Worktree hive

worktrees-hives Skill

Installable agent skill for the worktrees-hives hybrid orchestrator.

When to use

Use this skill when:

• Discovering work from GitHub or Linear issues
• Spawning worker subagents for code changes
• Babysitting pull requests through CI
• Reporting results back to the operator

Safety Guardrails

These rules are NON-NEGOTIABLE. No agent, orchestrator, or platform override may relax them.

Deny-list (never execute)

Command / Operation	Reason
gh pr merge	Agents never merge PRs. A human must merge.
gh pr merge --auto	Same prohibition; auto-merge is a merge.
git push --force (bare)	Destructive; loses history. Use --force-with-lease only.
git push -f (bare)	Short form of the same destructive push.
GraphQL mergePullRequest	Merge via API is still a merge.
REST PUT /repos/.../merge	Merge via REST is still a merge.
Any merge commit creation	git merge in working tree to combine PR branches.

Allow-list for force-with-lease

git push --force-with-lease is permitted only when:

1. The agent is rebasing its own feature branch onto an updated base.
2. The agent is fixing a force-push that failed due to a stale remote ref.
3. The operator explicitly instructs a force-push.

Before using --force-with-lease, the agent MUST:

• Verify the current branch is the assigned worktree branch (not main, master, or another agent's branch).
• Confirm the remote ref is what the agent expects (no unexpected pushes from others).

Fix-cap semantics

Rule: Each PR gets a maximum of 3 code-fix commits per babysit cycle.

• What counts: Commits that change source code, tests, configuration, or documentation that affects behavior.
• What does not count: Merge commits from rebasing, CI-triggered commits (e.g., lock file updates), reply comments on the PR.
• When the cap is hit: The agent MUST stop committing and report residual issues as PR comments. The agent continues to reply to review comments and monitor CI, but does not push new code changes.
• Residual reporting: When the cap is reached, the agent posts a comment listing: remaining CI failures, unresolved review threads, and recommended next steps for a human or next cycle.
• Reset: The cap resets when the operator starts a new babysit cycle (explicit restart, not automatic).

Branch/worktree pre-edit checklist

Before making any code change, the agent MUST verify:

1. Worktree isolation: pwd is inside the assigned worktree path ({worktree_root}/{owner}/{repo}/{job_id}).
2. Branch correctness: git branch --show-current matches the assigned feature branch.
3. Clean state: git status shows no uncommitted changes from other work.
4. Remote alignment: git fetch && git status confirms the branch tracks the expected remote.
5. No cross-boundary edits: No file outside the worktree is modified (no ../ paths, no absolute paths outside the worktree root).

If any check fails, the agent MUST abort and report the mismatch.

Final status guidance

When a babysit cycle ends (successfully or at cap), the agent reports:

• PR status: Open / Ready for review / Blocked
• Fix count: Number of code-fix commits pushed in this cycle (e.g., "2/3")
• Residual issues: List of unresolved CI failures, review comments, or blockers
• Agent attribution: Every PR comment and commit message includes agent identification

The agent MUST NOT claim it merged the PR. If the PR appears merged, the agent reports "PR was merged by a human" and stops.

Platform-neutral worker prompt template

When spawning a worker subagent, include these safety instructions in the prompt:

SAFETY RULES (non-negotiable):
- NEVER merge a PR or invoke any merge API/CLI
- NEVER use bare `git push --force` or `git push -f`
- `git push --force-with-lease` is allowed only for rebasing your own branch
- NEVER edit files outside your assigned worktree
- NEVER commit more than 3 code-fix commits per babysit cycle
- Before editing, verify: worktree path, branch name, clean state
- After pushing, reply with SHA and agent attribution
- When at cap, report residual issues; do not push more code

Enforcement layers

These guardrails are enforced at multiple layers:

1. Agent skill (this file): Portable documentation and prompt templates. Not a security boundary — agents may bypass if not constrained by the platform.
2. Python orchestrator: Policy enforcement via the subprocess bridge. Counts fix commits, validates paths, and blocks deny-listed commands before they reach Rust.
3. Rust core (wh-core): Hard enforcement. Rejects unsafe git/GitHub operations at the process boundary. This is the authoritative safety layer.

Defense in depth: all three layers enforce the same rules. A failure in one layer is caught by another.