ARCH — Agent Runtime & Coordination Harness

Meet Archie — your AI development team lead.

ARCH is a multi-agent development system that orchestrates independent Claude AI sessions working concurrently on a software project. Each agent is a full Claude CLI process with its own role, memory, and isolated git worktree. A central harness connects them via a local MCP server, tracks token costs, and renders a live terminal dashboard.

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How It Works

arch up

Archie (the Lead Agent) reads your project, decomposes the work, and dynamically spawns specialist agents — frontend dev, QA engineer, security auditor, and more — each working in parallel in their own git branch. You watch from the dashboard, answer questions when Archie needs a decision, and approve merges when work is ready.

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Features

• Dynamic agent spawning — Archie decides which specialists to spin up based on the task
• Isolated git worktrees — agents work in parallel without filesystem conflicts
• Agent-to-agent messaging — agents coordinate via a local MCP message bus
• Token & cost tracking — per-agent usage logged in real time
• Sandboxed agents — run agents in Docker containers for safety and isolation
• Permission control — opt-in --dangerously-skip-permissions per agent role, with audit logging
• Live TUI dashboard — see agent status, activity, and costs at a glance
• Configurable — single archie.yaml defines your project, agent pool, and settings

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Quick Start

# Install
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Scaffold config in your project
arch init --name "My Project"

# Start
arch up

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Configuration

# archie.yaml
project:
  name: My App
  description: A full-stack web application

agent_pool:
  - id: frontend-dev
    persona: personas/frontend.md
    model: claude-sonnet-4-6
  - id: qa-engineer
    persona: personas/qa.md
    model: claude-sonnet-4-6
    sandbox:
      enabled: true        # run in Docker container
  - id: security-auditor
    persona: personas/security.md
    model: claude-sonnet-4-6
    sandbox:
      enabled: true
    permissions:
      skip_permissions: true   # requires user confirmation at startup

settings:
  max_concurrent_agents: 5
  token_budget_usd: 10.00

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Status

Early development. See SPEC-AGENT-HARNESS.md for the full technical specification.