Assign Agent

Use this skill when an orchestrator agent needs to assign work to another local Codex agent.

Purpose

• Start a worker in its own tmux session using codex-tmux.
• Keep worker sessions resumable by capturing CODEX_THREAD_ID.
• Standardize issue delegation prompts and handoff artifacts.

Critical Resume-ID Rule (Strict)

• Resume handoff must use a real, expanded thread id value.
• Workers must run echo $CODEX_THREAD_ID and use that output in the final command.
• Never post a literal template such as $(printenv CODEX_THREAD_ID) in comments/files.
• Never post an empty thread id (CODEX_THREAD_ID='').
• If echo $CODEX_THREAD_ID is empty, stop and resolve before posting handoff instructions.

PR Review Loop Requirement (Strict)

• If the assignment includes creating or updating a PR, review is mandatory before stopping.
• For PR assignments, bootstrap the PR early with an empty commit (chore: bootstrap PR) so review tooling always has an open PR target before the first real implementation commit.
• Worker must request review, apply fixes for findings, and request review again in a loop.
• Worker stops only when review is clean (no unresolved findings) or the orchestrator explicitly says to stop.
• Prefer using the request-review skill/script with a stable tmux pane target.
• Orchestrator must provide the fully qualified pane target for the worker session (for example <session>:1.1) in the assignment prompt.
• Worker must pass that exact fully qualified pane target to request-review and must not discover a pane dynamically via tmux display-message.

Required Skill Injection (Strict)

• Orchestrator prompts must explicitly include required skills for the assignment and state do not skip.
• Do not rely on implicit skill discovery for delegated workers.
• For any code-change task that ends in a PR, always require:
  • $gh-version-control-workflow
• If the task requires branch/worktree cleanup, always require:
  • $safe-worktree
• If the task requires deleting files/directories, always require:
  • $safe-delete
• Include absolute SKILL.md paths in the prompt for each required skill.
• If a required skill is unavailable in worker context, worker must state that explicitly and use the closest safe fallback workflow.

Required launcher

• Launcher path: /Users/robertsale/.bin/codex-tmux
• Skill script path: scripts/codex-tmux (hard-linked copy of the launcher)

Session naming

Use:

• <repo-name>-<issue-number>-<brief-description>

Examples:

• coolproject-70-wa-geo-tax-lookup
• portal-144-auth-retry

Orchestrator launch rule

Always clear CODEX_THREAD_ID for new workers:

SESSION_NAME="<repo>-<issue>-<slug>"
PROMPT="<assignment prompt>"
CODEX_THREAD_ID= codex-tmux "$SESSION_NAME" "$PROMPT"

Assignment prompt template

Seed the worker with enough context to begin immediately:

You are assigned to <issue/reference> in <repo path or repo URL>.
Review pane target for request-review (use exactly): <session>:<window-index>.<pane-index>

Required skills for this assignment (do not skip):
- $gh-version-control-workflow (<absolute-skill-path>)
- $safe-worktree (<absolute-skill-path>) [when cleanup applies]
- $safe-delete (<absolute-skill-path>) [when deletion applies]

Goals:
1. Research and triage the issue.
2. Capture your real thread id and validate it is non-empty:
   ```bash
   THREAD_ID="$(echo $CODEX_THREAD_ID)"
   test -n "$THREAD_ID"

3. If $gh-version-control-workflow is in your current skill list/context:
   • Add a GitHub issue comment with a fenced bash block that uses the expanded value:

     CODEX_THREAD_ID='<expanded-thread-id>' codex-tmux '<session-name>'

4. If that skill is not available in your current context:
   • Write the expanded resume command to $WORKTREE_ROOT/codex.env:

     cat > "$WORKTREE_ROOT/codex.env" <<EOF
     CODEX_THREAD_ID='<expanded-thread-id>' codex-tmux '<session-name>'
     EOF

5. Use the required skills above to create the issue branch/worktree.
6. If your task includes PR work, bootstrap the PR early with an empty commit before implementation commits:

   git commit --allow-empty -m "chore: bootstrap PR"
   git push -u origin HEAD
   # then open/update the PR

7. Implement the fix and keep the PR updated.
8. If your task includes PR work, run a strict review loop until clean:

   ~/.codex/skills/request-review/scripts/request-review "<session>:<window-index>.<pane-index>" "<commit-message>"

   • Address findings, commit, and rerun request-review.
   • Repeat until review is clean.
9. If PR work is included: merge only after the review loop is clean, then run required cleanup using safe-worktree (and safe-delete where applicable).

## Orchestrator Acceptance Check
Before considering handoff complete, verify:
- The posted/saved command contains a concrete thread id value.
- The command does not contain `$(printenv CODEX_THREAD_ID)` or similar unevaluated placeholders.
- The thread id value is not empty.
- The assignment prompt explicitly lists required skills with `do not skip`.
- For PR assignments, prompt explicitly requires `gh-version-control-workflow`.
- For cleanup/deletion assignments, prompt explicitly requires `safe-worktree` and/or `safe-delete`.
- For PR assignments, prompt includes the fully qualified review pane target and does not use dynamic pane discovery commands.

## Worker behavior constraints
- One assignment maps to one worker session.
- Do not reuse an unrelated existing tmux session.
- Keep the session name stable for the life of the issue to preserve resume ergonomics.