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Tier 1Intent
objectives, constraints, “done when”status, decisions needed, asks
Tier 2First mates
check load, open a workspace on a free boxvisible panes, progress, stalls
Tier 3Routing
initiative brief (INITIATIVE.md)STATUS.md, blockers, handoff
Tier 4Coordination
scoped tasks, merge ordercommits, test results, PRs
Tier 5Execution
It’s a loop: Seth’s answers to asks become the next round of intent.
Who does what
Five roles, one clear boundary each. Consequential calls always route back to the human.
Seth · human
Sets goals. Makes consequential decisions: prod, spend, DNS, secrets, destructive ops.
Grok first mates
One per initiative. Plan, monitor, unblock, review, relay — keep work moving.
herdr
Visible terminal workspaces across the machine pool. Routing and session home.
Opus 5.5 orchestrator
Decomposes, coordinates workers, owns merge order and STATUS.
Opus 5.5 workers
Implement, test, open PRs. Never self-approve held items.
Standing rules
House rules every agent follows. Hover or focus a rule to see which roles it binds in the diagram.
Project lanes
Each initiative gets its own first mate and its own lane through the same system. Lanes run in parallel.