mfowler
e4453dcfdd
Based on @ponder.ooo's "snake pit agent orchestrator" idea (bsky 2026-05-28) and Claude's metaphor-mapping elaboration: agents are snakes, tasks are food tossed into a shared pit; snakes devour/digest/regurgitate/excrete. A worker-pool-over-a-shared-queue topology (contrast the builder-adversary phase machine): - pit/ is a filesystem queue; snakes claim by atomic mv (no two eat the same food) - species = specialized agents: keeper (zookeeper), planner (regurgitation IS task decomposition), snake-1..3 (worker pool), cleanup (scavenger + coprophagy) - no [loop] phase machine; persistent agents self-pace via /loop - README carries the full bio→compute mapping table from the thread image Verified: `agents.py status --config agents.toml` lists all 6 agents + service. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
127 lines
7.7 KiB
TOML
127 lines
7.7 KiB
TOML
# examples/snakepit — the "snake pit" agent orchestrator.
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#
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# Based on @ponder.ooo's idea (bsky, 2026-05-28): "each agent is a snake. you toss food (tasks) into
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# the pit. agents can devour tasks, gradually digest them, regurgitate them whole or in broken /
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# digested parts, excrete waste (chat logs, debug traces, &c). obviously some specialist agents are
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# on cleanup duty."
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#
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# Mapped onto agent-orchestrator, this is a WORKER-POOL-OVER-A-SHARED-QUEUE topology — quite unlike
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# the sibling builder-adversary phase machine:
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# • The PIT (./pit/) is a filesystem queue. Snakes claim work by ATOMIC `mv` (mv within one
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# filesystem is atomic, so two snakes never devour the same food).
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# • SNAKES (snake-1..3) are identical persistent workers, each running a self-paced /loop:
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# devour → digest → regurgitate (whole result, or broken-up sub-tasks back into the pit) →
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# excrete waste (logs).
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# • CLEANUP is the specialist on cleanup duty: sweeps waste, reclaims food abandoned by a snake
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# that choked or died.
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# • KEEPER (the zookeeper) tosses food in and keeps the pit healthy.
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# There is no [loop] phase machine here — no kind="loop" agents. See pit/README.md for the protocol.
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#
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# Run it by hand (status starts nothing):
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# python3 ../../agents.py status --config agents.toml
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# python3 ../../agents.py up --config agents.toml # needs `claude` on PATH
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# python3 ../../agents.py down --config agents.toml
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# Mechanics-only (no agent CLI): set defaults.backend = "demo".
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# ─────────────────────────── global watchdog cadence ───────────────────────────
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[watchdog]
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signal_interval = 30
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heavy_interval = 300
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limit_probe_fallback = 300
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limit_reset_slack = 45
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stall_grace = 180
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# ─────────────────────────── defaults inherited by every agent ───────────────────────────
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[defaults]
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session_prefix = "snakepit-" # REQUIRED — sessions: snakepit-snake-1, snakepit-keeper, …
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log_dir = ".ao-state" # REQUIRED — logs + state/, resolved relative to this file
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backend = "claude" # set to "demo" for a dependency-free mechanics-only run
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model = "claude-sonnet-4-6"
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watch = "heal" # keep every snake alive/healed; they self-pace and nap when the pit is empty
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# ─────────────────────────── backends (declared as data) ───────────────────────────
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[backend.claude]
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bin = "claude"
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flags = "--dangerously-skip-permissions"
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remote_control = true
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supports_resume = true
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prompt_delivery = "arg"
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process_name = "claude"
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submit_key = "Enter"
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stall_idle = 300
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active_re = "esc to interrupt|Running tool|⠇|⠙|· \\d+"
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limit_re = "spend limit|usage limit|limit reached|reached your .*limit|out of (credits|tokens)"
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fatal_re = "redacted_thinking|blocks cannot be modified|cannot be modified"
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[backend.demo] # dependency-free: a shell that just idles
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bin = "echo '[demo] {session} up (kickoff: {kickoff})'; exec sleep 1000000"
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prompt_delivery = "exec"
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# ─────────────────────────── the keeper (zookeeper / supervisor) ───────────────────────────
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[[agent]]
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name = "keeper" # tmux session: snakepit-keeper
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kind = "persistent"
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model = "claude-opus-4-8"
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resume = true
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watch = "heal"
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prompt = """
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You are the KEEPER of the snake pit (its zookeeper). On startup: read pit/README.md for the pit \
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protocol, then report the pit's state — counts of food waiting (pit/food/), in digestion \
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(pit/claimed/), regurgitated whole (pit/done/), scraps tossed back (pit/scraps/), and waste \
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(pit/waste/). Your job: (1) toss food into the pit — when an operator gives you a task, write it as \
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pit/food/food-<id>-<slug>.md per the schema in pit/README.md; (2) keep the pit healthy — watch \
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throughput, flag food stuck in pit/claimed/ for too long (a snake may have choked), and make sure \
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the snakes are fed. Stay available; report when asked."""
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# Optional periodic survey of the pit (uncomment to have the watchdog wake the keeper on a timer):
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# wake = { interval = 1800, prompt_file = "prompts/keeper-survey.md" }
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# ─────────────────────────── the planner (a different snake species) ───────────────────────────
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# "snake species = agent specialization / system prompt." The key insight from the thread:
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# regurgitation IS task decomposition — a planner snake swallows a big task and regurgitates it as
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# smaller food the worker snakes can digest.
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[[agent]]
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name = "planner" # tmux session: snakepit-planner
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kind = "persistent"
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model = "claude-opus-4-8"
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resume = true
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watch = "heal"
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prompt = "You are the PLANNER snake — a species that eats only BIG food (tasks tagged `big: true`, or any food too large to digest in one sitting). Read prompts/planner.md and pit/README.md, then loop: devour big food from pit/food/, and regurgitate it IN PARTS — a set of smaller, self-contained food-* items tossed back into pit/food/ for the worker snakes — then remove the big item. Regurgitation IS task decomposition."
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# ─────────────────────────── the snakes (identical worker pool) ───────────────────────────
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# Three persistent workers sharing one role (prompts/snake.md); each knows its own snake-id from its
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# inline prompt and uses it to claim food. Add more snakes by copying a block and bumping the id.
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[[agent]]
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name = "snake-1" # tmux session: snakepit-snake-1
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kind = "persistent"
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resume = true
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watch = "heal"
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prompt = "You are 🐍 snake-1, a worker snake in the pit; your snake-id is `snake-1`. Read prompts/snake.md for your full role and the pit protocol, then begin your self-paced loop — devour food from pit/food/, digest it, regurgitate the result, excrete your waste."
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[[agent]]
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name = "snake-2"
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kind = "persistent"
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resume = true
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watch = "heal"
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prompt = "You are 🐍 snake-2, a worker snake in the pit; your snake-id is `snake-2`. Read prompts/snake.md for your full role and the pit protocol, then begin your self-paced loop — devour food from pit/food/, digest it, regurgitate the result, excrete your waste."
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[[agent]]
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name = "snake-3"
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kind = "persistent"
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resume = true
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watch = "heal"
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prompt = "You are 🐍 snake-3, a worker snake in the pit; your snake-id is `snake-3`. Read prompts/snake.md for your full role and the pit protocol, then begin your self-paced loop — devour food from pit/food/, digest it, regurgitate the result, excrete your waste."
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# ─────────────────────────── cleanup duty (specialist) ───────────────────────────
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[[agent]]
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name = "cleanup" # tmux session: snakepit-cleanup
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kind = "persistent"
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resume = true
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watch = "heal"
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prompt = "You are the CLEANUP snake — a specialist on cleanup duty in the pit. Read prompts/cleanup.md for your full role, then begin your self-paced loop: sweep waste from pit/waste/, and reclaim food abandoned in pit/claimed/ by a snake that choked or died (toss it back to pit/food/)."
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# Non-AI helper: render the snakes' tmux transcripts into clean logs.
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[[service]]
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name = "cleanlogs" # tmux session: snakepit-cleanlogs
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command = "python3 ../../agent-log.py follow-all"
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dir = "."
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