port-daddy-agent-skill

name	port-daddy-agent-skill
description	Instruction manual for agents driving Port Daddy multi-agent coordination. Use when an agent will edit a repo, recover work, coordinate with other sessions, inspect FleetBar/Fleet Control Center truth, package skill/docs surfaces, or leave a durable handoff. NOT for generic coding that does not need Port Daddy state.
license	FSL-1.1-MIT
allowed-tools	Read,Bash,Grep,Glob,Edit,Write
metadata	{"category":"Coordination","tags":["port-daddy","multi-agent","coordination","fleetbar","claims","salvage","handoff","schemas"],"pairs-with":["port-daddy","skill-architect","next-move"],"provenance":{"kind":"first-party","owners":["port-daddy"]},"authorship":{"maintainers":["port-daddy"]},"mirrors":{"repo":"skills/port-daddy-agent-skill","codex":".codex/skills/port-daddy-agent-skill","claude":".claude/skills/port-daddy-agent-skill","agents":".agents/skills/port-daddy-agent-skill","gemini-extension":".gemini/extensions/port-daddy/skills/port-daddy-agent-skill"},"installs":{"workgroup":"/Users/erichowens/coding/workgroup-ai/skills/port-daddy","user":"/Users/erichowens/.agents/skills/port-daddy-agent-skill"}}

Port Daddy Agent Skill

You are not just coding. You are operating in a shared local coordination system. Port Daddy is the substrate. This skill is the field manual.

Use it when you need agents to move through a repo without losing truth: current daemon state, active work, claimed files, locks, notes, actor inboxes, FleetBar/Fleet Control Center evidence, validation, and recoverable handoffs.

NOT For

• One-line read-only answers where Port Daddy state does not matter.
• Generic "be careful with git" advice.
• Replacing repo-authored docs, live daemon truth, tests, or operator evidence.
• Launching extra agents when one bounded local change is enough.

Default Agent Happy Path

Use this path before you reach for advanced coordination. It is the normal agent loop for repo work on this machine.

pd status
pd briefing
pd salvage --project <project> --limit 20
pd begin "<bounded task>" --identity <project>:<agent>
pd whoami
pd advise <likely-path> --task "<plain-language task>"
pd note "Scope: <files>. Assumptions: <truth>. Validation: <commands>."
pd session files add <path>
# work, validate, and keep notes current
pd note "Result: <change>. Validation: <evidence>. Remaining: <risk>."
pd done "<short outcome>"

Session Continuity

A resumed coding session is not automatically a new Port Daddy session. Treat multi-day work as a continuity problem first, then decide whether to resume, link, or restart.

Re-anchor when a conversation resumes after a calendar day, after context compaction, after daemon/session drift, or when the worktree is behind the canonical remote:

pd status
pd briefing
pd sessions --all-worktrees
pd notes --limit 20
pd salvage --project <project> --limit 20
git status --short --branch
git fetch origin

Resume the existing session when the user goal, worktree or successor worktree, branch lineage, and touched surface are still the same unresolved slice. If the previous session is stale, abandoned, or cannot be made active, start a new session in the same identity family and link the predecessor in the first note.

Start a new linked session when the product goal changed, the previous slice was completed or merged, the branch no longer descends cleanly from the old work, or the next edit would touch unrelated surfaces. Continuity comes from explicit provenance, not from overloading one old purpose forever.

The first continuity note must carry enough truth for another agent to take over without transcript archaeology:

• predecessor session id and new session id, if different
• identity, worktree, branch, and base drift from the canonical branch
• dirty or claimed files, plus any ownership conflicts
• last validation that is still trusted and validation that is stale
• runtime truth, especially socket/TCP/port-file or install-root drift
• next intended edit, blocker, or handoff

After drift, prefer explicit session ids for notes and file claims. If pd whoami, active context, TCP port-file routing, and direct session storage disagree, call it a coordination bug. Leave the best durable evidence you can, fix the bounded bug if this slice can safely absorb it, or continue with a clear note about the degraded coordination path.

Telos vs Purpose

Every Port Daddy agent carries a telos alongside its purpose. They look similar in pd whoami output, but they are not the same field and should not drift together.

Field	Meaning	Lifetime
purpose	The current task this session is doing.	Per-session. Resets when you pd done and pd begin again.
telos	Why this agent exists in the fleet — the durable role headline.	Long-lived. Survives across sessions, salvages, and respawns.

pd begin "<purpose>" sets the purpose. By default the telos defaults to the same string for compatibility, but creator-provided telos is preferred: fleet YAML, spawn calls, and registration paths can declare a richer telos object explicitly, and pd whoami will show that string instead.

When to update each:

• Per task — change purpose via a fresh pd begin (or pd done then pd begin). Don't reuse a session whose purpose has materially shifted.
• When the agent's role changes — update telos through registration or heartbeat. Don't let operator surfaces (FleetBar, Fleet Control Center, briefings) show a stale role headline. A runtime-derived fallback telos is allowed only as compatibility — bake a real telos in as soon as you know the role.

Practical rules:

• If you spawn fleet agents in pd-fleet.yml, declare telos: on each agent explicitly. Keep starter templates, schema docs, CLI help, API docs, and this skill aligned when the telos shape changes.
• If you can choose only one to make accurate, make telos accurate. Operator surfaces use it for the human-readable "what does this agent do" answer.
• When handing off, mention both telos and purpose in your pd note if they differ — the next agent inherits identity but may need to set a new purpose for its own slice.

Reconciling Before Publishing

Fetch and reconcile before publishing:

git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main
pd sessions --all-worktrees
pd notes --limit 20
pd guard check --staged

Small Decision Table

Situation	Move
You will edit files	Start a session, leave a scope note, and claim the smallest real files or regions.
The live daemon looks stale	Verify daemon provenance before trusting docs, source, or memory.
Another session may overlap	Read notes, claims, activity, and ownership before changing the surface.
Work was interrupted	Use salvage and preserve the abandoned intent.
The same coding vibe resumes days later	Re-anchor, then resume the old session or start a linked successor with explicit predecessor provenance.
You are about to commit, push, or deploy	Fetch, reconcile, re-read live coordination state, stage narrowly, and run the guard.

Advanced Surfaces

Use these only when the task actually needs them:

• Tuples and channels for machine-readable shared facts.
• Actor inboxes for durable role ownership.
• Pheromones and file heat for contention signals.
• Fleet YAML, sorties, and spawned agents for real parallel work.
• Locks for scarce resources such as promotion, generated artifacts, migrations, and release packaging.
• FleetBar and Fleet Control Center for operator-visible truth.

CLI Documentation Contract

The CLI reference lives in this skill and the website docs; nothing should require a separate port-daddy-cli skill. The source-backed website page /docs/cli must give every command row a detail route with syntax, options, examples, aliases, source provenance, and API contract metadata.

High-frequency commands:

pd status
pd briefing
pd begin "<purpose>" --identity <project>:<agent>
pd note "Scope: <files>"
pd session files add <path>
pd add --dry-run -A
pd guard check --staged
pd tube <channel> --send "message"
pd actor lookout --message "release surface drift fixed"
pd done "<summary>"

Load references/cli-reference.md when you need the broader command families, aliases, generated docs expectations, or claim-aware git staging rules.

Ambient Peer Coordination

The point is not to make agents talk constantly. The point is to publish shared facts where other agents and operator surfaces can find them.

• Use pd note for scope, assumptions, touched files, validation, blockers, and handoffs.
• Use symbol/region claims when a change is naturally smaller than a file.
• Use tuples, channels, and actor inboxes for machine-readable coordination.
• When possible, fix bounded Port Daddy dogfood bugs when you discover them; if the fix is not bounded, leave exact evidence and a targeted actor message.
• Publish coordination:inconsistency for not just collision avoidance, but implied-goal contradictions, UI or docs shape conflicts, live runtime/source drift, security, auth, privacy, data-retention, trust-boundary divergence, raw text or unauthenticated endpoints beside authenticated, secure API claims, and sessions marked active while their agent registry bodies are dead or missing.
• Operator-worthy callouts go to durable channels. Routine progress stays in notes.

Roadmap, Skill, And Actor Truth

Roadmap and skill-drift work must route through live actor and recovery surfaces, not only local prose.

pd actors --project <project>
pd actor cartographer --project <project>
pd actor navigator --inbox-stats
pd actor navigator --inbox --unread
pd actor navigator --message "roadmap state changed; see docs/recovery/CURRENT-WORK.md"
pd actor lookout --message "release-surface drift fixed in docs, website, README, and skill"

Mailbox delivery is durable but not an immediate answer. After messaging an actor, keep working from the actual source of truth: docs/recovery/CURRENT-WORK.md, .cartographer/README.md, .cartographer/status.md, live notes, sessions, and the checked-in release surfaces.

MCP Equivalents

When a client is using MCP instead of the CLI, use the matching Port Daddy MCP tools for claims, sessions, notes, locks, messaging, salvage, harbors, spawning, and service orchestration. Prefer MCP for model clients that already have it installed; prefer the CLI when you need shell-local git, build, or deployment evidence.

Operating Loop

Run the loop in order. Skip only when the task is truly trivial.

pd status
pd briefing
pd salvage --project <project> --limit 20
pd begin "<bounded task>"
pd advise <likely-path> --task "<plain-language task>"
pd note "Scope: <files>. Assumptions: <truth>. Validation: <commands>."
pd session files add <path>
pd guard status
pd guard install --mode enforce  # if this repo should enforce claims and the guard is not already enforcing
# work
git fetch origin
git rebase origin/main           # use origin/master only when that remote branch actually exists
pd sessions --all-worktrees
pd notes --limit 20
pd guard check --staged
pd note "Result: <change>. Validation: <evidence>. Remaining: <risk>."
pd done "<short outcome>"

The loop is not ceremony. It solves the actual failures that ruin multi-agent work: stale runtime assumptions, invisible ownership, repeated archaeology, ambiguous handoffs, and local green checks that do not match the installed app.

Decision Points

Situation	Move
You will edit files	Start a session, leave a scope note, claim the smallest real surface.
Another session may overlap	Read notes/activity/claims, then route around or publish a coordination inconsistency.
The daemon or FleetBar looks wrong	Verify live process, socket, TCP URL, install root, and Fleet Control Center evidence.
Work was interrupted	Use salvage before restarting. Preserve the original intent when claiming.
A fact should be machine-queryable	Emit a tuple or schema-shaped handoff, not prose only.
A scarce resource is involved	Use a lock for promotion, migrations, generated assets, or release packaging.
A release surface changed	Update docs, README, website, skill, and package/export metadata in the same coherent slice.
You are about to commit, push, or deploy	Fetch the canonical remote branch, rebase/merge current work onto it, re-read live sessions/notes/activity, stage through pd add --dry-run -A then pd add -A, and run pd guard check --staged. Do not publish stale-base work.

Procedural Cues

• If pd status is green but the browser or FleetBar is stale, suspect install root or daemon freshness before rewriting source.
• If a file looks unclaimed but a recent note says someone owns that surface, trust the coordination story enough to inspect before editing.
• If your fix needs a phrase like "probably unrelated," separate it from the slice until evidence says otherwise.
• If a note cannot tell the next agent what changed, what was validated, and what remains, it is not a handoff yet.
• If a process-level command succeeded but the UI still looks broken, the work is not visually verified.
• If two agents disagree about product shape, publish the conflict to coordination:inconsistency instead of smoothing it away.
• If the user has to remind you to coordinate, the process has already failed: pull against the canonical branch, read the live fleet, leave a Port Daddy note, and make the durable instruction stronger before continuing.
• If Coordination Guard is absent or only advisory in a repo that expects enforced claims, run pd guard install --mode enforce or leave an explicit blocker note with the exact failure.

FleetBar And Console Proof

FleetBar is the native Mac entry point. Fleet Control Center is the full console. Use them when the task touches agents, readiness, launches, Shipwright, resources, sorties, or operator-visible coordination.

Load deeper guidance only when needed:

• references/fleetbar-and-console.md for product surfaces and screenshot pointers.
• references/coordination-theory.md for notes, channels, inboxes, tuples, claims, locks, and actor bodies.
• references/recovery-and-salvage.md for interrupted work.
• references/distribution-and-installation.md for packaging and mirrors.
• references/cli-reference.md for command families, aliases, generated docs expectations, and claim-aware staging.
• examples/build-now.md for things a user can build immediately with the shipped examples.

Output Contracts

When leaving durable evidence, prefer the bundled schemas:

• schemas/coordination-note.schema.json
• schemas/agent-handoff.schema.json
• schemas/validation-report.schema.json

Use the templates under templates/ when a note or handoff needs to be copied into another channel, actor inbox, or PR description.

CLI Quick Reference

The agent surface uses semantic identities of shape project:stack:context (e.g. port-daddy:cli:fix-flake, myapp:api:auth). Same identity always hashes to the same port - port assignment is deterministic.

# Identity, status, salvage, briefing
pd whoami                                # current session, agent, identity
pd status                                # daemon health and uptime
pd briefing                              # what's happening across the fleet
pd salvage --project <project>           # recover dead-agent intent

# Sessions & coordination
pd begin "<task>" --identity <project>:<stack>:<context>
pd note "Scope: ..."                     # durable progress evidence
pd session files add <path>              # claim a file region
pd done "<outcome>"                      # close + leave result note

# Resources
pd claim <project>:<stack>:<context>     # claim a deterministic port
pd release <id>                          # release a claimed port
pd with-lock <name> -- <command>         # run a command holding a named lock

# DNS, integration signals, fleet awareness
pd dns <name>                            # resolve DNS records for a service
pd integration ready <signal>            # mark integration ready for downstream
pd integration needs <signal>            # declare a missing integration
pd sessions --all-worktrees              # cross-worktree session view

See references/api-reference.md for the full HTTP surface and references/sdk-reference.md for the JS/TS SDK. MCP tools mirror the CLI: begin_session, end_session_full, whoami, claim_port, release_port, acquire_lock, add_note, pd_discover are the equivalents agents use through the MCP protocol.

Self-Check

python3 skills/port-daddy-agent-skill/scripts/validate_port_daddy_agent_skill.py skills/port-daddy-agent-skill
bash skills/port-daddy-agent-skill/scripts/diagnose_port_daddy_agent_context.sh

The first command checks the bundle. The second samples the local Port Daddy context so the agent can reason from live state instead of memory.