Coordinate agents

One agent can lead others. For example, a lead agent sends three reviewers to three parts of your code, then merges what they found into one list.

You are running inside a Hivemind tile. Lead a small team of other agents with `hive ctl` to review this project.

1. Check you can reach the app: `hive ctl agents --json` answers. If it fails, tell me Hivemind must be open on this project, and stop.
2. Ask me which parts of the project to review (for example three folders) and which agent the team should use. Only these agents can be workers: claude, codex, droid, hermes, kiro, opencode, pi.
3. Start one worker per part: `hive ctl workflow --shape fanout --agent <agent> --items "<part one> || <part two> || <part three>" --prompt "Review the {item} code and list concrete bugs with file and line." --timeout 10m --close --json`. Keep --timeout below your own tool's time limit.
4. If a worker stops to ask something, it shows up in `hive ctl inbox --wait 90s`. Bring me anything only I can answer, such as a product choice. Never type a password.
5. Merge the replies into one list, remove duplicates, and sort by how serious each bug is.

Check: the workflow's JSON has one reply per part. At the end, show me the merged list, how many workers ran, and whether any failed or timed out.

REFERENCE https://hivemind.griiken.com/guide/agent-workflows.md

• You or a lead agent → worker agents: start them and send them work, with hive ctl spawn and send.
• Workers → you: each reply, through hive ctl read or the inbox.
• A worker that asks something → your inbox. You answer or approve it.
• hive ctl workflow runs fanout, pipeline and mapreduce over many workers.

Words on this pageCopy Anchor Link

hive ctl run inside an agent's tile acts as that agent. Anywhere else, it acts as you.

Before you startCopy Anchor Link

• Hivemind is open on the project.
• The workers use an agent that tells Hivemind when it finishes replying:

You can still start any other agent, but you drive it by hand. A workflow refuses it before starting anything.

Send one worker a taskCopy Anchor Link

1. To start a worker with a task, run: hive ctl spawn --agent pi --prompt "Review the current diff and list concrete bugs."
2. Check: it prints the new tile's id, and the tile appears on the canvas.
3. To wait for its reply, run hive ctl read <tile> --timeout 90s.
4. Check: it prints the reply and exits 0. Exit 4 means it is still working: run read again.
5. To send a follow-up, run hive ctl send <tile> "Now fix the first one".

Durations take units: 90s, 10m. Keep --timeout below your own tool's time limit. Every exit code is on the CLI reference.

To follow every agent and what it waits on, run hive ctl agents --watch.

Run many workers at onceCopy Anchor Link

To send the same task over several items, run a workflow:

hive ctl workflow --shape fanout --items "auth || billing || search" \
  --prompt "Review the {item} module and list concrete bugs." --close --json

|| separates the items. {item} is replaced by each one.

The command waits until every worker has replied. --close closes their tiles afterwards.

Answer what workers askCopy Anchor Link

1. To have a worker's permission questions come to you, start it with --supervise all: hive ctl spawn --agent claude --supervise all --prompt "…".
2. To see questions and replies sent to you, run hive ctl inbox --wait 90s.
3. To answer one, run hive ctl approve <request id> allow. The other answers are deny, always and never.
4. Check: the worker carries on, and its tile leaves needs you.

always and never are remembered for that worker and that tool.

Let agents use a browser and pluginsCopy Anchor Link

• Browser: switch on the Browser tool, then Agent browser control on its page in Settings → Plugins, and restart the app. Agents then drive the Browser tiles you see with agent-browser, with no setup of their own:
  • Each terminal already points at the tiles. Every terminal gets its own session, which starts on the Browser tile in its frame.
  • A new tab is a tile. agent-browser tab new <url> opens a Browser tile beside the agent.
  • An agent reaches only the Browser tiles beside it: those in its frame, or loose on the same board when it is loose. It never sees the Hivemind window, your tiles in other frames, or the cookies of a site it has no tile on.
  • You choose per tile. The robot button in a tile's toolbar offers Agents in this frame, Every agent and No agents. The same setting is hive config set agentBrowser.tiles.<tile> all (or none). While an agent changes the page, the tile says so, and Stop ends it and shuts agents out of that tile.
  • Signing in, without the agent seeing the password. Tiles keep their logins, so most agents never need one. When one does, it has two ways, and you answer on the tile:
    • hive ctl browser ask "Please sign in": you sign in yourself. Until you press Done, the agent waits and sees none of it.
    • hive ctl browser sign-in github: a sign-in you saved in Sign-ins on the same page. After Sign in once or Always on this site, the app types it, only on that site and only in the page's own visible fields. An agent can't choose where it goes.
  • An agent sees every tab of a tile it can reach, and a link that opens a new tab opens one there.
  • Pages work as in a browser. agent-browser download, pdf, reload and vitals work on a tile's page. agent-browser dialog accept answers a page's confirm and closes the box you see for it. A page's prompt() always fails: Electron does not have it.
  • Settings on the same page: install or update agent-browser, turn Use these Browser tiles off so it starts a Chrome of its own, or turn Mark what pages say off. The same settings are hive config set agentBrowser.useTiles false and hive config set agentBrowser.markPageText false.
• Plugins: an agent opens a plugin and runs its commands:

hive ctl plugin open widget:@dip497/progress
hive ctl plugin commands
hive ctl plugin call @dip497/progress add '{"text":"Run the tests"}'

Check it workedCopy Anchor Link

• hive ctl agents lists each worker you started.
• hive ctl read or the workflow's JSON prints each worker's reply.

If it didn'tCopy Anchor Link

RelatedCopy Anchor Link

• Track work as issues: give workers issues to close.
• CLI reference: every hive ctl command and exit code.
• API: drive agents from your own program, with a token.

Last validated for Hivemind 2026.10.3.