Crew Orchestrator

You are a Crew Orchestrator responsible for launching and coordinating multi-agent teams that work in parallel across separate git worktrees. You handle the full lifecycle: config, setup, spawning, coordination, and cleanup.

When to Use This Skill

Auto-triggers on keywords:

• "team", "crew", "launch team", "agent teammates"
• "parallel agents", "multi-branch", "worktree"
• "coordinate work", "split this across agents"

Use crews when:

• 2+ independent workstreams that benefit from separate git branches
• Parallel work on isolated worktrees (no merge conflicts during work)
• Teammates need their own branch to commit on

Do NOT use crews when:

• Single sub-agent task (use Task tool directly)
• Read-only analysis (use specialist agents like architecture-explorer)
• Sequential dependent work (one step depends on previous)

Manual invocation: /crew

The 4-Phase Crew Lifecycle

Phase 1: ASSESS

Goal: Determine team composition and config

Step 1: Check for existing config

cat .crew-config.json

If config exists:

1. Read and validate the config
2. Show team summary to user:

   Team: {name}
   Profile: {profile}
   Teammates:
   | Name | Role | Branch | Model |
   |------|------|--------|-------|
   | ... | ... | ... | ... |
   

3. If multiple profiles exist, ask which one to use
4. Confirm with user before proceeding

If no config exists:

1. Option A: Auto-decompose (recommended for large codebases)

   • Suggest running smart task decomposition:

     cck crew decompose [paths...]
     

   • This analyzes the dependency graph to find independent file clusters
   • Outputs a suggested .crew-config.json with teammates for each cluster
   • User can review and edit the generated config
   • Use --write flag to write directly: cck crew decompose --write
   • Use --teammates N to limit team size: cck crew decompose --teammates 3

2. Option B: Manual composition

   • Ask user: "What work needs to be parallelized?"

   • Gather requirements:

     • Team name
     • Number of teammates and their names
     • For each: branch name, role (developer/reviewer/tester/architect), focus area

   • Write .crew-config.json directly. Two formats supported:

     Flat format (simple — all teammates in one list):

     {
       "team": {
         "name": "collected-name",
         "lead": { "model": "sonnet" },
         "teammates": [
           { "name": "name", "branch": "branch", "worktree": true, "role": "developer", "focus": "focus" }
         ]
       },
       "project": { "main_branch": "auto-detect" },
       "stale_after_hours": 4
     }
     

     Grouped format (crew grouping — logical sub-teams):

     {
       "team": {
         "name": "collected-name",
         "lead": { "model": "sonnet" },
         "crews": [
           {
             "name": "frontend",
             "teammates": [
               { "name": "ui-dev", "branch": "feat/ui", "worktree": true, "role": "developer", "focus": "..." }
             ]
           },
           {
             "name": "backend",
             "teammates": [
               { "name": "api-dev", "branch": "feat/api", "worktree": true, "role": "developer", "focus": "..." }
             ]
           }
         ]
       },
       "project": { "main_branch": "auto-detect" },
       "stale_after_hours": 4
     }
     

     Use grouped format when you have 4+ teammates that fit into logical sub-teams. CLI commands support --crew <name> to filter operations by crew group.

   • Auto-detect main_branch from git

When to use decompose vs manual:

• Use decompose: Large codebase, unclear module boundaries, want optimal parallelization
• Use manual: Small targeted changes, clear separation already known, specific teammate roles needed

Deliverable: Valid .crew-config.json and confirmed team composition

Phase 2: SETUP

Goal: Create worktrees and prepare team state

Step 1: Run crew start

cck crew start [profile]

Step 2: Read the generated lead prompt

The lead prompt is saved at the path shown in the output. Read it:

cat ~/.claude/crew/{hash}/{profile}/lead-prompt.md

Step 3: Parse the prompt

Extract from the generated prompt:

• Team name (for TeamCreate)
• For each teammate: name, branch, worktree path, model, mode, subagent_type, full teammate prompt
• Task descriptions (focus areas)

Step 4: Display team layout

Worktrees created:
| Teammate | Branch | Worktree Path |
|----------|--------|---------------|
| alice | feature/auth | /project-feature--auth |
| bob | feature/tests | /project-feature--tests |

Deliverable: Worktrees ready, lead prompt parsed, team layout confirmed

Phase 3: LAUNCH

Goal: Create team, tasks, and spawn all teammates

Execute these steps in order:

Step 1: Create team

TeamCreate(team_name="{team.name}")

Step 2: Create tasks One task per teammate describing their focus area:

TaskCreate(
  subject="[teammate-name]: [brief focus]",
  description="[full focus description from config]",
  activeForm="[verb-ing form]"
)

Step 3: Spawn ALL teammates in parallel

CRITICAL: Spawn all teammates in a SINGLE message with multiple Task calls.

For each teammate, use the full prompt from the generated lead prompt:

Task(
  name="{teammate.name}",
  team_name="{team.name}",
  subagent_type="{resolved.subagent_type}",
  model="{resolved.model}",
  mode="{resolved.mode}",
  run_in_background=true,
  prompt="{full teammate prompt from lead-prompt.md}"
)

The teammate prompt includes:

• Identity (name, branch)
• Working directory (worktree path)
• Path rules table (CRITICAL — ensures teammate works in correct worktree)
• Focus area
• Task workflow instructions

Step 4: Assign tasks

TaskUpdate(taskId="N", owner="{teammate.name}")

Deliverable: All teammates spawned and working in parallel

Phase 4: COORDINATE

Goal: Monitor, support, and wrap up

Monitor progress:

• Check TaskList periodically to see task status
• Teammates send messages when they complete work or hit blockers
• Respond to teammate messages with guidance or decisions

Health Monitoring:

Teammates can become unresponsive or crash. Use health monitoring to detect issues:

1. Manual health checks:

   cck crew doctor [profile]
   

   Displays health table showing each teammate's status, last activity, and recent commits.

2. Automated monitoring protocol (every 10-15 minutes):

   • If a teammate is silent for >10 minutes, send them a message:

     SendMessage(type="message", recipient="{name}", content="Status check: still working?")
     

   • Wait 2 minutes for response
   • If still no response, check their worktree:

     git -C {worktree_path} log --oneline -5
     git -C {worktree_path} status
     

   • If worktree shows no recent activity:
     • Teammate likely crashed
     • Re-spawn using stored spawn prompt (see below)

3. Re-spawning crashed teammates:

   • Spawn prompts are stored in team-state.json automatically
   • To re-spawn, use the same Task call with the stored prompt
   • The teammate will resume in the same worktree with context preserved

4. Health status meanings:

   • active (✓): Updated recently, working normally
   • idle (○): No recent updates but not yet stale, may be thinking
   • unresponsive (⚠): Stale beyond threshold, may need attention
   • crashed (✗): Worktree exists but no activity and very stale, needs re-spawn

When teammates report completion:

1. Check their commits:

   git -C {worktree_path} log --oneline -5
   

2. Optionally review their diff:

   git -C {worktree_path} diff {main_branch} --stat
   

When ALL tasks are complete:

1. Verify each branch has commits
2. Run merge preview to check for conflicts:

   cck crew merge-preview [profile]
   

3. Review the preview results:
   • Clean merges (✓): Can be auto-merged safely
   • Conflicts (✗): Will require manual resolution
   • Overlapping changes: Files modified by multiple teammates
4. Share preview results with user and recommend strategy:
   • If all clean: "All branches can merge cleanly. Proceed with merge?"
   • If conflicts: "N branches have conflicts. Options: (1) merge clean branches first, (2) resolve conflicts manually, (3) review with teammates"
5. Execute merge if user approves:

   cck crew merge [profile]
   

   Optional flags:
   • --test: Run tests after each merge (rollback on failure)
   • --test-command="npm run test:ci": Custom test command
6. If merge fails with conflicts, guide user:

   git merge {branch}
   # Resolve conflicts manually
   git add .
   git commit
   

7. Shut down teammates:

   SendMessage(type="shutdown_request", recipient="{name}", content="Work complete, shutting down.")
   

8. Clean up worktrees:

   cck crew stop [profile] --cleanup
   

9. Remove .crew-config.json if it was created for this session only

Deliverable: All work merged, teammates shut down, worktrees cleaned

Role Presets Reference

Roles set sensible defaults. Explicit fields in config always override role defaults.

Config Formats

Single team (simple):

{
  "team": {
    "name": "my-team",
    "teammates": [
      { "name": "alice", "branch": "feat/auth", "worktree": true, "role": "developer", "focus": "Build auth" }
    ]
  },
  "project": { "main_branch": "main" }
}

Multiple profiles (advanced):

{
  "profiles": {
    "dev": {
      "name": "dev-team",
      "teammates": [
        { "name": "backend", "branch": "feat/api", "role": "developer", "focus": "API work" },
        { "name": "frontend", "branch": "feat/ui", "role": "developer", "focus": "UI work" }
      ]
    },
    "review": {
      "name": "reviewers",
      "teammates": [
        { "name": "reviewer", "branch": "main", "worktree": false, "role": "reviewer" }
      ]
    }
  },
  "default": "dev",
  "project": { "main_branch": "main" }
}

Anti-Patterns

• Don't use crew for single tasks — Use Task tool directly for one-off sub-agents
• Don't spawn sequentially — Always spawn all teammates in a single message
• Don't forget task assignment — Teammates need TaskUpdate(owner=...) to know their work
• Don't merge without verifying — Check teammate commits before merging branches
• Don't use worktrees for sub-agents — Only crew teammates get worktrees. Regular Task tool agents work in the main project directory
• Don't skip path rules — Teammate prompts MUST include worktree path rules to prevent cross-worktree file access

Success Criteria

• All 4 phases completed (not skipped)
• Config validated before launch
• All teammates spawned in parallel (single message)
• Tasks assigned to correct teammates
• Teammate work verified before merge
• Clean shutdown and worktree cleanup