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feat(spawn): generalise claude-handoff into agent-agnostic spawn skill - #647

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feat(spawn): generalise claude-handoff into agent-agnostic spawn skill#647
mattpocock wants to merge 4 commits into
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@mattpocock

@mattpocock mattpocock commented Jul 23, 2026 •
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Replaces claude-handoff with a generic spawn skill that hands the conversation off to a fresh background agent — chosen by one positional argument, defaulting to the agent the skill is running in.

Supported agents

claude | codex | pi | cursor | opencode | copilot (the Sandcastle set).

Design

  • SKILL.md stays sparse: it defines only what a handoff summary is (suggested skills, reference-don't-duplicate, redaction) and one invocation line. The agent-vs-agent branch collapses to one positional argument.
  • Per-agent mechanics live in spawn.sh, run but never read by the agent.
  • Management tiers (no nohup — research confirmed none of the five non-claude CLIs has a native background job manager):
    1. claude → native claude --bg --name + claude agents.
    2. herdr server running → herdr agent start "<name>" --cwd $PWD --no-focus -- <interactive agent cmd + prompt>: named, listable, readable, steerable, attachable.
    3. Fallback → transient systemd-run --user unit: systemctl --user status/stop, journalctl --user -u <unit> -f, plus a per-agent resume hint (codex exec resume <id>, pi -c, cursor-agent resume, opencode run -c, copilot --resume).
  • Prompt via heredoc/stdin (- or omitted third arg) so long summaries with embedded quotes survive; a plain positional prompt still works.

Testing

  • Stubbed claude/herdr: correct argv on both branches, multiline quoted prompts intact.
  • Real systemd-run --user fallback: journal shows the unit executed codex exec --sandbox workspace-write … with the prompt as one intact argv; transient unit self-cleaned on exit.
  • Real codex exec one-shot verified the banner prints session id: <uuid> for resume.

Note: the ~/.claude/skills/claude-handoff symlink will dangle once this merges — re-run the symlink setup to point spawn at the new path.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

mattpocock and others added 3 commits July 16, 2026 13:12
@mattpocock @claude
feat(grilling): round-by-round frontier interview
b8fd9af 
Rework grilling from one-question-at-a-time to asking the whole
frontier each round, with background sub-agents for fact-finding so
research never blocks the round. Fold the batch-grill-me experiment
into grilling and delete it. Re-sync the docs page, including how to
opt back into one-at-a-time via global CLAUDE.md.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@mattpocock @claude
feat(prototype): logic branch produces a shareable HTML demo
9c32629 
Reshape the logic branch from a terminal app into a single
self-contained HTML file a non-developer can drive: a labelled
state panel, free-play buttons, and tabbed guided walkthroughs
(scenarios) with the ordered buttons to press underneath each.
The portable pure-logic module still lifts into the real code;
the HTML shell is the throwaway primary source.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@mattpocock @claude
feat(spawn): generalise claude-handoff into agent-agnostic spawn skill
fc73c04 
SKILL.md now only defines the handoff; per-agent launch mechanics
(claude --bg vs backgrounded codex exec) live in a bundled spawn.sh
the agent runs but never reads. Prompt arrives via heredoc/stdin so
long summaries with quotes survive.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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changeset-bot Bot commented Jul 23, 2026 •
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⚠️ No Changeset found

Latest commit: 085d886

Merging this PR will not cause a version bump for any packages. If these changes should not result in a new version, you're good to go. If these changes should result in a version bump, you need to add a changeset.

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@mattpocock @claude
feat(spawn): default to the running agent; herdr-first management, no…
085d886 
… nohup

Six agents (claude, codex, pi, cursor, opencode, copilot). claude keeps
its native --bg/agents management. Everything else spawns interactively
inside herdr when its server is up (list/read/send/attach); otherwise a
transient systemd --user unit gives status/logs/stop. Research confirmed
none of the five non-claude CLIs has a native background job manager.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
@mattpocock

mattpocock commented Jul 23, 2026

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Closing — rethinking whether a generic spawn skill makes sense.

@otavio

otavio commented Jul 23, 2026

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The nice thing about that is it allows us to use it with different harnesses, avoiding the need for a specific harness UI. Especially now that you intend to make it compatible with multiple harness tools, I think that is a good move.

jaymie9019 pushed a commit to jaymie9019/mattpocock-skills that referenced this pull request Jul 25, 2026
xiaoma @claude
Merge upstream/spawn-skill (PR mattpocock#647, 4 commits)
1247b8d 
Unmerged upstream PR, taken directly:
- grilling: round-by-round frontier interview (design tree model,
  fact-finding dispatched to sub-agents)
- prototype: logic branch produces a shareable HTML demo
- new in-progress skill spawn, generalising claude-handoff to any of
  claude/codex/pi/cursor/opencode/copilot (claude-handoff removed)

Fork divergences resolved:
- batch-grill-me stays graduated in productivity (upstream deletes its
  in-progress copy, having folded the frontier idea into grilling)
- in-progress README: spawn entry replaces claude-handoff (upstream's
  branch left it stale), graduated to-questionnaire stays unlisted

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
jaymie9019 pushed a commit to jaymie9019/mattpocock-skills that referenced this pull request Jul 25, 2026
xiaoma @claude
Merge upstream/writing-for-agents-rename (PR mattpocock#650, 3 commits)
55cb26c 
Unmerged upstream PR, taken directly:
- feat!: rename writing-great-skills to writing-for-agents and
  restructure — universal writing reference in SKILL.md, skill-only
  mechanics moved to SKILL-MECHANICS.md, GLOSSARY removed
- grilling frontier rounds + prototype HTML demo commits came already
  merged via PR mattpocock#647

Fork divergences resolved:
- root .claude-plugin/plugin.json stays deleted (the fork ships a
  per-bucket marketplace, not upstream's single plugin)
- top-level + productivity READMEs: rename adopted, fork's graduated
  to-questionnaire entries kept
- batch-grill-me stays graduated in productivity

Fixed the rename's metadata for the fork's invocation conventions:
- restored disable-model-invocation: true in SKILL.md (the rename
  dropped it; openai.yaml's allow_implicit_invocation: false and the
  README's User-invoked section both say user-invoked was the intent)
- openai.yaml display_name/short_description: 'Writing Great Skills'
  -> 'Writing for Agents'

Fork follow-ups:
- productivity plugin.json skills entry ./writing-great-skills ->
  ./writing-for-agents; plugin/marketplace descriptions 'writing
  great skills' -> 'writing for agents'
- docs/learn pointer table tracks the rename

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
jaymie9019 pushed a commit to jaymie9019/mattpocock-skills that referenced this pull request Jul 25, 2026
xiaoma @claude
feat!: remove batch-grill-me, superseded by grilling's frontier rounds
6d09f1e 
Upstream folded batch-grill-me's round-by-round frontier interview
into grilling itself (PR mattpocock#647), so the standalone skill is redundant:
/grill-me now walks the same rounds natively.

- remove skills/productivity/batch-grill-me/ and its docs page
- drop it from the productive plugin.json and both READMEs
- ask-matt: fold the rounds behaviour into the /grill-me entry

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@kyle-sexton kyle-sexton mentioned this pull request Jul 26, 2026
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