opinion diagnosis. Slowest; runs sandboxed.
- Cursor — fast bounded edits and refactors in a single repo.
- Devin — multi-step feature work; use
cloud when the run should survive laptop sleep.
- Grok - fastest frontier lookups and quick second opinions (grok-4.5, ~10s; reads MAP first); use
--best-of-n for tricky bounded builds. Uses grok.com login.
- Atris Fast — cheap bounded lookups, single-file facts, small verified edits, high-volume fan-out (ten questions = ten
--print calls at pennies). Not for multi-file features or long builds. Use it before burning a frontier engine on grunt work.
- Parallel builds across repos: one engine job per repo, never two engines writing the same checkout.
Models worth pinning (verified live 2026-07-09)
Each engine CLI can pin a specific model. Current best picks:
| Engine | Flag | Best models today |
|---|
| Devin | --model swe-1.7 | swe-1.7 (free right now: use it as the volume executor for parallel bounded slices), swe-1.7-lightning for speed |
| Cursor | --model grok-4.5-xhigh | grok-4.5-xhigh / grok-4.5-fast-xhigh for second-opinion builds, composer-2.5 for fast edits; parameterized Claude via 'claude-opus-4-8[effort=high]'; --list-models shows the full menu |
| Grok | (default) | grok-4.5 default, grok-composer-2.5-fast for speed |
| Codex | (plugin default) | rides the codex plugin's pinned model |
| Atris Fast | (fixed) | api.atris.ai fast lane |
Re-verify this table when a lab ships a new model: run each CLI's model-list command, smoke one lookup, and update the row. Free-tier windows (like swe-1.7 now) are the moment to fan out volume work.
Atris Fast runtime requirements (verified live 2026-07-03)
- Must run from an initialized Atris workspace (an
atris/ folder) under an allowed workspace root (e.g. ~/arena/*). atris chat --print outside one exits 1 with "Run atris init"; ax --fast --print outside an allowed root fail-closes with {ok:false, error:"workspace_path must be under an allowed local workspace root"}.
- In an allowed root without an
atris/ folder the turn silently routes to the cloud no-tools chat lane — the model will honestly refuse file work ("no Atris Desktop runtime attached"). If the output says that, you dispatched from the wrong directory; it is not an engine failure.
Prompt contract (every dispatch)
- Name the absolute repo path and tell the engine to
cd there (Atris Fast scopes to the cwd it runs from — cd first, and name absolute paths in the prompt).
- Bound the slice: one task, explicit exit criteria, the verify command to run.
- Git rules:
git status first; stage only own files; never revert others' changes; never destructive git; work on a branch member/<name>-<slug> or a worktree. (Atris Fast does not run git — for edit tasks the orchestrator commits after verifying.)
- Require a final report: files changed, verify command + result, branch name. (Atris Fast returns one JSON
output field — ask for file:line evidence in it.)
Landing (orchestrator duties — never skip)
- Codex sandbox cannot reach github.com and may get read-only repo access. Expect temp clones /
git format-patch fallbacks under /private/tmp. Apply patches in a fresh worktree, re-run the verify command yourself, then push.
- Cursor and Devin run unsandboxed — still re-run the verify command yourself before pushing.
- Long Devin runs (5+ min) can return empty stdout even when the build fully succeeded — judge by
git status and the diff in its worktree, never by the printed report.
- Atris Fast answers are model output over a real tool runtime — treat
output as a claim, spot-check the cited file:line, and re-run any verifier yourself before acting on it.
- Engine task DBs and receipts written inside a sandbox are snapshots; reconcile against the live
atris task plane after landing.
- A stalled job (no log output for 30+ min) gets cancelled and taken over; don't wait on it. Atris Fast turns that exceed ~60s have hung — kill and retry once with a tighter prompt.
