Worker
Protocol for a unit of work assigned to a WorkBuddy subagent (Agent tool) — ACK, claim-safe lifecycle, evidence-backed completion, and clean blocking escalation. Triggers: "worker protocol", "subagent task lifecycle", "claim task", "team worker".From its SKILL.md
npx -y skills add mrzhangguoguo/oh-my-workbuddy --skill workerAssembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.
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SKILL.md
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Ported from oh-my-codex
worker. OMX runtime conventions ($macroinvocation,omxCLI,.omx/state directory) are replaced with WorkBuddy idioms (Skill tool, Agent tool, task list,.workbuddy/memory).
Worker Protocol (WorkBuddy subagent)
This skill describes the discipline a WorkBuddy subagent (spawned via the Agent tool) should
follow when a leader assigns it a unit of work. In OMX this was a tmux-pane Team worker driven by
omx team api; in WorkBuddy there is no tmux runtime or omx binary. Coordination happens
through (a) the Agent's returned result, and (b) optional shared artifacts under
.omw/team/<team>/. The value preserved here is the claim-safe lifecycle, ACK-readback, and
evidence discipline — not the transport.
Identity
A worker is created by a leader who spawns an Agent with a clear identity and task. The identity looks like:
<team-name>/worker-<n> — e.g. alpha/worker-2.
Pass the identity and the full task into the Agent prompt. There is no OMX_TEAM_WORKER env
var to read; the prompt is the source of truth.
Startup Protocol (ACK)
- Parse the assigned identity into
teamName(before/) andworkerName(after/). - Send a startup ACK before task work: in your first response (or as the first line of your
returned result), state one short deterministic line, e.g.
ACK: worker-2 initialized. - After ACK, proceed to the assigned task.
If the team uses a durable mailbox artifact, write the ACK to
.omw/team/<teamName>/mailbox/<workerName>.md; otherwise the ACK lives in your returned message.
Inbox + Tasks
- Read the task from the Agent prompt (the leader embeds the task directly — there is no separate inbox file to poll).
- If the team uses durable task files, read
.omw/team/<teamName>/tasks/task-<id>.json; otherwise work from the prompt. - Pick the first unblocked task assigned to you.
- Claim the task (do NOT start work without a claim): record
{"state":"in_progress","owner":"<workerName>"}via TaskUpdate on the shared task list, or write it to the task file /.omw/team/<teamName>/workers/<workerName>/status.md. - Do the work.
- Complete/fail via lifecycle transition: move the task to
completedorfailedwith a shortresult/errornote — TaskUpdate on the task list, or write to the task file. Do not leave lifecycle fields ambiguous. - Write your worker status back:
.omw/team/<teamName>/workers/<workerName>/status.mdwith{"state":"idle", ...}(or mark the corresponding task done in the task list).
Mailbox
Check for messages addressed to you:
.omw/team/<teamName>/mailbox/<workerName>.md
When notified, read messages and follow any instructions. Use short ACK replies when appropriate. Note: in WorkBuddy the primary delivery channel is the Agent's returned result to the leader; a mailbox file is only needed when work spans multiple turns or multiple workers must coordinate.
Dispatch Discipline (state-first)
Treat team state (task list / shared artifacts) as the source of truth.
- Prefer the task list (TaskCreate/TaskUpdate) and
.omw/team/<teamName>/...artifacts. - Do not rely on ad-hoc nudges as a primary delivery channel.
- If a manual trigger arrives, treat it only as a prompt to re-check state and continue through the normal claim-safe lifecycle.
Team Big Five / ATEM Coordination Gate
Keep independent fan-out lightweight: if your task is isolated with no shared files, dependencies, or handoffs, normal startup ACK, claim-safe lifecycle, status, verification, and completion evidence are sufficient.
When your task activates the Team Big Five / ATEM-inspired protocol (dependencies, shared files/surfaces/contracts, handoffs, integration, blocked lanes, or changed assumptions), use this concise boundary checklist:
- Shared mental model / single source of truth: treat the task spec, inbox, mailbox, approved handoff, and leader updates as canonical.
- Closed-loop communication / ACK-readback: acknowledge handoffs with what you understood, affected artifact/path, owner, and next action.
- Mutual performance monitoring: check boundary contracts, shared files, and verification evidence before completion.
- Backup/reassignment behavior: if blocked, write blocked status with the smallest needed help/reassignment request and continue any safe unblocked slice.
- Adaptability checkpoint: changed assumptions, dependencies, or verification results require a brief leader-facing update before widening scope.
- Team orientation: optimize for the integrated team result; report integration risks, missing tests, and peer impacts instead of local-only success.
Completion evidence
Always return, in your result, enough to verify the work:
- what changed (files/paths),
- the verification command run and its output (build/typecheck/test),
- any manual QA notes,
- remaining differences or open risks.
Shutdown
If the leader signals shutdown (via the prompt or mailbox), stop accepting new work, write your
shutdown ack to .omw/team/<teamName>/workers/<workerName>/shutdown.md, and end your turn.
What ships with it
Read from the repository
Just SKILL.md. No reference files, no scripts.
Gives 0 of the 12 instructions most context ai engineering skills give in ~1.2k tokens
Counted across 1,193 of the 1,976 authors here whose files we hold, read 2026-08-07
- Dispatch a fresh implementer subagent per taskin 48 of 1193, across 19 files
- Dispatch a final code reviewer after all tasksin 33 of 1193, across 8 files
- Provide full task text to the subagentin 30 of 1193, across 9 files
- Review spec compliance before code qualityin 27 of 1193, across 10 files
- Make the hook script executablein 26 of 1193, across 8 files
- Re-snapshot after navigation or DOM changesin 25 of 1193, across 19 files
- Read files before editing themin 22 of 1193, across 11 files
- Answer subagent questions before proceedingin 22 of 1193, across 7 files
- Mark task complete in TodoWrite after approvalin 22 of 1193, across 6 files
- Merge hook into existing settingsin 21 of 1193, across 3 files
- Ask if installation is global or projectin 20 of 1193, across 2 files
- Copy the hook script to target locationin 20 of 1193, across 2 files
Said here and by no other author read
- parse assigned identity from prompt
- read assigned task from agent prompt
- use task list as source of truth
- check mailbox for addressed messages
- verify boundary contracts before completion
- optimize for integrated team result
Grouped from the skills themselves: near-identical wordings counted once, and counted by distinct author, so one author publishing three of these counts once. Length counted with cl100k_base; the agent that loads this file may tokenize it differently.