Track work as issues

Write down the work, then let agents pick it up. Each issueA piece of work written as a Markdown file in .hivemind/, which you and your agents read and update.Glossary → is a Markdown file in the project, so the Issues board updates as an agent works.

Turn on Hivemind issues in this project and file the first ones.

1. Check Hivemind is installed: `hive --version` prints a version.
2. Ask me for a prefix for issue ids: 2 to 10 capital letters or digits, starting with a letter (for example WEB).
3. In the project folder, run `hive init --prefix <PREFIX>`. It adds the .hivemind/ folder, agent skills and a CLAUDE.md section. If I only want the issues, use `hive init --prefix <PREFIX> --no-agentic` instead.
4. Ask me for up to five pieces of work. For each, run `hive new "<title>" --ac "<criterion one> || <criterion two>"`. The || separates acceptance criteria.
5. Check: `hive list --json` lists them, with ids <PREFIX>-1, <PREFIX>-2 and so on.

Do not commit anything without asking me. At the end, show me the ids and titles, and tell me that the work button on an issue card in the Issues tool starts an agent on it.

REFERENCE https://hivemind.griiken.com/guide/issues.md

Turn issues onCopy Anchor Link

The prefix is 2 to 10 capital letters or digits, starting with a letter. Issue ids are MYP-1, MYP-2, and so on.

File an issueCopy Anchor Link

To file one, run hive new with a title. --ac adds acceptance criteria, the checks that say the work is done. || separates them:

hive new "Fix token expiry" --ac "boundary test passes || manual check passes"

Check: hive list --state todo or the board shows it. Other everyday commands:

hive show MYP-1
hive update MYP-1 --assignee claude --assignee-type agent
hive close MYP-1                  # done; --reason "…" makes it cancelled
hive reopen MYP-1                 # back to todo

Hand an issue to an agentCopy Anchor Link

1. On the Issues board, press work on a card. In an open issue, press Work on this.
2. Check: an agent's tile opens with the issue as its task, ready for you to send.
3. Send it. The agent follows the steps below and ticks each criterion on the board.

An agent started with hive init's skills follows these steps:

.hivemind/.agent.md sums up the open issues, so a new agent session reads one file. hive agent context writes it again.

Move an issue through its statesCopy Anchor Link

• Usual order: backlog → todo → in_progress → in_review → done.
• cancelled can be set from any state, and any state can be set from any other: the order is not enforced.
• hive close sets done, hive close --reason sets cancelled, and hive reopen sets todo.

Every change is a line in the issue's activity, signed by the person or agent who made it.

Split and link issuesCopy Anchor Link

hive task MYP-3 add "Write the test"     # MYP-3.1
hive new "…" --parent MYP-3
hive relate MYP-3 OPS-7 --type blocks    # written on both issues
hive move MYP-3 OPS                      # to another project; --copy keeps the original

Link types are relates, blocks, blocked-by, duplicates, parent-of and child-of. To use ids from another project, run hive workspace register in both, then hive workspace list.

What is in the folderCopy Anchor Link

.hivemind/
├── issues/MYP-1.md   one file per issue (sub-issues in issues/MYP-1/)
├── config.yaml       prefix and next id
├── review.json       comments left on a diff
└── .agent.md         a summary of open issues for agents (not committed)

If it didn'tCopy Anchor Link

RelatedCopy Anchor Link

• Coordinate agents
• Review an agent's changes
• CLI reference: every issue command.

Last validated for Hivemind 2026.10.3.