orchestrate

name	orchestrate
description	Pipeline orchestration: dispatch the highest-priority ready tasks/work units to agents, manage capacity, and coordinate the Todo to Done flow. Invoked as /agiflow:orchestrate. Uses list_tasks, list_active_tasks_by_org, list_members, update_task, get_work_unit_progress.
tags	["agiflow","mcp","orchestration","dispatch"]
metadata	{"mirrors":"backend/apis/agiflow-api .../prompts/orchestrate.md"}

Invoked as /agiflow:orchestrate. In hosts without slash-prompts, this skill is triggered by matching intent and drives AgiFlow via its MCP tools.

Usage:

• /agiflow:orchestrate - Check pipeline state and dispatch the next highest-priority task

---

Guardrails

• This is a read-assess-dispatch loop, not an implementation prompt.
• Do NOT implement tasks here — use /agiflow:run-task for that.
• Keep capacity checks honest: do not dispatch if at capacity.
• Report pipeline state even when no dispatch is needed.

---

AgiFlow Project Management Guidelines

Follow the shared AgiFlow project-management guidelines in references/agiflow-agents.md — agent assignment, the task status workflow and transitions, work-unit best practices, and the tags strategy apply to this workflow.

---

Steps Track these steps as TODOs and complete them one by one.

1. Assess Current Pipeline State

1. Use list_tasks to count tasks in each active status column:

   • status: "In Progress" — tasks currently being coded by agents
   • status: "Testing" — tasks running test suites
   • status: "Review" — tasks awaiting human review
   • status: "Blocked" — tasks requiring human intervention
   • status: "Todo" — tasks ready for pickup (sorted by priority automatically)

2. Report the pipeline state in a concise table:

   Pipeline State:
   ┌──────────────┬───────┐
   │ Status       │ Count │
   ├──────────────┼───────┤
   │ Todo         │   N   │
   │ In Progress  │   N   │
   │ Testing      │   N   │
   │ Review       │   N   │
   │ Blocked      │   N   │
   └──────────────┴───────┘
   

2. Check Capacity

3. Determine active task count: In Progress + Testing combined.
4. Check capacity limit (default: 3 concurrent active tasks unless specified).
5. If at or above capacity:
   • Report: "At capacity (N active tasks). No dispatch needed."
   • List any Blocked tasks that need human attention.
   • Stop here.

3. Prioritize the Todo Queue

6. Use list_tasks with status: "Todo" to retrieve the ready queue.

   • Tasks are automatically sorted by priority (high → medium → low).
   • Within the same priority, tasks are ordered by position then creation date.

7. Review the top candidates:

   • Show the top 3-5 Todo tasks with: slug, title, priority, assignee, retryCount (from devInfo)
   • Skip any task where devInfo.retryCount >= devInfo.maxRetries (should be Blocked — flag it)

4. Dispatch

8. Pick the highest-priority eligible Todo task.
9. Report the dispatch decision:

   Dispatching: [SLUG] Task title (priority: high)
   Reason: Highest priority task in Todo queue
   

10. Instruct the agent to run the task:
    • Use /agiflow:run-task <slug> to execute it
    • Or if already in an agent session, invoke the run-task prompt directly

5. Surface Blocked Tasks

11. If there are any Blocked tasks, list them with their blockedReason from devInfo:

    Blocked Tasks Requiring Human Attention:
    - [SLUG] Task title: <blockedReason>
    

12. Suggest actions for each blocked task (e.g., resolve dependency, provide credentials, clarify spec).

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• ❌ Dispatching when already at capacity
• ❌ Picking a lower-priority task when a higher-priority Todo exists
• ❌ Dispatching a task that has retryCount >= maxRetries (it should be Blocked)
• ❌ Skipping the pipeline state report
• ❌ Attempting to implement the task inside this prompt