# Team — lead orchestrating a mixed Claude + local-LLM fleet

The message server (`fleetd`) delivers **one turn into one worker**. A **team** is the
layer above it: a **Claude team-lead** that fans a job out across a **mixed fleet** of
workers — some on Claude, some on the remote local LLM — and reduces their replies. Same
`fleetd` delivery, same subscription boundary; this doc is only about **orchestration** —
who the workers are, how the lead picks one, and how it runs many at once.

> Delivery mechanics (blocking `POST /message`, status-gated reply envelope) live in the
> Message-Server design. Transport rationale is in Approaches. This doc assumes both.

## The team

- **Team-lead** — the primary **Opus** (Claude Code, env **CLEAN**, on Pro/Max). Not a
  worker; a **thin client of `fleetd`**. It plans, routes, dispatches, and integrates, and
  never sets `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL`.
- **Workers** — a herd of `claude` panes in herdr, each an addressable `fleetd` session
  with its **own model/env**:
  - **Claude workers** (clean env, e.g. Sonnet) — reasoning-heavy or high-accuracy subtasks.
  - **Local workers** (`ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL=https://llm.ltms.dev/anthropic`) — bulk, cheap, or
    embarrassingly parallel subtasks.

Every worker is still a *real Claude Code process* (inherits `CLAUDE.md`, hooks, skills,
MCP) — only its model differs. Scale each kind horizontally by adding panes.

### Topology

```mermaid
flowchart TB
    LEAD["lead — Opus<br/>(Claude Code, env CLEAN)"]
    BD["fleetd<br/>message server + router"]
    HERDR["herdr<br/>panes · agent-status"]
    WC1["w-claude-1<br/>Sonnet · CLEAN"]
    WC2["w-claude-2<br/>Sonnet · CLEAN"]
    WL1["w-local-1<br/>ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL set"]
    WL2["w-local-2<br/>ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL set"]
    ANT["api.anthropic.com<br/>(Pro/Max)"]
    OLL["llm.ltms.dev<br/>(gateway to the local model)"]

    LEAD -->|"blocking POST /message (target role)"| BD
    BD -->|"Unix socket · send_text · events.subscribe"| HERDR
    HERDR --> WC1 & WC2 & WL1 & WL2
    WC1 --> ANT
    WC2 --> ANT
    WL1 --> OLL
    WL2 --> OLL

    classDef ext fill:#2b6cb0,stroke:#1a365d,color:#ffffff;
    classDef core fill:#2f855a,stroke:#22543d,color:#ffffff;
    classDef local fill:#6b46c1,stroke:#44337a,color:#ffffff;
    class LEAD,WC1,WC2 ext
    class BD,HERDR core
    class WL1,WL2 local
```

### Roles & routing

| Role | Env | Model | Route here when… |
|---|---|---|---|
| `lead` | clean | Opus (sub) | always — it does the routing |
| `w-claude-*` | clean | Sonnet (sub) | task needs Claude-grade reasoning / careful edits |
| `w-local-*` | `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL` set | local LLM | task is bulk / cheap / embarrassingly parallel |

The lead applies this rubric itself, guided by its `CLAUDE.md` team charter (below). Worker
selection is **policy in the lead**, not a `fleetd` concern — `fleetd` just delivers to
the session the lead names.

## Subscription boundary in a team

Unchanged from the base architecture, and it scales with the fleet: **only local-worker
panes** launch with `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL`. The lead and every Claude worker stay env-clean on
the subscription. `fleetd` enforces which panes may carry the off-subscription env, so
adding workers never widens the boundary.

## Parallel fan-out (map / reduce)

The lead's advantage over a single bridge is **concurrency**: independent subtasks go to
different workers at once, then results are gathered.

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
    participant L as lead (Opus)
    participant B as fleetd
    participant WC as w-claude-1
    participant WL as w-local-1

    Note over L: split job → subtask A (reasoning), subtask B (bulk)
    par A → Claude worker
        L->>B: POST /message {role: w-claude, prompt: A}
        B->>WC: send_text into running pane
        WC-->>B: status working → idle + Stop-hook envelope
        B-->>L: 200 reply A
    and B → local worker
        L->>B: POST /message {role: w-local, prompt: B}
        B->>WL: send_text into running pane
        WL-->>B: status working → idle + Stop-hook envelope
        B-->>L: 200 reply B
    end
    Note over L: reduce → integrate A + B into final answer
```

- **Map:** the lead issues N concurrent blocking `POST /message` calls (one per subtask → its
  chosen worker). Each call blocks only *that* request; `fleetd` holds it open until the
  worker's turn completes (status-gated) and returns the reply envelope.
- **Reduce:** the lead collects the N envelopes and integrates. A slow local worker never
  blocks a fast Claude worker — wall-clock ≈ the slowest single subtask, not the sum.
- **Detached / long jobs** use the async broker path instead of a held request (Channel 2 in
  the base architecture), so the lead never busy-polls across turns.

Fan-out is bounded by the herd size (pane count) and `fleetd`'s concurrency policy, not by
the lead.

## Knowing the roster

The lead discovers its team from `fleetd` (session list / roles) rather than hard-coding
pane ids, so workers can be added or restarted without editing the lead. A minimal charter
in the lead's `CLAUDE.md` turns Opus into the orchestrator:

```markdown
## Your team (via fleetd)
You are the team-lead. Delegate through the fleetd client — never launch workers yourself.
Roster: ask fleetd for current sessions/roles.
- w-claude-* — Claude Sonnet. Reasoning-heavy / high-accuracy subtasks.
- w-local-*  — remote local LLM. Bulk, cheap, or parallelizable subtasks.

Route each subtask by the rubric in the Team design. For independent subtasks, DISPATCH ALL
of them (concurrent blocking sends), THEN gather — never serialize independent work.
Integrate the reply envelopes; you own the final answer.
```

Wrap the send as a Claude Code skill (`/delegate <role> "<task>"`) so the lead calls one
tool instead of hand-rolling the HTTP request.

## What this layer does NOT change

- **Delivery** is still `fleetd` → herdr `pane.send_text` + status events (Message-Server).
- **Completion timing** is still the worker status event; **reply content** still rides the
  worker `Stop`-hook envelope.
- **Single-host** still applies: herdr's socket is local, so the whole herd lives on the
  `fleetd` host. The lead may be remote — it only needs HTTP to `fleetd`.

## Open questions

- **Routing intelligence:** rubric-in-`CLAUDE.md` (lead decides) vs. a `fleetd` role-router
  (label-based). Start with the former; promote to the latter if routing logic grows.
- **Backpressure:** per-role concurrency caps in `fleetd` so a fan-out can't exhaust the
  local gateway.
- **Result schema:** whether reply envelopes should carry structured metadata (worker, model,
  tokens) to help the lead's reduce step.

## Status

🟡 Design (2026-07-11). Orchestration layer over the selected `fleetd` server; inherits
herdr (chosen) + AgentAPI (fallback). Delivery unchanged — see the Message-Server design.