team-dispatch

Arc Team Deploy

Deploy an agent team from arc's issue graph. Translates teammate:* labels, plans, and dependencies into a Claude Code team with tasks and role-filtered context.

When to Invoke

• User says "deploy team", "create agent team from arc", "spawn teammates from arc"
• User runs /arc team-deploy
• User wants to parallelize work on an arc epic across multiple agents

Prerequisites

• An arc project is active (resolved via server path registration or local config)
• An epic exists with child issues labeled teammate:<role> (e.g., teammate:frontend, teammate:backend)
• The arc server is running (arc server status)

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Team Context

Run arc team context <epic-id> --json to get the issue graph grouped by role.

arc team context <epic-id> --json

The JSON output has this structure:

{
  "epic": { "id": "PROJ-5", "title": "Auth System", "status": "open" },
  "roles": {
    "frontend": [
      { "id": "PROJ-5.1", "title": "Login form", "status": "open", "priority": 2, "blocked_by": [] }
    ],
    "backend": [
      { "id": "PROJ-5.2", "title": "Auth API", "status": "open", "priority": 1, "blocked_by": [] },
      { "id": "PROJ-5.3", "title": "Session middleware", "status": "open", "priority": 2, "blocked_by": ["PROJ-5.2"] }
    ]
  }
}

Use the roles keys as teammate names and paste each role's issue array into the teammate's dispatch prompt.

If the user hasn't specified an epic, help them find one:

arc list --type=epic --status=open

Step 2: Present Team Composition

Parse the JSON output and present a summary for approval:

Team composition for "<epic-title>":

  frontend (2 issues): Login form, Signup page
  backend  (3 issues): Auth API, User model, Session middleware
Proceed with team deployment? [Y/n]

Step 3: Create Team and Tasks

After approval:

1. Create the team via TeamCreate:

   team_name: "<epic-title-slug>"
   description: "Working on <epic-title>"
   

2. Create tasks via TaskCreate for each arc issue:

   • subject: The arc issue title
   • description: Include the arc issue ID, plan (if any), dependencies, and priority
   • activeForm: Present continuous of the subject (e.g., "Implementing login form")

3. Set task dependencies via TaskUpdate with addBlockedBy:

   • Map arc dependency IDs to the corresponding task IDs
   • Only map dependencies between issues within the same team deployment

Step 4: Spawn Teammates

For each role, spawn a teammate via the Agent tool:

subagent_type: "general-purpose"
team_name: "<team-name>"
name: "<role>"  (e.g., "frontend", "backend")

Prompt template for each teammate:

You are the <role> teammate working on "<epic-title>".

Your arc role label is teammate:<role>. Focus on your assigned tasks.

Environment: ARC_TEAMMATE_ROLE=<role>

Workflow:
1. Check TaskList for your assigned tasks
2. Work on tasks in ID order (lowest first)
3. For each task:
   - If labeled `docs-only`: mark in_progress, write documentation, verify formatting, commit, mark completed
   - Otherwise: mark in_progress, implement with tests (RED → GREEN → REFACTOR), run test suite, commit, mark completed
4. After completing a task, check TaskList for the next available one
5. Send a message to the team lead when all your tasks are done

Arc context for your issues:
<paste role-specific issues from the team context JSON>

Step 5: Assign Tasks

Use TaskUpdate with owner to assign each task to the corresponding teammate role name.

Step 6: Monitor and Sync

As team lead, follow the sync protocol:

1. Monitor progress via TaskList — teammates send messages on completion
2. Verify work before closing arc issues:

   arc show <issue-id>   # Review the issue
   # Check the code changes made by the teammate
   

3. Close verified issues:

   arc close <issue-id> --reason "completed by <role>"
   

4. Check for newly unblocked work:

   arc ready
   

5. Shutdown teammates when all work is complete via SendMessage with type: "shutdown_request"

Error Handling

• If arc team context returns empty roles, the epic may not have teammate:* labels on children. Suggest labeling first.
• If a teammate reports a blocker, update the arc issue status: arc update <id> --status=blocked
• If a task fails, investigate before reassigning — the arc issue may need plan revision.

Example Session

User: Deploy a team for epic PROJ-5

1. Run: arc team context PROJ-5 --json
2. Parse: 2 roles (frontend: 2 issues, backend: 3 issues)
3. Present composition → user approves
4. TeamCreate: "auth-system"
5. TaskCreate: 5 tasks (mapped from arc issues)
6. TaskUpdate: set dependencies between tasks
7. Agent spawn: "frontend" teammate (2 assigned tasks)
8. Agent spawn: "backend" teammate (3 assigned tasks)
9. Monitor via TaskList, verify completions
10. arc close verified issues
11. Shutdown teammates when done