Hivemind

Hivemind: Claude Code as Orchestrator, opencode as Free Worker Swarm

Claude Code = brain (plans, reviews, merges). opencode = disposable workers on free models (opencode/mimo-v2.5-free default; verified $0.00 per run).

Prerequisites (external dependency)

This skill is a thin orchestration layer over opencode, a third-party CLI. It is not bundled — install and authenticate it yourself first:

Nothing here calls the Anthropic API on the worker side; worker traffic goes to opencode's endpoints. Do not delegate secrets or private code you would not send there.

Setup

1. Put this skill folder wherever your agent loads skills from (e.g. ~/.claude/skills/hivemind).
2. Export HIVEMIND_HOME pointing at that folder — the bundled slash commands use it:

   export HIVEMIND_HOME="$HOME/.claude/skills/hivemind"

3. Copy the bundled assets into place:
   • assets/commands/*.md -> ~/.claude/commands/ (the /hive, /oc, /swarm, ... entry points)
   • assets/agents/*.md -> ~/.config/opencode/agent/ (the scout / coder / tester worker personas)

Both copies are optional: everything the commands do can be driven by invoking scripts/oc-worker.mjs directly, and any opencode agent name works with --agent.

Runtime state (.runs/*.jsonl) is written inside this folder and is gitignored.

Components

Slash commands (ship in assets/commands/, copy to ~/.claude/commands/):

• /hive <task> - AUTO-ROUTER. Classifies task -> single worker, generic swarm, or template. Default entry point; prefer this over manual routing.
• /oc <task> - single worker delegation
• /swarm <task> - generic parallel swarm
• /review-panel <diff> - 4-lens parallel review (correctness/security/performance/style) + consensus aggregation
• /research-sweep <question> - 3-5 parallel research angles, synthesized
• /migration <task> - batched per-worktree migration workers + sequenced merge
• /test-fleet <target> - partitioned parallel test runs with safety checks

Worker agents (ship in assets/agents/, copy to ~/.config/opencode/agent/):

• scout - read-only research (no write/edit/bash)
• coder - implements one subtask in its worktree
• tester - runs tests only, never edits source

Invocation contract

node "<skill-dir>\scripts\oc-worker.mjs" [--agent scout|coder|tester] [--dir <path>] [--model <p/m>] [--timeout 900] [--run <id> --label <name>] "TASK TEXT"

Returns exactly ONE compact JSON line: { ok, result, tokens:{total,input,output,cache}, cost_usd, duration_ms, label, agent, model }

On failure: { ok:false, stage:"args"|"exec"|"api"|"parse"|"empty", error } with stderr capped at 300 chars.

--run <id> + --label <name> append lifecycle events (start/done/fail) to .runs/<id>.jsonl inside this skill dir. Use them for EVERY swarm worker so progress is recoverable via oc-status.mjs even after orchestrator context loss.

The script auto-manages the shared server: health-checks 127.0.0.1:4096, spawns opencode serve if dead, waits 5s, falls back to cold start. Workers are idempotent against their --dir; re-run once on ok:false before giving up.

HIVEMIND_SERVER_URL overrides that address (default http://127.0.0.1:4096). It must be a valid URL with a numeric port; anything else fails fast with a single stage:"args" JSON line rather than reaching the spawned process.

Golden Rule (non-negotiable)

Raw opencode NDJSON streams must NEVER enter your context. All output arrives via the script's single JSON line. Never pipe opencode run --format json directly into this conversation; never re-implement what the script does.

Single worker flow (/oc)

For one read-only question or small delegation: run oc-worker.mjs without worktrees. Read-only tasks may omit --agent/--dir. Summarize result for the user. If files were written: show git diff before letting the user commit.

Swarm flow (multi-worker)

1. Decompose task into 2-5 INDEPENDENT subtasks (no shared files).
2. Writing workers get isolated worktrees FIRST: git worktree add ../<repo>-wt-N -b swarm/N.
3. Issue ALL worker invocations as PARALLEL Bash tool calls in ONE message.
4. Review every diff yourself (git diff main...swarm/N). YOU are the only merger.
5. Merge approved branches, remove worktrees, run tests.
6. Report table: subtask | agent | tokens | outcome + total worker tokens.

HARD RULES: workers never share directories; never delegate merging/reviewing; escalate to your own Sonnet only when a free-model worker demonstrably fails twice.