Nelson
Squadron-scale agent coordination for Claude Code — risk-gated, damage-controlled, fully audited.
A Claude Code skill that organises multi-agent work into structured naval operations: sailing orders define the mission, captains command parallel workstreams, action stations enforce risk-appropriate controls, and a captain's log makes every decision auditable.
4 risk tiers · 11 damage control procedures · 11 mission templates · 7 crew roles · 16 standing orders
Captain Horatio Nelson — John Francis Rigaud, 1781. Image: Wikimedia Commons
Contents
Quick Start
Install the plugin:
/plugin marketplace add harrymunro/nelson
/plugin install nelson@nelson-marketplace
Describe your mission — Nelson loads automatically, no slash command needed:
Use Nelson to migrate the payment module from Stripe v2 to v3
Nelson will draft sailing orders, present a battle plan for your approval, form a squadron of captains to execute in parallel, run quarterdeck checkpoints, and produce a captain's log when the mission stands down. See Prerequisites for the full agent-team experience with split panes.
What it does
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2468679d-39f5-4efb-9d93-43d43eee8907
Nelson gives Claude an eight-step operational framework for tackling complex missions:
- Sailing Orders — Define the outcome, success metric, constraints, and stop criteria
- The Estimate — Conduct the 7 Question Maritime Tactical Estimate: reconnaissance, intent, effects, terrain, forces, coordination, and control
- Battle Plan — Turn approved effects into task assignments with owners, dependencies, and file ownership
- Form the Squadron — Choose an execution mode (single-session, subagents, or agent team) and size the team
- Get Permission to Sail — Present the plan for user approval before committing resources
- Quarterdeck Rhythm — Run checkpoints to track progress, identify blockers, monitor hull integrity, and manage budget
- Action Stations — Classify tasks by risk tier and enforce verification before marking complete
- Stand Down — Produce a captain's log with decisions, artifacts, validation evidence, and follow-ups
Why Nelson?
Most agent orchestration tools focus on starting missions. Nelson focuses on completing them safely.
Nelson gives your missions a shared vocabulary: "action stations" instead of "risk tier escalation", "hull integrity" instead of "context window consumption", "man overboard" instead of "stuck agent replacement". The names stick. So do the habits.
- Risk-gated execution — Four station tiers (Patrol through Trafalgar) classify every task before it runs. High-risk work requires human confirmation; low-risk work flows without ceremony.
- Damage control built in — Eleven named procedures for stuck agents, context exhaustion, faulty output, budget overruns, automated alarms, and mission abort. These are protocols, not improvisation.
- A decision log by default — Captain's log, quarterdeck reports, and turnover briefs are written as the mission runs. Every decision is auditable after the session ends.
Nelson coordinates its own development — recent releases have been planned and executed as Nelson missions.
Who is this for?
- You run Claude Code missions spanning multiple files or modules in parallel
- You want structured checkpoints, risk classification, and a decision log
- You've lost work to context exhaustion and want systematic handover procedures
- You care about auditability — knowing what was decided, by which agent, and why
It may be overkill if you're doing a quick, single-file edit.
How Nelson compares
Nelson trades upfront setup time for coordination guarantees:
