Symphony Claude Lane

Symphony + Claude Lane

Use this skill when a team has Symphony + Linear and wants a durable long-horizon multi-agent harness — routing work to Claude Code or Codex based on what the task actually needs, not just a static label.

This skill also works for teams that want to run Claude-only workers without Codex.

Prerequisites

• The target repo already uses Symphony + Linear, or is clearly intended to.
• The target repo has a place for durable orchestration guidance such as AGENTS.md or .orchestration/.
• At least one of Claude Code or Codex can be run as a worker against the repo.
• Browser verification can be done with Playwright or an equivalent automation path (recommended but not required).
• GitHub-only mode (no Linear/Symphony) is supported. An adopter with only Claude Code/Codex + an authenticated gh CLI and a GitHub repo where they can create release:* labels can run the worker→release-manager flow without a tracker. Read ../../docs/github-only-quickstart.md and skip the Linear-specific steps below (PR + release:* labels are the control plane).

If those conditions are not true, explain the gap and stop or redirect to a more appropriate setup skill — except when the only missing piece is Linear/Symphony: in that case offer GitHub-only mode (../../docs/github-only-quickstart.md) instead of stopping.

Required workflow

1. Inspect the target repo, existing AGENTS.md, workflow docs, and issue contract.
2. Confirm the repo is a real candidate for multi-model dispatch, not just a generic coding repo.
3. Confirm the base Symphony workflow already has workspace bootstrap assertions, a no-progress stop-loss, and a stable issue contract before adding model routing.
4. Analyze the repo's work patterns to recommend a routing strategy. Consider what types of tasks appear in the backlog: bounded implementation, UI/frontend, complex reasoning, browser-dependent verification, code review, documentation, security-sensitive changes, E2E testing.
5. Ask the user about their routing and backend preferences: should the orchestrator analyze task characteristics automatically, or use label-only routing? Which agent capabilities matter most for this repo? Is this a mixed-model or Claude-only setup? Should Claude workers use the default tmux-backed interactive backend, or does the adopter intentionally prefer a headless claude -p / API-priced backend?
6. Create or update a repo-local routing profile from assets/claude-lane-profile.example.yaml, including routing strategy, model selection criteria, privacy rules, and cleanup or retention rules for that adopter's actual storage hotspots.
7. Prefer same-project label-filtered routing when labels are used. Recommend a separate queue or Linear project only when the adopter needs stronger operational separation.
8. Add routing and dispatch guidance to the target repo's orchestration docs. Use assets/claude-lane-guidance.snippet.md as a starting point. Do not hardcode repo specifics back into this shared skill.
9. Help the adopter set up Claude worker launch capability. Use references/worker-launch.md for the secure tmux launch pattern and assets/claude-worker.reference.sh as a starting point for the launcher script. If the adopter prefers API pricing or a fully headless subprocess, read ../../docs/backend-options.md and adapt deliberately rather than mixing semantics. Use assets/worker-prompt.template.md as the basis for worker prompts. Adapt all paths, auth, and MCP config to the adopter's environment.
10. If workers will receive "deploy" instructions or many PRs may finish concurrently, add a separate release-manager lane using ../../docs/release-manager-lane.md: workers mark PRs release:ready and stop; one release manager owns queue/merge/deploy/Done closeout.
11. For tickets that affect rendered output, default to Playwright-based verification before closeout.
12. Define closeout, retry, In Review, release-manager, and cleanup behavior as part of the routing contract, including how worktrees, snapshots, and other heavy local artifacts are removed safely.

Safety defaults

• Route based on task characteristics by default. Use labels as overrides, not as the sole routing mechanism.
• When task characteristics are ambiguous and no label override exists, prefer the safer choice: Codex for bounded sandbox-compatible work, Claude for anything requiring tools, browser access, or deep reasoning.
• Keep ambiguous tickets in the more conservative path until the repo proves the routing is stable.
• Persist user routing choices into the repo-local profile, not only in chat.
• Inherit the base workflow guardrails instead of treating any model's lane as exempt from them.
• Require an explicit Claude route before launching a full-access Claude worker. Labels, project filters, or assignee filters are acceptable portable guards.
• Launch Claude workers with an allowlisted environment rather than inheriting the full operator shell.
• Treat the backend as an explicit design choice. Tmux is the default for attachable long-horizon workers; claude -p is acceptable only when the adopter intentionally wants API-priced headless execution and preserves the same routing, prompt, outcome, closeout, and cleanup contracts.
• Prefer operator-reviewed closeout unless the adopter already has a safe self-close path.
• Keep merge-to-main and production deploys in a single-owner release-manager lane. Workers may prepare PRs and add release:ready, but should not merge, rebase, push to main, trigger production, or move issues to Done unless the adopter has explicitly chosen a direct-Done flow.
• Render the intended closeout state into the worker prompt so issue text cannot choose Done versus In Review.
• Verify tracker state after worker success when self-close or worker-driven closeout is allowed. Surface closeout_verified=false or check_failed as warnings.
• Support current symphony-outcome comments and legacy symphony:outcome verdict=pass comments during migration, but never auto-promote current failed or blocked outcomes.
• If issue state cannot be confirmed during closeout or cleanup, preserve artifacts and stop rather than guessing.
• Do not assume every adopter's storage pressure looks the same; document repo-specific cleanup hotspots in the repo-local profile.
• Do not put secrets, credentials, tokens, session cookies, personal data, or raw customer payloads into issues, comments, screenshots, traces, or other artifacts.
• Do not launch paid cloud resources from worker tickets unless the issue explicitly authorizes budget, time limit, cleanup, validation, and expected artifacts.

Reference map

• Read references/setup.md first when deciding whether the target repo is ready.
• Read references/routing.md before analyzing work patterns or asking the user about routing preferences.
• Read references/dispatch.md when defining queue split, model selection, and worker lifecycle.
• Read references/worker-launch.md when helping the adopter set up the Claude worker launcher, MCP config, or security practices.
• Read ../../docs/backend-options.md when the adopter asks about tmux versus claude -p, API pricing, or a hybrid backend.
• Read ../../docs/release-manager-lane.md when the adopter asks about autonomous deploys, high-volume PR merging, "deploy" commands, merge queues, or avoiding parallel workers fighting over main.
• Read ../../docs/goal-layer.md when the adopter wants autonomous progress toward a long-horizon goal (not just a fixed backlog) — a durable goal in a Linear project + ephemeral planner passes that mint each next wave of work and stop on acceptance/budget. It sits ABOVE the release lane; the /goal command bootstraps it and bin/goal-manager owns the durable state + termination guards.
• Read ../../docs/github-only-quickstart.md when the adopter has only Claude Code/Codex + GitHub and no Linear/Symphony — the worker→release-manager flow runs in --no-linear mode with PR + release:* labels as the control plane.
• Read references/visual-verification.md before writing browser-verification policy.
• Read references/closeout.md when defining In Review, outcome blocks, retry behavior, or self-close rules.
• Read references/troubleshooting.md when a worker stalls, exhausts turns, or drifts from the routing contract.
• Read references/examples.md when you need concrete ticket-routing examples or model selection patterns.

Output expectations

When this skill is applied well, the target repo should end up with:

• a working Claude worker launch setup (launcher script, MCP config, prompt template)
• a durable routing profile with model selection criteria
• clear routing rules — task-characteristic analysis, label overrides, or both
• explicit Claude backend selection — tmux by default, claude -p by deliberate adaptation, or a hybrid split
• an explicit release-manager contract when workers can prepare deployable PRs: workers add release:ready; one release manager serializes main, waits for merge/deploy evidence when configured, and posts tracker closeout
• explicit privacy and redaction rules for all worker artifacts
• repo-local orchestration guidance describing what each model handles and why
• a Playwright-first visual verification rule for tickets that affect rendered output
• inherited base-workflow guardrails called out explicitly
• explicit closeout and retry behavior for all workers regardless of model
• a documented fallback for control-plane outages or missing tracker state
• a cleanup and retention policy that covers worktrees, snapshots, and repo-specific storage hotspots

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: jvogan
• Source: jvogan/symphony-claude-lane
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://github.com/jvogan/symphony-claude-lane

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.