skills/docs/worklogs/2026-01-11-hq-architecture-orch-consensus-beads-cleanup.org

HQ Orchestrator Architecture, Orch Consensus Validation, and Beads Cleanup

• Session Summary
  • Date: 2026-01-11 (Continuation of multi-agent architecture work)
  • Focus Area: HQ orchestrator design, architecture validation via orch consensus, and beads issue management
• Accomplishments
• Key Decisions
  • Decision 1: Name the orchestrator "HQ"
  • Decision 2: HQ is a skill, not a daemon/binary
  • Decision 3: Use bd comments for inter-agent messaging (unanimous consensus)
  • Decision 4: Close skills-s6y (Lego epic) to unblock dependent work
• Problems & Solutions
• Technical Details
  • Code Changes
  • Commands Used
  • Architecture Notes
• Process and Workflow
  • What Worked Well
  • What Was Challenging
• Learning and Insights
  • Technical Insights
  • Process Insights
  • Architectural Insights
• Context for Future Work
  • Open Questions
  • Next Steps
  • Related Work
• Raw Notes
  • Orch Consensus Summary: BD Comments vs JSONL
  • Orch Consensus Summary: Architecture Validation
  • Beads Status After Session
• Session Metrics

Session Summary

Date: 2026-01-11 (Continuation of multi-agent architecture work)

Focus Area: HQ orchestrator design, architecture validation via orch consensus, and beads issue management

Accomplishments

• Named the orchestrator "HQ" (headquarters) - 2 chars, fits naming convention (bd, orch)
• Defined HQ as a skill, not a binary - any agent with the skill can orchestrate
• Ran orch consensus on bd comments vs JSONL for inter-agent messaging - unanimous support for bd comments
• Ran orch consensus on overall architecture - validated "Lego brick" approach with gap analysis
• Created HQ feature issue (skills-2l4e) with 4 sub-tasks
• Filed 5 new issues from consensus gap analysis (garbage collection, context pruning, event notification, retry limits, state machine docs)
• Closed skills-ms5 (message passing layer) - solved by bd comments decision
• Closed skills-iusu (bd comments evaluation) - complete, unanimous consensus
• Closed skills-s6y (Lego architecture epic) - MVP complete, architecture validated
• Unblocked 17 design/research tasks (blocked count: 23 → 4)
• Fixed worktree path bug - now uses absolute paths
• Added scenario schema and test fixtures for benchmark harness
• Completed session close protocol - all changes committed and pushed

Key Decisions

Decision 1: Name the orchestrator "HQ"

• Context: Needed a short, memorable name for the orchestration skill

• Options considered:

  1. helm - taken by Kubernetes package manager
  2. con (conductor) - too short, ambiguous
  3. deck - nautical theme but unclear
  4. cap (captain) - too generic
  5. ops - conflicts with operations
  6. hq (headquarters) - 2 chars, clear meaning
• Rationale: HQ is short (2 chars like bd, orch), universally understood, implies coordination/command center
• Impact: All orchestration work will use "hq" as the skill name and CLI prefix

Decision 2: HQ is a skill, not a daemon/binary

• Context: How should the orchestrator be implemented?

• Options considered:

  1. Daemon/service watching for events
  2. CLI binary with polling
  3. Skill (markdown instructions + scripts) that any agent can load
• Rationale: A skill fits the "Lego brick" philosophy - no new infrastructure, any capable agent becomes an orchestrator by loading the skill
• Impact: Implementation focuses on SKILL.md design and helper scripts rather than new binaries

Decision 3: Use bd comments for inter-agent messaging (unanimous consensus)

• Context: How should agents communicate status and coordinate?

• Options considered:

  1. Option A: Use existing bd issue comments (append-only, structured prefixes)
  2. Option B: Build new JSONL message transport layer

• Rationale: Orch consensus (flash-or, gemini, gpt, qwen) unanimously supported Option A:

  • Unified source of truth with issue tracker
  • Zero infrastructure overhead
  • Human-readable and debuggable
  • Context size manageable with –last N and periodic summarization
• Impact: Closed skills-ms5, no new message layer needed, focus on bd comment conventions

Decision 4: Close skills-s6y (Lego epic) to unblock dependent work

• Context: 17 design/research issues blocked by the main architecture epic

• Rationale:

  • Core MVP complete: worker CLI, state machine, review-gate, branch isolation
  • Architecture validated by orch consensus
  • Remaining blocked items are design tasks that can proceed
• Impact: Blocked count dropped from 23 to 4, ready-to-work increased from 21 to 38

Problems & Solutions

Problem	Solution	Learning
Relative worktree path failed from inside worktree	Changed worktreePath() to use findMainRepoDir() for absolute paths	Always use absolute paths for operations that may run from different working directories
Test suite didn't catch path bug because it bypassed done command	Bug discovered during manual spike testing	Manual integration tests catch what unit tests miss
23 issues blocked by architecture epic	Closed epic after MVP complete, architecture validated	Epics should be closed when core work is done to unblock dependent tasks
Qwen returned empty response in orch consensus	Other 3 models provided clear responses	Multi-model consensus is robust to individual model failures

Technical Details

Code Changes

• Total files modified: 15 (across all commits)

• Key files changed:

  • src/worker/utils.nim - Fixed worktreePath() to return absolute path using findMainRepoDir()
  • src/worker/tests/test-worker.sh - Added sqlite3 availability check

• New files created:

  • docs/specs/scenario-schema.md - YAML schema for agent capability test scenarios
  • tests/scenarios/easy/add-factorial.yaml - Easy difficulty test scenario
  • tests/scenarios/medium/add-caching-to-api.yaml - Medium difficulty scenario
  • tests/scenarios/hard/fix-race-condition.yaml - Hard difficulty scenario
  • tests/fixtures/python-math-lib/ - Python fixture for testing
  • tests/fixtures/flask-user-api/ - Flask API fixture placeholder

Commands Used

# Orch consensus queries
orch query --models flash-or,gemini,gpt,qwen "Support or challenge..."

# Beads management
bd close skills-ms5 --reason="Solved by bd comments approach..."
bd close skills-s6y --reason="MVP complete: worker CLI, state machine..."
bd blocked  # Check remaining blocked issues
bd stats    # Verify impact of closures

# Session close protocol
bd sync
git add <files>
git commit -m "..."
git push

Architecture Notes

• HQ skill structure: SKILL.md (instructions) + helper scripts (hq-status, hq-spawn, hq-check)
• Worker template: System prompt for workers operating in worktree context
• BD comments as message layer: Structured prefixes (status:, plan:, agent:), –last N filtering, periodic summarization
• Gaps identified by consensus: garbage collection, locking/race conditions, context pruning, cost budgets, retry limits, state machine invariants

Process and Workflow

What Worked Well

• Orch consensus for validating architecture - multiple perspectives caught gaps
• Manual spike testing - found real bug that tests missed
• Batch closing related issues - efficient beads management
• Session compaction preserved essential context for continuation

What Was Challenging

• Balancing design depth vs implementation progress
• Determining when an epic is "done enough" to close
• Qwen returning empty response (compensated by other models)

Learning and Insights

Technical Insights

• Absolute paths essential for operations that run from different directories
• Git worktree path resolution is context-dependent
• Multi-model consensus provides robust architectural validation

Process Insights

• Orch consensus is effective for binary decisions (Option A vs B)
• Closing blocking epics when core work is done unblocks significant downstream work
• Manual integration spikes catch issues automated tests miss

Architectural Insights

• "Skill as orchestrator" pattern avoids infrastructure complexity
• Existing primitives (bd comments) often sufficient - resist building new layers
• Unix philosophy applies to AI orchestration: small, composable, text-based

Context for Future Work

Open Questions

• How should HQ handle concurrent human + agent modifications?
• What's the right heartbeat/timeout for stale worker detection?
• How to summarize bd comment history without losing critical context?
• Should HQ be model-agnostic or tuned for specific models?

Next Steps

Ready-to-work issues (now unblocked):

• skills-21ka: Design HQ SKILL.md - orchestration instructions
• skills-cg7c: Design worker system prompt template
• skills-3j55: Create hq-status script
• skills-w9a4: Garbage collection / janitor for orphaned workers
• skills-8hyz: Context pruning for bd comments
• skills-vdup: Retry limits and escalation policy
• skills-s2bt: State machine invariants documentation

Related Work

• Previous worklog: Worker CLI Cleanup (same day, earlier session)
• Previous worklog: Multi-Agent Lego Architecture Design
• Orch consensus output: tmp/claude-home-dan-proj-skills/tasks/b019872.output (architecture validation)
• Orch consensus output: tmp/claude-home-dan-proj-skills/tasks/b6d9640.output (bd comments decision)

Raw Notes

Orch Consensus Summary: BD Comments vs JSONL

All 4 models (flash-or, gemini, gpt, qwen) supported Option A (bd comments):

• "Fits your 'Lego bricks' principle" (GPT)
• "Unified source of truth means human developers and AI agents share the same context" (Gemini Flash)
• "Avoid the 'distributed systems' trap of syncing a separate message layer" (Gemini)
• "Lower maintenance overhead… reduces complexity and potential failure points" (Qwen)

Recommended mitigations for context size:

• –last N filtering
• Structured prefixes (status:, plan:, agent:)
• Periodic summarization by manager agent
• State checkpoints in pinned comments

Orch Consensus Summary: Architecture Validation

Support with identified gaps:

1. Garbage collection - orphaned worktrees, stuck workers, abandoned locks
2. Locking/race conditions - file locks with TTL, idempotent operations
3. Context pruning - summarize closed issue history
4. Cost/budget controls - token limits, spawn limits
5. Retry limits - escalate to human after N failures
6. State machine invariants - document allowed transitions
7. Event notification - inotify/watcher vs polling tradeoff

Beads Status After Session

• Open: 42 (was 44)
• Blocked: 4 (was 23)
• Ready to work: 38 (was 21)
• Closed: 200 (was 197)

Remaining blocked issues (legitimate dependencies):

• skills-2l4e (HQ) - blocked by its sub-tasks
• skills-kg7 (Desktop automation) - blocked by AT-SPI chain
• skills-hf1 (Cross-agent portability) - blocked by research tasks

Session Metrics

• Commits made: 4 (excluding bd sync commits)
• Files touched: 15
• Lines added/removed: +660/-26
• Issues created: 6 (HQ feature + 5 gap tasks)
• Issues closed: 3 (ms5, iusu, s6y)
• Issues unblocked: 17