interlock

interlock

Multi-agent file coordination for Claude Code.

What this does

When two agents try to edit the same file simultaneously, you get a mess. interlock prevents this by wrapping the intermute coordination service with an MCP server that provides file reservation, conflict detection, and inter-agent messaging.

The workflow: before editing a file, an agent reserves it. If another agent already holds the reservation, interlock offers a negotiated release protocol: the requesting agent sends a negotiate_release with urgency and optional blocking wait; the holding agent responds with either a release or a deferral with ETA. This is cooperative, not preemptive.

A git pre-commit hook provides mandatory enforcement: if you try to commit a file that's reserved by another agent, the commit is blocked. The PreToolUse:Edit hook is advisory (warns but doesn't block) so agents can still make emergency edits.

Installation

First, add the interagency marketplace (one-time setup):

/plugin marketplace add mistakeknot/interagency-marketplace

Then install the plugin:

/plugin install interlock

Requires the intermute service running (the Go coordination backend).

Usage

Join coordination:

/interlock:join

Check who's working on what:

/interlock:status

Reserve files with bead correlation:

reserve_files(
  patterns=["internal/client/*"],
  reason="Wave 3 collision-card edit",
  active_bead_id="sylveste-kgfi.3"
)

Check conflicts with bead-aware collision cards:

check_conflicts(
  patterns=["internal/client/*"],
  active_bead_id="sylveste-kgfi.3"
)

The v0 bead metadata convention and collision-card response shape are documented in docs/bead-aware-reservations.md.

Leave and release all reservations:

/interlock:leave

Architecture

bin/launch-mcp.sh        MCP server launcher (Go binary, mark3labs/mcp-go)
skills/                  coordination-protocol, conflict-recovery
commands/                join, leave, status, setup
hooks/                   PreToolUse (advisory), PostToolUse, git pre-commit

11 MCP tools cover the full reservation lifecycle. Connects to intermute via Unix socket (preferred) or TCP fallback.

Design decisions

• Go binary for MCP server, bash for hooks
• Join-flag gating: all hooks check ~/.config/clavain/intermute-joined before running
• INTERLOCK_AUTO_RELEASE=1 enables advisory release-request notifications in the pre-edit hook