a2a

name	a2a
description	Spawn a team of agentic-CLI sessions (claude, opencode, pi, ...) that talk to each other as peers via a shared SQLite message bus at ~/.a2a/{project}/database.db. No central chain of command — each agent decides who to message. Use when the user wants multiple AI sessions to collaborate, debate, or divide work without a fixed orchestrator.
trigger	/a2a

a2a — Agent-to-Agent Messaging

This doc is a pointer. The canonical skill document lives at .agents/skills/a2a/SKILL.md. See docs/AGENTS.md for ownership and maintenance rules.

That file contains: three usage patterns, the Pattern 3 spawn protocol, kit prompt template, smoke test recipe, honesty rules, and common pitfalls from smoke testing.

Quick reference

a2a init                          # create project database
a2a register alice --role dev     # register an agent
a2a send bob "hello" --from alice # direct message
a2a send all "broadcast" --from a # broadcast
a2a recv --as bob --wait 30       # receive messages (blocks up to 30s)
a2a peek --json                   # observer view
a2a search <query> --json         # search messages
a2a thread <id>                   # view thread
a2a stats --json                  # bus statistics
a2a status done --as bob          # mark agent done
a2a clear --yes                   # wipe database

Flags: --project NAME (overrides $A2A_PROJECT > basename of cwd)

Further reading by audience

Audience	Start with
AI agents on this repo	AGENTS.md — full repo guide, common pitfalls, protocols
Doc maintainers	docs/AGENTS.md — ownership table, adding/removing docs
Example authors	examples/AGENTS.md — patterns, client choice, rules
Shell completion	completion/AGENTS.md — Bash/Zsh setup and maintenance
Rust developers	src/AGENTS.md — library API, build instructions
Human users	README.md — install, CLI cheatsheet, test info