kanban

name: kanban description: Atomic self-service kanban operations for the research team. Use when claiming a task, proposing a task, self-allocating work, relinquishing a task, marking a task done, reading the board, or updating the orchestrator signal. All researcher agents use this skill instead of waiting for orchestrator approval.

Kanban Skill (Self-Service)

All researcher agents use skills/kanban/scripts/kanban.sh for atomic kanban operations. The orchestrator retains signal authority but no longer performs row-level edits for task assignment or completion.

Operations

Read the board

skills/kanban/scripts/kanban.sh read

Lock-free. Always read first. Check the signal line before acting:

• GOOD DAY — work normally (claim tasks, self-direct).
• DO SUGGESTIONS — propose tasks only, do not claim or start work.
• STOP JOB — save memory, approve any pending shutdown_request, terminate.

Claim an open task

skills/kanban/scripts/kanban.sh claim <your-name> "<task-substring>"

Atomically writes your name into the Assignee column of the first unclaimed row whose Task column contains the substring. Returns the resulting line.

• Exit 0 — you own it. Start working.
• Exit 1 — no unclaimed row matches the pattern. Pick another task.
• Exit 2 — someone else claimed it first. Pick another task.

Propose a task (for anyone)

skills/kanban/scripts/kanban.sh propose <source-code> "<task description>"

Adds a row with empty Assignee. Source codes: or co cr ma ph st.

Self-allocate a task

skills/kanban/scripts/kanban.sh self <your-name> <source-code> "<task description>"

Creates a row with your name already in Assignee. Start immediately.

Relinquish a task

skills/kanban/scripts/kanban.sh relinquish <your-name> "<task-substring>"

Clears your name from the matching row. The task becomes open again.

Complete a task

skills/kanban/scripts/kanban.sh done "<task-substring>"

Deletes the row. Git history is the archive.

Update the orchestrator signal (orchestrator only)

skills/kanban/scripts/kanban.sh signal "<message>"

Writes or replaces the Orchestrator says: line at the end of the kanban.

Protocol

1. Read before acting. Always run read first. Check the signal line. Obey STOP JOB immediately. Under DO SUGGESTIONS, only propose.
2. Claim or self-allocate before working. Your name must appear in the Assignee column before you start substantive work on a task.
3. One task at a time. Complete or relinquish before claiming another.
4. Inform the orchestrator. After claim or self, send a short message (<=120 chars): "claimed: <topic>" or "self: <topic>". This is informational — the kanban row IS the authorization, not the orchestrator's reply. Do not wait for a reply before starting.
5. Delete your own completions. When done, run done yourself. Then message: "done: <topic>" (<=120 chars).
6. Pattern specificity. Use enough of the task description to uniquely match. If the script warns about multiple matches, use a longer substring. Minimum pattern length: 3 characters.

Atomicity

Every write operation acquires an exclusive flock on meta/.kanban.lock. Only one agent can edit the kanban at a time. The lock is held for the duration of a single operation (milliseconds). Read is lock-free.

What Changed

Previously, agents announced self: <topic> and waited for the orchestrator to edit the kanban (the "go" signal). Now, agents edit the kanban directly via this script. The orchestrator still:

• Seeds initial tasks (via propose or signal)
• Manages signals (GOOD DAY / DO SUGGESTIONS / STOP JOB)
• Handles publication track, commits, shutdowns
• Can redirect agents via messages (informational steering, not gating)

The orchestrator no longer approves individual task claims.