| name | dual-pane-atm |
| description | Repeatable mixed-model ATM duel — Opus (Claude) + Codex (+AGY) panes, or an in-session variant for a one-shot one-way-door decision. Triggers: "dual pane", "Opus and Codex together", "CEP duel/build", "two-pane ATM", "collaborative ATM", "mixed-model duel", "fan out competing theses / duel it out". |
$dual-pane-atm — Opus + Codex collaborative ATM orchestration
You are the single orchestrator. One operator (this session or a lead pane)
spawns exactly two worker panes — Claude Opus and Codex gpt-5.5 — assigns
disjoint roles, verifies engagement, tends liveness, and synthesizes evidence.
Workers do the work; you do logistics, reserves, and convergence. Do not let
both panes become co-orchestrators.
Repeatable pattern for collaborative cross-model ATM sessions: architecture
design, build+review pairs, explore+implement splits, and lighter author+refuter
loops. Distinct from adversarial duels (dueling-idea-wizards — Codex skill) and from
N-way bead queues ($using-atm).
When to use (routing table)
| Shape | Use when | Skip when |
|---|
| Single agent (default) | One deliverable, one writer, fits this session | Need cross-family fresh eyes, wall-clock persistence, or provably disjoint parallel lanes |
$dual-pane-atm (this skill) | Exactly two complementary roles across Claude+Codex; human attach/steer; bounded session with synthesis artifact; collaborative (not scored adversarial duel) | One-shot with no attach need (shape 0 inline); ≥3 parallel writers ($swarm); unattended bead queue ($using-atm); pure ideation scoring duel (dueling-idea-wizards) |
dueling-idea-wizards (Codex) | Adversarial cross-score (0–1000), reveal/rebuttal, consensus matrix from disagreement | Implementing/building; cooperative handoff; you already know the split |
$swarm | ≥2 in-session parallel workers with disjoint file manifests + wave gating | Need persistent tmux panes, cross-vendor TUI steering, or hours-long runs |
$using-atm | Unattended N-pane bead queue, $rpi/$evolve loops, fluid population | Fixed two-pane collaborative session with operator synthesis |
Front door: if unsure whether any ATM is warranted, run
$automation-shape-routing first.
Critical constraints
- ⛔ LAW 0 — never
claude -p / claude --print. Claude work runs in an
interactive Opus pane; Codex runs via TUI goal lifecycle or codex exec when
headless is explicitly requested.
- One bead = one whole skill. Dispatch
$rpi, $implement, $research, etc.
as a single invocable unit per pane — never decompose RPI phases into ATM steps.
- Worktree-per-bead when either lane edits tracked files. No shared checkout
writes from panes.
- Partition before lock. If write-sets can be disjoint, assign ownership —
use
am reserve only when partition fails.
- Evidence over agreement. Collaborative sessions still require artifacts
(diffs, test tails, gate output) — not mutual praise.
Orchestrator workflow
1. ROUTE → confirm dual-pane fits (table above); pick work-split pattern
2. BEAD → optional: BEADS_DIR="$(ao beads dir)" br create/claim; bead_id = join-key
3. SPAWN → atm spawn with --reserve paths (see references/spawn-checklist.md)
3b. VERIFY → `atm mapping --session="$SESSION"` — confirm pane numbers before any send
4. DISPATCH → verify first lane engaged; then second lane (--codex-goal for Codex)
5. TEND → meter lies; atm save / codex preflight; gate interrupts first
6. SYNTH → merge artifacts → .agents/dual-pane/<session>-report.md
7. CLOSE → am release, atm kill session, br close with evidence
Checkpoint: first lane shows engagement (artifact, wait-goal-engaged, or CPU)
before dispatching the second.
Spawn contract
Minimal collaborative spawn (from CEP duel pattern):
LABEL=<short-name>
SESSION="agentops--$LABEL"
BEAD_ID=<optional>
RESERVE_GLOBS="docs/contracts/ cli/internal/"
atm spawn agentops --label "$LABEL" --no-user \
--cc=1:opus --cod=1:gpt-5.5 \
--reserve "$RESERVE_GLOBS" \
--no-cass-context --ready-timeout=2m --json
atm mapping --session="$SESSION"
atm send "$SESSION" --pane=1 --file packet-opus.md \
--no-cass-check --force-non-interactive
atm codex preflight --session "$SESSION" --pane 2 --json
atm send "$SESSION" --pane=2 --codex-goal --file packet-codex.md \
--no-cass-check --force-non-interactive --json
atm codex wait-goal-engaged --session "$SESSION" --pane 2 --json
Full checklist: references/spawn-checklist.md.
Pane verify: after spawn, run atm mapping --session="$SESSION" (or the equivalent pane-layout inspect documented in $using-atm) and match pane numbers to the table below before atm send.
--reserve: pass one quoted flag value listing all lane globs space-separated (e.g. --reserve "/path/opus/ /path/codex/"). Do not pass two separate quoted arguments or bare tokens after --reserve.
Pane addressing (see checklist table):
| Session shape | Opus | Codex | AGY |
|---|
--no-user (dual) | pane 1 | pane 2 | — |
--no-user (tri-vendor) | pane 1 | pane 2 | pane 3 |
| User pane present | pane 2 | pane 3 | — |
With user attach, --agent=1 == --pane=2 (Opus). Prefer --agent for workers when tri-pane.
Codex cold engage: optional --codex-goal on first send may timeout before the TUI is warm. Retry the send and/or run atm codex wait-goal-engaged again — advisory only; does not block spawn/teardown.
Tri-vendor extension (Opus + Codex + AGY)
Optional three worker panes — Claude Opus, Codex, and AGY (Antigravity
interactive TUI) — with --no-user. This is not the anti-pattern
“three-pane dual” (user attach + two workers); tri-vendor is worker-only and
smoke-tested as agentops--dual-pane-agy-smoke.
LABEL=dual-pane-agy-smoke
SESSION="agentops--$LABEL"
RESERVE_GLOBS="/tmp/dual-pane-opus/ /tmp/dual-pane-codex/ /tmp/dual-pane-agy/"
atm spawn agentops --label "$LABEL" --no-user \
--cc=1:opus --cod=1:gpt-5.5 --agy=1 \
--reserve "$RESERVE_GLOBS" \
--no-cass-context --ready-timeout=2m --json
Pane map (--no-user, tri-vendor): 1 = Opus, 2 = Codex, 3 = AGY (tmux
window :1 on typical ATM layouts).
Sends:
| Pane | Contract |
|---|
| 1 Opus | atm send "$SESSION" --pane=1 --file packet-opus.md (same as dual-pane) |
| 2 Codex | atm codex preflight --pane 2 until recommended_action: proceed, then --codex-goal --file + wait-goal-engaged — do not --codex-goal while preflight says wait |
| 3 AGY | atm send "$SESSION" --agy --file packet-agy.md (or --pane=3) — interactive AGY TUI only; not agy -p, not gemini -p |
Verify panes: prefer spawn --json panes[] or tmux list-panes -t "$SESSION:1".
When Agent Mail is unavailable, atm mapping --session="$SESSION" may be empty
despite healthy panes — do not treat empty mapping as spawn failure.
Observability gap: atm activity may list only Claude + Codex lanes and omit
AGY; use tmux capture on pane 3 for AGY liveness.
Checklist block: references/spawn-checklist.md § Tri-vendor (+AGY).
In-session duel (no durable panes)
For a one-shot one-way-door decision ("duel it out"), you don't need
persistent panes — run the same mixed-model duel in-session:
- Spawn ≥3 perspective subagents via the Agent tool with
model: override
(e.g. opus + fable) — each argues one opposed thesis, attacks the others,
names its own weakness. Independent contexts = a real duel.
- Add the cross-family voice with
codex exec "<prompt>" </dev/null
(</dev/null dodges the exec stdin-stall). Never claude -p (LAW 0).
- Winnow to a SynthesisPacket; opposed theses that converge on the same slice
are the signal. This is the substrate
$discovery's fanout gate runs.
Durable panes (above) for multi-session/long-running work; in-session for a
single bounded decision. $reverse-engineer routes one-way-door steals here.
Work-split patterns
Pick one before spawn; declare it in the coordination ledger and both packets.
| Pattern | Opus lane | Codex lane | Reserve split |
|---|
| Disjoint ownership | Overlay/docs (docs/contracts/) | CLI/Go (cli/) | Per-lane globs |
| Explore + write | Read-only $research or architecture draft | $implement on scoped slice | Write lane reserves hot paths only |
| Author + refuter (light) | Author implementation or design doc | Read-only $review or refuter prompt | Author reserves write paths; refuter read-only |
| Dual draft → synthesize | Draft A to DRAFT_OPUS.md | Draft B to DRAFT_CODEX.md | Orchestrator-owned output dir only |
Matrix + selection guide: references/work-split-matrix.md.
Dispatch
- Whole skills per pane — e.g.
atm send … --file packet.md where packet
contains $implement ag-1234 or $rpi ag-1234 --auto, not per-phase ATM glue.
- Codex: always
--codex-goal + preflight + wait-goal-engaged.
- Claude: direct
--file or inline prompt; interactive pane only.
- Headless Codex only when operator explicitly requests it — use
$codex-exec, not a TUI pane.
Example packets:
# packet-opus.md
$implement ag-xyz — own docs/contracts/claim-registry.yaml only.
Write progress to br note on ag-xyz every 30m. Coordinate via am; reserve before edit.
# packet-codex.md
$implement ag-xyz — own cli/internal/gates/claim*.go only.
Run tests; post test_tail to br note. Do not touch docs/contracts/.
Coordination
Join-key: bead_id (or epic id) threads br notes, reserves, and optional
ledger. Both lanes reference the same id in mail subjects and commit messages.
Agent Mail (am):
am macros start-session
am file_reservations reserve <proj> <agent> "<path/glob>"
Worktree-per-bead: mandatory for implementation splits —
shared checkout discipline.
Optional ledger (.agents/dual-pane/coordination.json):
{
"session": "agentops--cep-duel",
"bead_id": "ag-xyz",
"pattern": "disjoint-ownership",
"lanes": {
"opus": {"pane": 1, "reserve": ["docs/"], "skill": "$implement"},
"codex": {"pane": 2, "reserve": ["cli/"], "skill": "$implement"}
},
"artifacts": [],
"converged": false
}
Orchestrator updates artifacts and flips converged at synthesis. Ledger pane values assume --no-user (Opus 1, Codex 2); use 2/3 when a user pane is present.
Operator tending
This skill owns spawn + split + dispatch; live tending defers to
$using-atm §Observing lanes and
$vibing-with-ntm tick loop.
Essentials:
- Meter lies —
atm activity / context-% freeze for Codex; never respawn
from meter alone.
atm save <session> — Claude pane truth; for Codex use
atm codex palette-state --json / preflight --json.- Artifacts beat narrative — PR, branch, output file,
br show, test tail.
- Gate interrupts first — answer
ACTION NEEDED / merge gate before broad watch.
- Verify lane 1 before lane 2 — boot-race drops silent sends.
Convergence criteria
Session is done when all hold:
- Each lane's declared deliverable exists (file, PR, or bead note with evidence).
- No unresolved
am reservation conflicts; write lanes released or handed off.
- For implementation splits: tests/gate pass on merged or separately verified trees.
- Orchestrator synthesis written (report or br close reason cites both lanes).
atm kill agentops--<label> after capture — do not leave idle duel panes.
Anti-patterns
- ❌ Shared checkout writes from both panes — worktree-per-bead always.
- ❌ Decomposing
$rpi into ATM steps — dispatch the whole skill once.
- ❌ Love-fest without evidence — require test tails, diffs, or gate output.
- ❌ Adversarial scoring when you need a build — use dueling-idea-wizards instead.
- ❌ Three-pane "dual" (user + two workers) — that's
$using-atm attach + workers; re-scope. Tri-vendor worker-only (Opus + Codex + AGY, --no-user) is a documented extension above — not the same anti-pattern.
- ❌
claude -p for Codex parity — interactive pane or codex exec only.
Codex twin
Per AGENTS-CODEX.md: after stabilizing this skill,
manually mirror to skills-codex/dual-pane-atm/{SKILL.md,prompt.md} and run
scripts/regen-codex-hashes.sh --only dual-pane-atm. Not auto-generated.
References
