Shared Coordinator

"PM coordinates tasks, assigns work, monitors health, runs retrospectives."

This skill covers coordinator behavior for both orchestration modes:

• Event-driven mode — Parallel agents, message-based communication
• Single-agent mode — Sequential agents, handoff-based communication

For complete PM workflow, see pm-workflow skill.

Coordinator Role Overview

As PM coordinator, you:

1. Select tasks from PRD based on priority and dependencies
2. Assign tasks to workers (Developer, QA, TechArtist, GameDesigner)
3. Monitor worker health via agent state files (current-task-*.md)
4. Sync state between agent files and prd.json (PM-ONLY access)
5. Track completion through task status and QA validation
6. Run retrospectives after each completed task
7. Detect session completion when all tasks pass

Key Points:

• Workers update their own current-task-{agent}.md files
• PM reads all agent state files to monitor status
• PM syncs changes to prd.json.agents.* section
• Workers NEVER read prd.json (saves ~109KB per read)

Startup (First Run)

Create session directory and initialize state files:

# Create session directory
mkdir -p .claude/session/messages/{pm,developer,qa,techartist,gamedesigner,watchdog}

# Initialize handoff-log.json
{ "handoffs": [] }

# Initialize coordinator-progress.txt
# (See Progress Logging section below)

Idle Behavior (When No Active Task)

When prd.json.session.currentTask is null OR status === "passed":

1. Update heartbeat (every 30 seconds):

   jsonCopy

   {
     "agents": {
       "pm": {
         "lastSeen": "{NOW}",
         "status": "idle"
       }
     }
   }
   

2. Check worker heartbeats — Log warning if worker not seen in 60+ seconds

3. Check for completion — All PRD items passes: true?

4. Select next task — See Task Selection below

Task Assignment Flow

Step 1: Select task from PRD (see Task Selection Algorithm)

Step 2: Read the COMPLETE task from prd.json.items[{taskId}]

Step 3: Update agent's state file with FULL task details:

// Read agent's state file
Read: .claude/session/current-task-developer.json

// Update state object
{
  "state": {
    "status": "working",
    "lastSeen": "{NOW}",
    "currentTaskId": "{taskId}",
    "pid": 0
  },
  // Update task fields with COMPLETE task from PRD
  "id": "{taskId}",
  "title": "{FULL_TITLE_FROM_PRD}",
  "description": "{FULL_DESCRIPTION_FROM_PRD}",
  "category": "{category}",
  "priority": "{priority}",
  "tier": "{tier}",
  "status": "assigned",
  "passes": false,
  "agent": "developer",
  "dependencies": [...],
  "gddReference": "{gddReference}",
  "gddVersion": "{gddVersion}",
  "acceptanceCriteria": [...],
  "verificationSteps": [...],
  "retryCount": 0,
  "bugs": [],
  "assignedAt": "{NOW}",
  "completedAt": null
}

Step 4: Update PRD atomically:

{
  "items": [
    {
      "id": "{taskId}",
      "status": "assigned",
      "agent": "developer",
      "assignedAt": "{NOW}"
    }
  ],
  "agents": {
    "developer": {
      "status": "working",
      "currentTaskId": "{taskId}",
      "lastSeen": "{NOW}"
    }
  },
  "session": {
    "currentTask": {
      "id": "{taskId}",
      "status": "assigned",
      "assignedAt": "{NOW}"
    }
  }
}

Step 5: Send message to worker's queue:

{
  "id": "msg-developer-{NOW}-001",
  "from": "pm",
  "to": "developer",
  "type": "task_assign",
  "priority": "normal",
  "payload": {
    "taskId": "{taskId}",
    "title": "{TITLE}",
    "acceptanceCriteria": ["..."]
  },
  "timestamp": "{NOW}",
  "status": "pending"
}

Completion Detection

A task is ONLY complete when:

1. Developer → status: "awaiting_qa"
2. QA validates → status: "passed"
3. PM runs retrospective → currentTask: null
4. PM marks prd.json.items[{taskId}].passes: true

Session complete when: ALL PRD items have passes: true

Handoff Protocol

When you need another agent, output:

HANDOFF:agent_name:base64_context

Startup (First Run)

# Create session directory
mkdir -p .claude/session

# Initialize prd.json.session
{
  "sessionId": "ralph-single-{TIMESTAMP}",
  "startedAt": "{ISO_TIMESTAMP}",
  "maxIterations": 200,
  "iteration": 0,
  "status": "running",
  "orchestrationMode": "single-agent",
  "currentAgent": "pm",
  "stats": {
    "totalTasks": "{COUNT FROM PRD}",
    "completed": 0,
    "failed": 0
  }
}

# Initialize handoff-log.json
{ "handoffs": [], "orchestrationMode": "single-agent" }

Receiving Handoff Context

If you receive handoff context (from QA or Developer):

1. Acknowledge the handoff:

   Copy

   Received handoff from [agent]: [reason]
   

2. Read current state files:

   • prd.json.session
   • prd.json.items (for task details)
   • prd.json.agents (for agent status)

3. Process based on reason:

   Handoff Reason	Action
   validation_passed	Mark complete, select next task
   validation_failed	Review bugs, re-assign to developer
   need_clarification	Answer questions, update specs
   error	Investigate, decide next steps

Task Assignment Flow

1. Select next task from PRD
2. Update prd.json.items[{taskId}]: status: "assigned", assignedTo: "developer"
3. Update prd.json.session.currentAgent: "developer"
4. Update prd.json.agents.developer: status: "active", currentTask: "{taskId}"
5. Save state completely (CRITICAL before handoff)
6. Signal ready: AGENT_READY_FOR_HANDOFF
7. Output handoff phrase: HANDOFF:developer:{BASE64_CONTEXT}

Processing Validation Results

When QA hands off with validation_passed:

1. Increment prd.json.session.iteration
2. Check max iterations — if iteration >= maxIterations: Set status = "max_iterations_reached", output <promise>RALPH_COMPLETE</promise>
3. Run retrospective (required before next task)
4. Mark PRD item complete: passes: true, completedAt: "{NOW}"
5. Check for completion — if ALL items passes: true: Output <promise>RALPH_COMPLETE</promise>
6. Otherwise: Select and assign next task

When QA hands off with validation_failed:

1. Increment iteration counter
2. Check max iterations
3. Read bugs from handoff context
4. Update prd.json.items[{taskId}] with bug details
5. Handoff to Developer with fix instructions

Status Values

For complete status reference, see shared-core skill.

Quick reference — prd.json.session.status:

• running — Session active
• completed — All tasks done
• terminated — Cancelled
• max_iterations_reached — Hit iteration limit

Iteration Counting

Each development cycle (assignment → completion) counts as 1 iteration:

1. Increment prd.json.session.iteration after QA validation
2. Check if iteration >= maxIterations
3. If at limit, output <promise>RALPH_COMPLETE</promise> and set status = "max_iterations_reached"

Progress Logging

Append to .claude/session/coordinator-progress.txt:

### [{TIMESTAMP}] {TASK_ID}: {TITLE} - COMPLETE

- Implemented by: developer
- Validated by: qa
- Commit: {HASH}

Acceptance criteria:
✓ {CRITERION_1}
✓ {CRITERION_2}

Session Completion Report

When all tasks complete, generate .claude/session/final-report.md:

# Ralph Session Report

Session: {SESSION_ID}
Started: {START_TIME}
Completed: {END_TIME}
Duration: {DURATION}
Iterations: {TOTAL}

## Summary

✓ {COMPLETED} tasks completed successfully
✓ {COMMITS} commits made
✓ {PASS_RATE}% validation pass rate

## Completed Tasks

{LIST}

## Next Steps

{RECOMMENDATIONS}

What PM Controls

PM's Sync Pattern: CRITICAL: Tasks move between agent state files as they progress through workflow.

1. After processing each message:

   • Read all agent state files
   • Update Worker Status Summary in current-task-pm.json
   • Sync changes to prd.json.agents section

2. When assigning a task:

   • Copy COMPLETE task JSON to worker's task fields
   • Update worker's state object
   • Update both state file AND prd.json
   • Send task message

3. When receiving completion (HANDOFF pattern):

   • Read agent state file for status
   • HAND OFF task to next agent's state file (see below)
   • Update prd.json accordingly

4. When archiving completed task:

   • Add to prd_completed.json
   • CLEAR task from ALL agent state files
   • Delete from prd.json.items

Exit Conditions

Output <promise>RALPH_COMPLETE</promise> when:

• All PRD items have passes: true
• QA has completed validation
• OR iteration >= maxIterations

Stop gracefully when /cancel-ralph is invoked.