octopus

name

octopus

description

Umbrella entry for the octopus-skill prompt library — pick the right arm for a long-horizon agent task and follow it. Two arms share one discipline (verified-not-written "done", no test theater, no speculative building, forced convergence, owner red lines). The `loop-graph` arm builds an executor + clean-context supervisor as two scheduled loops — for the `/loop` primitive (Claude Code, grok, Cursor, shell), multi-milestone phases, executor/supervisor split across hosts/models, owner-gated runs. The `quest` arm emits one objective prompt handed to a host that already drives a goal to done with its own verifier — for the goal primitive (grok `/goal`, a Codex task). Use this when the user invokes /octopus or is unsure which arm fits.

octopus 🐙 — one brain, many arms

A curated prompt library for long-horizon agent work. One shared discipline, compiled to whichever host you run. Your job on invocation: pick the arm, then read and follow that arm's SKILL.md. Don't reimplement it here.

Pick the arm — the host usually decides for you

The primitive a host has narrows the choice before task shape even matters (full matrix in lib/host-dialects.md):

Host	Has	→ Arm
Cursor, shell/cron	loop only	loop-graph
Codex	goal only (no /loop)	quest
Claude Code	/loop only (no standalone /goal)	loop-graph (its supervisor is the verifier)
grok	both /loop and /goal	either — decide by task shape ↓

On grok (the only both-capable host), and whenever a host offers a real choice:

Choose	When
quest	a single self-contained goal · executor+reviewer in the same run · no owner-only call on the critical path → emit one objective prompt, run it with the host's goal command (grok /goal, a Codex task), ride its own verifier — no second loop
loop-graph	any of: multi-milestone phases with a non-skippable gate · executor and supervisor on different hosts/models/cadences · owner red-lines/gates that must stop the run · cross-session durability → build the executor + clean-context supervisor two-loop graph, driven by /loop

Rule of thumb by primitive: you'll drive it with /loop → loop-graph; you'll hand it to a goal command → quest. Default when genuinely unsure: loop-graph (it carries its own verifier and runs on every loop-capable host).

Then

Read the chosen arm's SKILL.md and run its interview → generation → delivery. Shared reference both arms rest on:

• lib/host-dialects.md — per-host /loop · goal · hook syntax, which primitive each host has, and wake/notify primitives.
• lib/methodology.md — why each discipline rule exists and the failure mode it prevents.