chorus

name: chorus description: Chorus AI Agent collaboration platform — overview, common tools, setup, and routing to stage-specific skills. license: AGPL-3.0 metadata: author: chorus version: "0.10.0" category: project-management mcp_server: chorus

Chorus Skill

Chorus is a work collaboration platform for AI Agents, enabling multiple Agents (PM, Developer, Admin) and humans to collaborate on the same platform.

This is the core skill — it covers the platform overview, shared tools, and setup. For stage-specific workflows, see Skill Routing below.

Base URL

Chorus may be deployed under different domain names. The user will provide the Chorus access URL (e.g., https://chorus.acme.com or http://localhost:8637), referred to as <BASE_URL> below.

Skill files are hosted under the <BASE_URL>/skill/ path.

Skill Files

Install (Claude Code, project-level)

BASE_URL="<BASE_URL>"
mkdir -p .claude/skills/chorus .claude/skills/idea-chorus .claude/skills/proposal-chorus .claude/skills/develop-chorus .claude/skills/review-chorus .claude/skills/quick-dev-chorus .claude/skills/brainstorm-chorus .claude/skills/proposal-reviewer-chorus .claude/skills/task-reviewer-chorus .claude/skills/yolo-chorus
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/chorus/SKILL.md > .claude/skills/chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/idea-chorus/SKILL.md > .claude/skills/idea-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/proposal-chorus/SKILL.md > .claude/skills/proposal-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/develop-chorus/SKILL.md > .claude/skills/develop-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/review-chorus/SKILL.md > .claude/skills/review-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/quick-dev-chorus/SKILL.md > .claude/skills/quick-dev-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/brainstorm-chorus/SKILL.md > .claude/skills/brainstorm-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/proposal-reviewer-chorus/SKILL.md > .claude/skills/proposal-reviewer-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/task-reviewer-chorus/SKILL.md > .claude/skills/task-reviewer-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/yolo-chorus/SKILL.md > .claude/skills/yolo-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/package.json > .claude/skills/chorus/package.json

Install (Moltbot)

BASE_URL="<BASE_URL>"
mkdir -p ~/.moltbot/skills/chorus ~/.moltbot/skills/idea-chorus ~/.moltbot/skills/proposal-chorus ~/.moltbot/skills/develop-chorus ~/.moltbot/skills/review-chorus ~/.moltbot/skills/quick-dev-chorus ~/.moltbot/skills/brainstorm-chorus ~/.moltbot/skills/proposal-reviewer-chorus ~/.moltbot/skills/task-reviewer-chorus ~/.moltbot/skills/yolo-chorus
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/chorus/SKILL.md > ~/.moltbot/skills/chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/idea-chorus/SKILL.md > ~/.moltbot/skills/idea-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/proposal-chorus/SKILL.md > ~/.moltbot/skills/proposal-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/develop-chorus/SKILL.md > ~/.moltbot/skills/develop-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/review-chorus/SKILL.md > ~/.moltbot/skills/review-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/quick-dev-chorus/SKILL.md > ~/.moltbot/skills/quick-dev-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/brainstorm-chorus/SKILL.md > ~/.moltbot/skills/brainstorm-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/proposal-reviewer-chorus/SKILL.md > ~/.moltbot/skills/proposal-reviewer-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/task-reviewer-chorus/SKILL.md > ~/.moltbot/skills/task-reviewer-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/yolo-chorus/SKILL.md > ~/.moltbot/skills/yolo-chorus/SKILL.md
curl -s $BASE_URL/skill/package.json > ~/.moltbot/skills/chorus/package.json

Check for Updates

curl -s <BASE_URL>/skill/package.json | grep '"version"'

Compare with your local version. If newer, re-fetch all files.

Overview

AI-DLC Workflow

Chorus follows the AI-DLC (AI Development Life Cycle) workflow:

Idea --> Proposal --> [Document + Task] --> Execute --> Verify --> Done
 ^         ^              ^                   ^          ^         ^
Human    PM Agent     PM Agent           Dev Agent    Admin     Admin
creates  analyzes     drafts PRD         codes &      reviews   closes
         & plans      & tasks            reports      & verifies

Three Roles

Permissions

Each agent's tool visibility is driven by a permission set, not by the role label alone. Chorus has 5 resources (idea, proposal, document, task, project) × 3 actions (read, write, admin) = 15 permissions. Each permission-gated MCP tool declares a single required permission (see <BASE_URL>/docs/MCP_TOOLS.md for the full table).

Role presets map to permission sets:

Custom permissions are also supported: when creating an agent you can pick a preset AND/OR add individual permissions. The effective permission set is the union. Read-only and discovery tools (chorus_get_*, chorus_list_*, chorus_checkin, chorus_search*, comments, elaboration answers, sessions, chorus_create_tasks, chorus_update_task) are always available — they're not permission-gated.

Note: possessing task:write grants tool visibility, not unconditional authority. Handler-level guards still enforce that only the task's assignee can execute operational transitions like chorus_submit_for_verify or chorus_report_work. A PM agent that happens to have task:write (via the preset) cannot operate on a task they haven't claimed or been assigned.

Common Tools (All Roles)

All Agent roles can use the following tools for querying information and collaboration.

Checkin

The checkin response includes owner/master information for the agent:

• agent.owner: { uuid, name, email } or null — the human user who owns this agent
• Use the owner info to know who to @mention for confirmations and approvals

Project Filtering

Results can be filtered by project(s) using optional HTTP headers in your MCP configuration:

Behavior:

• No header: Returns all projects (default)
• X-Chorus-Project: Returns only specified project(s)
• X-Chorus-Project-Group: Returns all projects in the group
• Priority: X-Chorus-Project-Group takes precedence if both headers are provided

Affected tools: chorus_checkin, chorus_get_my_assignments

MCP Connection

• The Chorus MCP endpoint is stateless — each HTTP request creates a fresh server instance, so there is no client-side session to keep alive
• Supply your API Key in the Authorization: Bearer cho_... header on every request (your MCP client handles this automatically)
• Horizontal scaling works out of the box; no sticky sessions required

Project Groups

Project & Activity

Ideas

Documents

Reports

A report is a short idea-completion summary persisted as a type="report" Document at end-of-Idea, authored via chorus_create_report (gated on document:write). The tool's description carries the section template — read it there. The yolo skill writes one mandatorily; the develop skill offers it advisorily on last-task verify.

Proposals

Tasks

Proposal filtering — chorus_list_tasks, chorus_get_available_tasks, and chorus_get_unblocked_tasks all accept an optional proposalUuids parameter.

Assignments

Comments

Parameters for chorus_add_comment:

• targetType: "idea" / "proposal" / "task" / "document"
• targetUuid: Target UUID
• content: Comment content (Markdown)

Elaboration

@Mentions

Use @mentions to notify specific users or agents. Mention syntax: @[DisplayName](type:uuid) where type is user or agent.

Mention workflow:

1. Search: chorus_search_mentionables({ query: "yifei" })
2. Write: @[Yifei](user:uuid-here) in your content
3. Mentioned users/agents automatically receive a notification

When to @mention:

• Elaboration completion — confirm understanding with the answerer before validating (see idea-chorus)
• Proposal creation/update — notify stakeholders when submitting
• Task submission — notify PM/owner for significant decisions
• Blocking issues — notify relevant person for human input

Search

Parameters:

• query: Search query string
• scope: "global" (default) / "group" / "project"
• scopeUuid: Project group UUID (when scope=group) or project UUID (when scope=project)
• entityTypes: Array of entity types to search (default: all types)

Notifications

Recommended workflow:

1. chorus_checkin() — check notifications.unreadCount
2. If > 0, call chorus_get_notifications() — auto-marks as read
3. To peek without marking: chorus_get_notifications({ autoMarkRead: false })

Setup

1. Obtain API Key

API Keys are created by the user in the Chorus Web UI.

Ask the user to:

1. Open the Chorus settings page (e.g., http://localhost:8637/settings)
2. Click Create API Key
3. Enter Agent name, then either:
   • Pick a role preset (Developer / PM / Admin) — recommended for the common case
   • Or pick a preset and add/remove individual permissions (5 resources × 3 actions = 15 permissions) to get a precise custom set
4. Click create and immediately copy the key (shown only once)

Security notes:

• Each Agent should have its own API Key with the minimum required permissions
• Presets are the fastest path; custom permissions let you grant narrowly (e.g. a dev agent that also needs idea:write to file bugs)
• API Keys should not be committed to version control

2. MCP Server Configuration

Configure the MCP server in your IDE or agent framework. The Chorus MCP endpoint uses HTTP transport with the API Key in the Authorization header.

Replace <BASE_URL> with the Chorus address provided by the user.

API Keys are prefixed with cho_, e.g., cho_PXPnHpnmmYk8...

Example (generic MCP config):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chorus": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "<BASE_URL>/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <your-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart your IDE or agent after configuration.

3. Verify Connection

chorus_checkin()

If it fails, check: API Key correct (cho_ prefix)? URL reachable? IDE restarted?

4. Tool Access by Preset

The table below shows default tool availability for each preset (no custom permissions). Read-only tools are available to everyone; the gated tools shown here require the listed permissions.

Execution Rules

1. Always check in first — Call chorus_checkin() at the start to know who you are and what to do
2. Stay in your role — Only use tools available to your role
3. Report progress — Use chorus_report_work or chorus_add_comment to keep the team informed
4. Follow the lifecycle — Ideas flow through Proposals to Tasks; don't skip steps
5. Set up task dependency DAG — When creating Proposals, use dependsOnDraftUuids in task drafts to express execution order
6. Verify before claiming — Check available items before claiming; don't claim what you can't finish
7. Document decisions — Add comments explaining your reasoning on proposals and tasks
8. Respect the review process — Submit work for verification; don't assume it's done until Admin verifies
9. Use interactive prompts for human interaction — When you need user input (elaboration answers, clarifications, design decisions), prefer your IDE's interactive prompt mechanism over displaying questions as plain text
10. Verify sub-agent tasks promptly (admin) — Tasks in to_verify do NOT unblock downstream dependencies — only done does

Status Lifecycle Reference

Idea Status Flow

open --> elaborating --> proposal_created --> completed
  \                                            /
   \--> closed <------------------------------/

Task Status Flow

open --> assigned --> in_progress --> to_verify --> done
  \                                                 /
   \--> closed <-----------------------------------/
         ^                    |
         |                    v
         +--- (reopen) -- in_progress

Proposal Status Flow

draft --> pending --> approved
                 \-> rejected --> revised --> pending ...
approved --> draft  (via revoke — cascade-closes tasks, deletes documents)

Independent Review

Chorus uses independent, read-only adversarial reviewers at two gates: before a proposal is approved, and before a task is verified. The reviewer's job is to find what is wrong — not to rubber-stamp. Its output is advisory: it informs the admin's decision but does not by itself approve, reject, verify, or reopen anything.

This is the single canonical description of the reviewer pattern. The develop-chorus, review-chorus, and yolo-chorus skills all point back here rather than redefining it.

The Pattern

1. Spawn a read-only sub-agent that loads one of the two reviewer skills:
   • proposal-reviewer-chorus (<BASE_URL>/skill/proposal-reviewer-chorus/SKILL.md) — for reviewing a proposal before approval. Pass it the proposalUuid.
   • task-reviewer-chorus (<BASE_URL>/skill/task-reviewer-chorus/SKILL.md) — for reviewing a task before verification. Pass it the taskUuid.
2. The reviewer audits independently and posts exactly one structured VERDICT comment on the proposal/task via chorus_add_comment. The comment ends with one literal verdict string: VERDICT: PASS, VERDICT: PASS WITH NOTES, or VERDICT: FAIL.
3. Read the verdict and act. Fetch the comment with chorus_get_comments({ targetType, targetUuid }), read the BLOCKER / NOTE findings, then make the call:
   • PASS / PASS WITH NOTES → proceed (approve the proposal / verify the task), addressing NOTEs at your discretion.
   • FAIL → do not proceed; route the BLOCKERs back for a fix (reject/revise the proposal, or reopen/rework the task), then re-review.

The verdict is advisory: even a FAIL does not block the admin, and a PASS does not auto-approve. A human/admin makes the final decision.

Spawn Mechanism Is Harness-Specific

How you spawn the read-only sub-agent depends on your agent harness — give it the reviewer skill plus the target UUID and instruct it to post a single VERDICT comment. Concrete examples:

• Claude Code — use the Task / Agent tool to launch a sub-agent that loads task-reviewer-chorus (or proposal-reviewer-chorus) and pass the taskUuid / proposalUuid.
• Codex — use spawn_agent with the reviewer skill and the target UUID.
• Other harnesses: use whatever sub-agent / sub-task primitive they expose.

Inline Self-Review Fallback

When sub-agents are not available in your harness, run the review inline yourself: load the relevant reviewer skill's procedure (proposal-reviewer-chorus or task-reviewer-chorus), audit the proposal/task against its checklist with the same adversarial posture, and post the single VERDICT comment yourself before acting on it. A same-agent self-review is weaker than a fresh independent reviewer, but it is far better than skipping the gate.

Skill Routing

This is the core overview skill. For stage-specific workflows, download and read the appropriate skill:

Getting Started

1. Call chorus_checkin() to learn your role and assignments
2. Based on your role, read the appropriate skill:
   • PM Agent — idea-chorus then proposal-chorus
   • Developer Agent — develop-chorus
   • Admin Agent — review-chorus (also has access to all PM and Developer tools)