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>"

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.
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.

---

Git Discipline (NON-NEGOTIABLE)

Multi-agent repos collide on the staging area. Follow these rules without exception. They come from a real incident — see references/git-discipline.md for the post-mortem and the full ADR.

1. Worktree for long-running background work. If your work takes more than ~10s between "start" and "commit", do it in a git worktree (git worktree add ../$repo-$agent-$task). Disjoint trees make collisions structurally impossible.
2. Never git add -A / git add . / git add -u in agent code paths. Stage by explicit path. You can only commit what you authored.
3. Pre-commit dirty-tree check. Before any git commit, run git status --porcelain and abort with a named-paths error if anything dirty in the tree was authored elsewhere.
4. Push only what you tagged. Tags are content-addressed; branches are shared mutable state across agents.
5. Lock the staging area when sharing a tree by exception. pd lock <repo>:git:write (or pd with-lock <repo>:git:write -- <command>) serializes the rare case where Rule 1 cannot apply. MCP-aware clients can call the acquire_lock tool with the same name.

A pre-commit hook that enforces Rule 3 belongs in any repo with multiple agents writing to it. pd guard install --mode enforce is the reference.

Coordination Reflex

Whenever you work on a Port Daddy-protected project, ask yourself before starting:

1. How can I do this even better and in tandem with other agents?
2. What background helpers would make this delightful instead of a slog? (See Useful Background Agents below.)
3. What pheromone trail / tuple / actor message would future-me wish I had left?
4. What ambient signal (file heat, recent notes, claim density) tells me where the danger is?

Coordination is cheap when it is durable and machine-readable. It is expensive when it is conversational ("hey did you finish X?"). Default to:

• pd note for scope, assumptions, touched files, validation, blockers, handoffs.
• Claims at the smallest real granularity — file region or symbol where possible.
• Tuples (pd tuple out <space> <key>=<value>) for facts another agent might query.
• Pheromones (pd pheromone deposit <surface>) for contention/heat signals.
• Actor inboxes for durable role-routed escalations (see Actor Roster below).

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 durable note, and make the standing instruction stronger before continuing.

Actor Roster (universal Port Daddy concepts)

Port Daddy exposes a small set of durable actor inboxes. They are roles, not processes — messages persist; the actor processes them on demand. Use them when a concern crosses your slice's boundary.

Actor	Owns	Message when...
Coxswain	claims, locks, surface integrity	A file conflict needs adjudication; a stale lock blocks promotion.
Navigator	roadmap state, work-slice routing, recovery ledger	A roadmap item finishes; the recovery ledger contradicts the live fleet.
Cartographer	priorities + ideas synthesis	A new idea should join the queue; priorities feel wrong.
Lookout	release-surface drift	Source shipped without the matching docs / CLI help / website / version stamp.
Quartermaster	spawn discipline, model readiness, fleet spend	A persona uses an over-powered model; spawn count rises without proportional value.

Routing one-liner: file → Coxswain. Roadmap → Navigator. Priority → Cartographer. Drift → Lookout. Spawn → Quartermaster.

Useful Background Agents (suggestion menu)

Port Daddy makes it cheap to keep several focused background agents running. When you start meaningful work on a project, scan this list and propose spawning the ones that fit the project's gaps. The user picks; you draft the YAML in pd-fleet.yml so they can review before launch.

Suggested agent	When to propose
Test gardener	Project has tests but new features ship without them
Documentation steward	API/CLI surface changes faster than docs
Roadmap cartographer	Many half-built things; ideas escape into Slack/issues
Architecture archivist	Codebase has accreted faster than the architecture doc
Marketing voice	Public-facing project with infrequent releases
Prototype scout	"What if?" ideas pile up unbuilt
Feature stitcher	Independent features could compose into something new
Fleet observer	Background agents drift, stop firing
Post-mortem proposer	Multi-agent friction or "wow we fought dumb git shit" moments
Adversarial QA	Code lands without thinking about how it breaks
Skill auditor	Project ships skills (windags-skills, .claude/skills, etc.)

These are not a fixed menu. Always think creatively about what this specific project needs, and propose new agent shapes as the project shape shifts. The proposal protocol is small: write the agent shape into a draft block in pd-fleet.yml, leave a pd note summarizing what it would do, and message Cartographer with a one-line recommendation. The user approves before anything starts firing.

Catalog-First Reflex (use the WinDAGs MCP)

There are 600+ specialist skills in the WinDAGs catalog. Most coding tasks have a skill written for them already. Search the catalog before you start, not after you're stuck.

windags_skill_search "<one-line description of what you're about to do>"
windags_skill_graft <skill-id-1> <skill-id-2>   # pull the full SKILL.md bodies into your prompt

Default reflexes:

• Before every meaningful task — one windags_skill_search call. If a top result is >0.4 score, graft it.
• When you find yourself reasoning about a domain you don't own — the catalog has a skill for that. Search.
• When a skill would help on this project long-term — install it into the project's .claude/skills/ and leave a pd note recording the install.
• When you used a skill and it was wrong / stale — that's a Maintain-These-Skills moment (next section).

If you go a whole session without a single windags_skill_search, that's probably a missed leverage opportunity.

Maintain These Skills (living documents)

The skills you read are not finished products. They are living instructions that improve when their users update them. When you discover wisdom that would have helped past-you, write it back into the skill that should have carried it.

When to update:

• Anti-pattern discovery — you hit a failure mode that should have been a warning. Add it to the Anti-Patterns section.
• Tooling change — Port Daddy ships a new command, deprecates an old one, or changes a flag. Update the relevant section + references/cli-reference.md.
• Decision-table gap — a Situation→Move row would have saved you 10 minutes. Add it to the Decision Table.
• Feedback pattern — if pd feedback reveals recurring friction, propose the systemic fix in the relevant skill section.

When the update is internal-only (port-daddy contributors), update port-daddy-internal-dev instead. Don't mix internal wisdom into the public skill. If unsure: would an agent on a non-port-daddy project benefit? Yes → public. No → internal.

After landing, pd actor cartographer --message "Skill update: <one-line>." so the wisdom propagates.

Feedback Loop (you owe the user this)

Port Daddy is a tool for the user. Tools improve when their users tell the maintainer where the friction is. Drop feedback after every Port Daddy session, even briefly.

Primary surface — CLI bare form (auto-derives slug, droppedBy, surface):

pd feedback "salvage worked first try; --project arg syntax was guessable but undocumented"
pd feedback "got confused: pd briefing showed two coxswain actors; expected one" --high
pd feedback "worktree creation cost 30s on first run; would skip it for sub-minute tasks" --surface CLI
pd feedback recent       # see what's open
pd feedback mine         # what you've dropped this fleet
pd feedback ack <id>     # mark a finding harvested into the roadmap

The bare form derives a kebab-case slug from the message, picks droppedBy from the active session/agent context (falls back to cli:$USER), and infers surface from the CWD path segment. Severity shortcuts --critical / --high / --medium / --low work in lieu of --severity X.

Equivalent MCP surface — the tool is named drop_feedback and requires slug + summary (plus an agent identifier as droppedBy):

drop_feedback({
  slug: "briefing-shows-duplicate-coxswain",
  summary: "got confused: pd briefing showed two coxswain actors; expected one",
  droppedBy: "<your agent id>",
  severity: "high",
  surface: "CLI"
})

The user reads these. They are not noise.

If you skipped a step in the loop (no pd note, no claim, no salvage check), own up to it in the feedback with the reason:

pd feedback "SKIPPED: pd salvage. Reason: I judged the task too small. In hindsight: should not have skipped." --hook "skipped-coordination-step"

Anti-Patterns

Treating Coordination As Optional

Detection: Edits land without pd note, claims, or session begin. Fix: The Operating Loop is the floor, not the ceiling. Skipping it is a bug to own up to in pd feedback, not a shortcut.

Sweeping Up Peers' Work With git add -A

Detection: Background agent's commit contains files it did not author. Fix: Per Git Discipline above — worktree, explicit-path staging, dirty-tree pre-check. Triggering incident: windags-skills bb34efa. Force-push was disallowed; the audit trail had to be corrected via tagging instead.

Spawning A New Agent Where A Note Would Do

Detection: The fleet shows N+1 agents but the actual work is one bounded change. Fix: Default to a session and a note. Spawn only when the work decomposes into independently-running pieces.

Silent Friction

Detection: A session ends with pd done, no pd feedback. Fix: End every session with feedback, even if it's "no friction this time."

Quality Gates (you, the agent following this skill)

• You started the session with pd begin and left at least one pd note before editing.
• You claimed the smallest real surface (pd session files add <path> or symbol/region).
• You did not run git add -A / git add . / git add -u anywhere.
• Your commit's git status --porcelain was clean of unfamiliar files.
• If your work took >10s of background time, you used a worktree.
• You ran pd guard check --staged before commit / push / deploy.
• You ended with pd done AND pd feedback "..." (or MCP drop_feedback).
• If you skipped any of the above, you owned up to it explicitly in the feedback.
• You ran at least one windags_skill_search for the task domain before starting.
• If you discovered wisdom this skill should have carried, you committed it back into the skill in the same slice.