collaborating

Collaborating Skill

You are driving /forge:collaborate. The primitives live in scripts/forge-collab.cjs (exported by require into a local Node script or invoked via node -e). This skill translates user intent into calls against those primitives, honoring the invariants from spec-collab:

• Session ID is derived from git remote get-url origin; all participants in the same repo auto-join the same session.
• During the executing phase, AI decisions never block humans: they become flags that humans can review and override async.
• Writes to shared coordination state (consolidated.md, categories.json) are gated by a short-lived consolidation lease to prevent concurrent overwrites.
• All brainstorm + consolidated + categories + questions + flags artifacts live under .forge/collab/ and are committed to git so late joiners get full context via git pull.

Subcommand Dispatch

Read the first word of the user's arguments. Route to the matching phase below. If no subcommand is given, default to status.

---

start -- initialize a session

1. Derive the session ID by calling sessionIdFromOrigin() via a small inline Node script:

   node -e "console.log(require('./scripts/forge-collab.cjs').sessionIdFromOrigin())"
   

   If this throws because there is no origin remote, tell the user to add one and stop.

2. Resolve the participant handle: prefer gh api user --jq .login, fall back to git config user.email, finally $USER.

3. Ensure .forge/collab/ exists (mkdir -p .forge/collab).

4. Write .forge/collab/participant.json with {handle, session_id, started: <iso>}. Write this FIRST; it is the heavy artifact that holds the session metadata.

5. Write .forge/collab/.enabled as an empty marker file. This MUST be the final filesystem action; it is the atomic signal that collab mode is fully on. Use the writeEnabledMarker primitive:

   node -e "require('./scripts/forge-collab.cjs').writeEnabledMarker('.forge')"
   

   Invariant: if start crashes between step 4 and step 5, crash recovery will classify the state as stale_participant and offer a reset. If it crashes before step 4 there is nothing to recover. Do not reorder.

6. Resolve the transport mode. Call selectTransportMode with process.env and any --polling flag the user passed. Report:

   • ably: "Realtime transport will use Ably (ABLY_KEY detected)." Prerequisite (forge-self-fixes-2 R013): the ably npm package is declared an OPTIONAL peerDependency in the plugin package.json and must be installed before createAblyTransport will succeed. If it isn't, start throws "forge:collab realtime mode requires the ably peer dependency." Surface this check BEFORE calling createTransport('ably', ...):

     node -e "require.resolve('ably')" 2>/dev/null \
       || echo 'Run: npm install ably  (or pass --polling to skip realtime)'
     

     If the probe fails, print the install command and stop with a non-zero exit unless the user also passed --polling.
   • polling: "Zero-setup mode via git polling on forge/collab-state branch every ~2.5s." No install needed. The pull target branch is auto-resolved per R011 (origin/HEAD → upstream → current branch → main fallback); no hardcoded main assumption.
   • setup-required: print the setup guide returned by renderSetupGuide() and exit (unless --polling was passed).

7. Report the session code (the full 12-hex session ID) and tell the user to share it out-of-band with teammates (though strictly speaking any teammate with the repo will derive the same code automatically).

---

join -- sync with an existing session

Call lateJoinBootstrap with the transport and the current unblocked task IDs (read from .forge/plans/*-frontier.md):

1. Do a git pull on the current branch.
2. Read the plan frontier to list task IDs.
3. Call lateJoinBootstrap({ transport, unblockedTaskIds: ids, cwd }) to get the list of claimable task IDs.
4. Print a tidy status: how many tasks total, how many already claimed by others, how many available for this joiner.

---

brainstorm -- chat-mode brain-dump

This is the interactive loop that replaces the single-user brainstorm. Runs in place in the current session.

1. Greet: "Starting a collaborative brain-dump. I'll ask questions to help you structure your thoughts. When you're happy, say 'accept' and I'll write your refined input to .forge/collab/brainstorm/."

2. Ask 3-5 clarifying questions one at a time to draw out the user's ideas, priorities, and constraints. Match the tone of /forge:brainstorm but scope to the user's own section -- don't try to design the whole product; the AI-driven consolidation across users will merge everyone's ideas later.

3. After each answer, summarize what you've captured.

4. When the user says accept (or "looks good", "write it", etc.), call the primitive via an inline Node script:

   node -e "const c = require('./scripts/forge-collab.cjs'); \
     const p = c.brainstormDump('.forge/collab', process.env.FORGE_HANDLE, \
     process.env.FORGE_BRAIN_DUMP); console.log(p);"
   

   (Or just use Write against .forge/collab/brainstorm/inputs-<handle>.md directly with the standard frontmatter -- either path is equivalent.)

5. Stage + commit + push the new file per the project's auto_push setting (read via readAutoPushConfig('.forge')).

6. If a consolidated.md already exists, tell the user "Your input has joined the brainstorm. When all contributors are in, run /forge:collaborate consolidate to merge everyone's input."

---

consolidate -- run consolidation + categorization under lease

Optional subcommand for whoever takes the consolidation step. Calls writeConsolidatedUnderLease(transport, '.forge/collab', handle, inputs, opts) where inputs is the result of readAllInputs('.forge/collab').

• If the call returns { held: true }: report the task count and categories breakdown (coding vs research vs decision).
• If { held: false, holder }: tell the user "Consolidation in progress by <holder>. Try again in a moment."

---

status -- show session state

Call the primitives to build a status report:

• listActiveTaskClaims(transport, {now: Date.now()}) -> active claims
• listFlags('.forge/collab', {status: 'open'}) -> open flags
• Read .forge/collab/participant.json -> current handle
• Read .forge/collab/categories.json if it exists -> task count

Print a tidy summary:

Session: <sessionId>
Mode:    ably | polling
You:     <handle>

Claims:
  T004  daniel  (expires in 85s)
  T007  lucas   (expires in 43s)

Open flags (3):
  F0123abc  T005  "use redis pubsub"   (daniel)
  F0456def  T008  "retry with backoff" (sarah)

Next claimable:
  T009, T011, T012

---

claim <taskId> -- explicit claim

Call claimTask(transport, taskId, handle, { ttlSeconds: 120 }). Report the outcome:

• { acquired: true }: "Reserved T004 for you. Lease expires in 120s; heartbeats auto-refresh while you work."
• { acquired: false, holder }: "T004 is already held by <holder>. Wait for them to finish or run /forge:collaborate status to see what else is claimable."

---

flags -- list forward-motion flags

Call listFlags('.forge/collab', { status }) with an optional status filter. Print a table.

---

override <flagId> <new-decision> -- override an AI decision

Call overrideFlag('.forge/collab', flagId, newDecision, { author: handle }).

• { overridden: true, previousDecision }: confirm, note previous decision, and tell the user that dependent tasks will be re-triggered on the next execute iteration.
• { overridden: false, reason }: surface the reason (not_found, already_overridden, malformed) so the user can diagnose.

---

leave -- release claims and disconnect

1. Read .forge/collab/participant.json for the handle.
2. Delete .forge/collab/.enabled FIRST via removeEnabledMarker:

   node -e "require('./scripts/forge-collab.cjs').removeEnabledMarker('.forge')"
   

   This is the atomic "collab mode is off" flip. Any crash after this point is harmless — the marker is gone, the executor guard returns single-user, and participant.json lingering is classified as stale_participant by /forge:collaborate recover.
3. List all active claims via listActiveTaskClaims(transport) and filter for claimant === handle.
4. For each such claim, call releaseTaskClaim(transport, taskId, handle).
5. If the transport has a disconnect() method, call it.
6. Delete .forge/collab/participant.json.
7. Report: "Released claims. Disconnected from session."

Invariant: the delete order is .enabled -> claims -> disconnect -> participant.json. Never remove participant.json before .enabled, and never skip the .enabled removal. A partial leave that only strips .enabled still leaves the executor in single-user mode, which is the safe fallback.

---

recover -- repair a stale collab session

Scan .forge/collab/ for inconsistent marker state and offer the right remedy for each case. This is the recovery path for crashes during start or leave.

1. Run the classifier:

   node -e "const c=require('./scripts/forge-collab.cjs');console.log(JSON.stringify(c.classifyCollabState('.forge',{cwd:process.cwd()})))"
   

2. Interpret the status field:
   • inactive: both markers absent. Nothing to do; report "No collab session found."
   • healthy: both markers present and session id matches current origin. Report "Collab session is running normally; no recovery needed."
   • stale_participant: participant.json present, .enabled missing. Diagnosis: start crashed before the marker landed, or leave aborted partway through. Prompt the user: "Reset the stale session?" On confirmation, call recoverCollabState('.forge', { apply: true }) which deletes participant.json (and any .enabled remnant).
   • stale_enabled: .enabled present, participant.json missing. Diagnosis: leave crashed after participant.json was deleted. Prompt "Repair participant from git config?" On confirmation, call recoverCollabState('.forge', { apply: true }) which re-derives the participant and writes a fresh participant.json with the current session id.
   • session_mismatch: both markers present but participant.session_id differs from the origin-derived id (repo was re-pointed). Prompt "Migrate participant to the new session?" On confirmation, call recoverCollabState('.forge', { apply: true }) which rewrites the session id and records the migrated_from value.
3. After any mutation, print a short summary of the actions array so the user knows exactly what changed.

Never auto-apply without prompting. Recovery is destructive to session state; the skill must show the diagnosis and remedy first.

---

Invariants to Respect

• Never write flag files outside the executing phase. The primitive enforces this, but the skill should not even try to call writeForwardMotionFlag in brainstorm or plan contexts.
• Never bypass the consolidation lease. Every write to consolidated.md or categories.json must go through writeConsolidatedUnderLease.
• Always inherit push behavior from .forge/config.json. Use gatedPush when pushing from this skill, never a raw git push.
• Never broadcast a targeted message. When routing a question or flag notification, check that routeToParticipant returned a specific handle before calling sendTargeted. Fall back to publish only when the routing explicitly returned "broadcast".

Key Principles

• One subcommand per invocation. Don't chain.
• If the user's intent is ambiguous, ask one clarifying question, not three.
• Always print a short summary at the end of each subcommand so the user knows what actually happened.