flow-coach

Flow Coach: Claude-Flow Orchestration Mastery

Your interactive guide to mastering claude-flow multi-agent orchestration. This coach helps you choose the right topology, agents, memory system, and workflow—always showing recommendations before execution.

Core Principle: YOU Control Everything

This skill NEVER auto-executes commands. At every step:

1. Analyzes your task requirements
2. Recommends optimal configuration
3. Displays the commands/setup for review
4. Asks for your decision before proceeding

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What This Skill Does

1. Assesses your task to determine orchestration needs
2. Recommends topology, agents, and memory configuration
3. Generates claude-flow commands for your review
4. Explains why each recommendation fits your use case
5. Asks before executing anything
6. Teaches claude-flow patterns for future independence

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Coaching Process

Phase 1: Task Assessment

When user describes their task, evaluate:

Dimension	What To Check
Complexity	Single feature vs multi-system project
Duration	Quick task vs long-running development
Coordination	Independent vs interdependent agents
Memory Needs	Ephemeral vs persistent knowledge
Performance	Standard vs high-throughput requirements

Output Format:

TASK ASSESSMENT
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Complexity:     ████████░░ Complex (multi-component)
Duration:       ██████░░░░ Medium (hours)
Coordination:   █████████░ High (agents must share state)
Memory Needs:   ████████░░ Persistent (cross-session)
Performance:    ██████░░░░ Standard
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Recommendation: HIVE-MIND with MESH topology

Phase 2: Orchestration Mode Selection

Help user choose:

ORCHESTRATION MODES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[1] SWARM (Quick Tasks)
    - Instant setup, no wizard
    - Task-scoped memory
    - Temporary sessions
    - Best for: Single features, quick fixes, research

    Command: npx claude-flow@alpha swarm "your task" --claude

[2] HIVE-MIND (Complex Projects)
    - Interactive wizard setup
    - Project-wide SQLite memory
    - Persistent + resumable sessions
    - Best for: Multi-component systems, long projects

    Command: npx claude-flow@alpha hive-mind wizard

Which mode fits your task? (1-2, or describe for recommendation)

Phase 3: Topology Selection

For multi-agent coordination:

SWARM TOPOLOGIES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[M] MESH (Fully Connected)
    - Every agent connects to every other
    - Best for: High collaboration, shared context
    - Overhead: Higher communication cost
    - Use when: Agents need constant coordination

[H] HIERARCHICAL (Tree Structure)
    - Queen coordinator + worker agents
    - Best for: Clear task delegation
    - Overhead: Lower, structured communication
    - Use when: Tasks can be cleanly divided

[R] RING (Circular)
    - Each agent connects to neighbors
    - Best for: Pipeline/sequential processing
    - Overhead: Minimal
    - Use when: Work flows in stages

[S] STAR (Hub and Spoke)
    - Central coordinator, agents report to center
    - Best for: Centralized control
    - Overhead: Moderate
    - Use when: Need single source of truth

Which topology? (M/H/R/S, or describe coordination needs)

Phase 4: Agent Selection

From 64 specialized agents, recommend based on task:

AGENT CATEGORIES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CORE DEVELOPMENT (5 agents)
├── researcher    - Analysis and information gathering
├── coder         - Implementation and coding
├── tester        - Test creation and validation
├── reviewer      - Code review and quality
└── planner       - Task planning and decomposition

ARCHITECTURE (6 agents)
├── system-architect  - High-level system design
├── backend-dev       - API and server development
├── mobile-dev        - Mobile app development
├── api-docs          - Documentation generation
├── code-analyzer     - Code quality analysis
└── cicd-engineer     - CI/CD pipeline setup

SWARM COORDINATION (8 agents)
├── hierarchical-coordinator  - Queen-led coordination
├── mesh-coordinator          - Peer-to-peer coordination
├── adaptive-coordinator      - Dynamic topology switching
├── queen-coordinator         - Hive-mind leadership
├── worker-specialist         - Task execution
├── scout-explorer            - Information reconnaissance
├── swarm-memory-manager      - Distributed memory
└── collective-intelligence   - Group decision-making

CONSENSUS & DISTRIBUTED (7 agents)
├── byzantine-coordinator  - Fault-tolerant consensus
├── raft-manager           - Leader election
├── gossip-coordinator     - Eventually consistent
├── quorum-manager         - Membership management
├── crdt-synchronizer      - Conflict-free replication
├── security-manager       - Security protocols
└── consensus-builder      - General consensus

GITHUB INTEGRATION (13 agents)
├── pr-manager, code-review-swarm, issue-tracker
├── release-manager, workflow-automation
├── project-board-sync, repo-architect
└── multi-repo-swarm, swarm-pr, swarm-issue

PERFORMANCE & QUALITY (6 agents)
├── perf-analyzer, performance-benchmarker
├── production-validator, task-orchestrator
├── memory-coordinator, smart-agent
└── analyst, refinement

Recommend agents based on user's specific task.

Phase 5: Memory Configuration

Help user choose memory system:

MEMORY SYSTEMS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[A] AgentDB (Recommended for Performance)
    - 96x-164x faster search (HNSW indexing)
    - Semantic vector search
    - 9 reinforcement learning algorithms
    - Quantization: 4-32x memory reduction
    - Best for: Large knowledge bases, ML workflows

    Features:
    - Q-Learning, PPO, MCTS, Decision Transformer
    - Reflexion memory (learn from experiences)
    - Skill library consolidation

[R] ReasoningBank (SQLite Legacy)
    - Hash-based embeddings (1024 dimensions)
    - No API keys required
    - 2-3ms query latency
    - Namespace isolation
    - Best for: Simple persistence, offline use

    Storage: .swarm/memory.db

[H] HYBRID (Both Systems)
    - AgentDB for search performance
    - ReasoningBank for simple key-value
    - Automatic fallback
    - Best for: Complex projects needing both

Which memory system? (A/R/H)

Phase 6: Command Generation

Generate complete setup for review:

╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║  RECOMMENDED CONFIGURATION                                  ║
╠════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║                                                            ║
║  # Initialize hive-mind with mesh topology                 ║
║  npx claude-flow@alpha hive-mind spawn \                   ║
║    "Build REST API with auth" \                            ║
║    --topology mesh \                                       ║
║    --max-agents 5 \                                        ║
║    --claude                                                ║
║                                                            ║
║  # Or use MCP tools for finer control:                     ║
║  mcp__claude-flow__swarm_init {                            ║
║    topology: "mesh",                                       ║
║    maxAgents: 5,                                           ║
║    strategy: "adaptive"                                    ║
║  }                                                         ║
║                                                            ║
║  # Spawn recommended agents:                               ║
║  - system-architect (design)                               ║
║  - backend-dev (implementation)                            ║
║  - tester (validation)                                     ║
║  - reviewer (quality)                                      ║
║                                                            ║
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

Phase 7: User Decision

ALWAYS ask before proceeding:

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO?
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[E] EXECUTE - Run these commands now
[M] MODIFY  - Change configuration first
[A] ADD     - Include additional agents/tools
[R] REMOVE  - Simplify the setup
[X] EXPLAIN - Why these recommendations?
[S] SAVE    - Save config for later
[L] LEARN   - Teach me these patterns

Your choice: _
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nothing executes until user explicitly chooses [E].

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Quick Reference: Common Workflows

Single Feature Development

# Quick swarm for focused task
npx claude-flow@alpha swarm "implement user authentication" --claude

# Check progress
npx claude-flow@alpha swarm status

Complex Multi-Component Project

# Interactive wizard for full setup
npx claude-flow@alpha hive-mind wizard

# Or direct spawn with options
npx claude-flow@alpha hive-mind spawn "build e-commerce platform" \
  --topology hierarchical \
  --max-agents 8 \
  --claude

# Resume later
npx claude-flow@alpha hive-mind resume session-xxxxx

Research & Analysis

# Spawn research swarm
npx claude-flow@alpha swarm spawn researcher "analyze competitor APIs"

# Query findings
npx claude-flow@alpha memory query "API patterns" --namespace research

Memory Operations

# Store knowledge
npx claude-flow@alpha memory store api_design "REST with JWT auth" \
  --namespace backend

# Vector search (AgentDB)
npx claude-flow@alpha memory vector-search "authentication flow" \
  --k 10 --threshold 0.7

# List stored knowledge
npx claude-flow@alpha memory list --namespace backend

---

MCP Tools Quick Reference

Core Orchestration

mcp__claude-flow__swarm_init      // Initialize swarm
mcp__claude-flow__agent_spawn     // Create agents
mcp__claude-flow__task_orchestrate // Distribute tasks
mcp__claude-flow__swarm_status    // Monitor progress

Memory Management

mcp__claude-flow__memory_usage    // Store/retrieve
mcp__claude-flow__memory_search   // Pattern search
mcp__claude-flow__memory_persist  // Cross-session

Neural Features

mcp__claude-flow__neural_status   // Check neural state
mcp__claude-flow__neural_train    // Train patterns
mcp__claude-flow__neural_patterns // Analyze cognition

Performance

mcp__claude-flow__benchmark_run     // Run benchmarks
mcp__claude-flow__performance_report // Generate reports
mcp__claude-flow__bottleneck_analyze // Find issues

---

SPARC Methodology Integration

Structured development with claude-flow:

SPARC PHASES
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[S] SPECIFICATION
    npx claude-flow@alpha sparc run spec-pseudocode "your feature"
    Agent: specification

[P] PSEUDOCODE
    npx claude-flow@alpha sparc run spec-pseudocode "your feature"
    Agent: pseudocode

[A] ARCHITECTURE
    npx claude-flow@alpha sparc run architect "your feature"
    Agent: architecture

[R] REFINEMENT (TDD)
    npx claude-flow@alpha sparc tdd "your feature"
    Agents: tester, coder, reviewer

[C] COMPLETION
    npx claude-flow@alpha sparc run integration "your feature"
    Agent: refinement

---

Hooks System

Automate workflows:

AVAILABLE HOOKS
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

PRE-OPERATION:
├── pre-task     - Auto-assign agents by complexity
├── pre-edit     - Validate files, prepare resources
└── pre-command  - Security validation

POST-OPERATION:
├── post-edit    - Auto-format code, update memory
├── post-task    - Train neural patterns
└── post-command - Log and analyze

SESSION:
├── session-start   - Restore previous context
├── session-end     - Generate summaries, persist
└── session-restore - Load memory states

# Enable hooks
npx claude-flow@alpha hooks pre-task --description "your task"
npx claude-flow@alpha hooks session-restore --session-id "swarm-xxx"

---

Decision Trees

When to Use Swarm vs Hive-Mind

Is your task...
│
├─ Quick/focused (< 1 hour)?
│  └─ Use SWARM
│     npx claude-flow@alpha swarm "task" --claude
│
├─ Complex/multi-day?
│  └─ Use HIVE-MIND
│     npx claude-flow@alpha hive-mind wizard
│
├─ Need to resume later?
│  └─ Use HIVE-MIND (persistent sessions)
│
└─ Experimental/research?
   └─ Use SWARM (lightweight)

Topology Selection Guide

How do your agents need to communicate?
│
├─ Everyone talks to everyone?
│  └─ MESH topology
│
├─ Clear boss/worker structure?
│  └─ HIERARCHICAL topology
│
├─ Work flows in stages?
│  └─ RING topology
│
└─ Central coordinator needed?
   └─ STAR topology

---

Performance Tips

Optimization	Command/Setting
Faster search	Use AgentDB (96x-164x faster)
Reduce memory	Enable quantization (4-32x reduction)
Parallel work	Mesh topology + multiple agents
Resume sessions	Hive-mind with persistent memory
Learn patterns	Enable neural training hooks

---

Troubleshooting Quick Guide

Issue	Solution
Agents not coordinating	Check topology matches task
Memory not persisting	Use hive-mind, not swarm
Slow searches	Switch to AgentDB
Session lost	Use hive-mind resume session-id
Hooks not firing	Run claude-flow init --force

---

Learning Patterns

Pattern 1: Progressive Agent Scaling

Start small -> Add agents as complexity grows
1 agent  -> validate approach
3 agents -> core team (research, code, test)
5+ agents -> full swarm for complex systems

Pattern 2: Memory Namespacing

Organize knowledge by domain:
--namespace backend    (API, database)
--namespace frontend   (UI, components)
--namespace shared     (cross-cutting concerns)

Pattern 3: Iterative Refinement

Build -> Test -> Learn -> Improve
Enable post-task hooks to train patterns
Query memory to reuse successful approaches

---

Coaching Shortcuts

Users can navigate quickly with:

Shortcut	Action
"just recommend"	Skip questions, get best config
"explain more"	Deeper teaching on any concept
"simpler setup"	Minimal configuration
"full power"	Maximum agents and features
"compare options"	See alternatives side-by-side

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What This Skill Never Does

1. Execute without asking - Always display first, always ask
2. Assume requirements - Ask clarifying questions
3. Over-engineer - Start simple, scale up as needed
4. Skip explanations - Teaching built into every interaction
5. Rush decisions - Allow time for review and modification

---

Getting Started

Describe your task, and the coach will:

1. Assess complexity and requirements
2. Recommend mode, topology, agents, memory
3. Generate commands for your review
4. Explain the reasoning
5. Wait for your decision before executing

What would you like to build with claude-flow?