Document cross-rig worktree pattern (gt-xheo6.4)
Add documentation for crew workers using cross-rig worktrees: - Added Cross-Rig Worktrees section to crew.md.tmpl template - Created docs/understanding-gas-town.md with role taxonomy Key points documented: - Crew vs Dogs distinction (dogs = Deacon infra, not user work) - Identity preservation across rigs (BD_ACTOR stays the same) - When to use worktrees vs dispatch to local workers - Directory structure convention: ~/gt/<rig>/crew/<source-rig>-<name>/ 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Steve Yegge
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docs/understanding-gas-town.md
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docs/understanding-gas-town.md
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# Understanding Gas Town
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This document provides a conceptual overview of Gas Town's architecture, focusing on
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the role taxonomy and how different agents interact.
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## Role Taxonomy
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Gas Town has several agent types, each with distinct responsibilities and lifecycles.
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### Infrastructure Roles
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These roles manage the Gas Town system itself:
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| Role | Description | Lifecycle |
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|------|-------------|-----------|
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| **Mayor** | Global coordinator at town root | Singleton, persistent |
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| **Deacon** | Background supervisor daemon | Singleton, persistent |
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| **Witness** | Per-rig polecat lifecycle manager | One per rig, persistent |
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| **Refinery** | Per-rig merge queue processor | One per rig, persistent |
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### Worker Roles
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These roles do actual project work:
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| Role | Description | Lifecycle |
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|------|-------------|-----------|
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| **Polecat** | Ephemeral worker with own worktree | Transient, Witness-managed |
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| **Crew** | Persistent worker with own clone | Long-lived, user-managed |
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| **Dog** | Deacon helper for infrastructure tasks | Ephemeral, Deacon-managed |
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## Crew vs Polecats
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Both do project work, but with key differences:
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| Aspect | Crew | Polecat |
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|--------|------|---------|
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| **Lifecycle** | Persistent (user controls) | Transient (Witness controls) |
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| **Monitoring** | None | Witness watches, nudges, recycles |
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| **Work assignment** | Human-directed or self-assigned | Slung via `gt sling` |
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| **Git state** | Pushes to main directly | Works on branch, Refinery merges |
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| **Cleanup** | Manual | Automatic on completion |
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| **Identity** | `<rig>/crew/<name>` | `<rig>/polecats/<name>` |
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**When to use Crew**:
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- Exploratory work
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- Long-running projects
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- Work requiring human judgment
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- Tasks where you want direct control
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**When to use Polecats**:
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- Discrete, well-defined tasks
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- Batch work (via swarms)
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- Parallelizable work
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- Work that benefits from supervision
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## Dogs vs Crew
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**Dogs are NOT workers**. This is a common misconception.
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| Aspect | Dogs | Crew |
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|--------|------|------|
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| **Owner** | Deacon | Human |
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| **Purpose** | Infrastructure tasks | Project work |
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| **Scope** | Narrow, focused utilities | General purpose |
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| **Lifecycle** | Very short (single task) | Long-lived |
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| **Example** | Boot (triages Deacon health) | Joe (fixes bugs, adds features) |
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Dogs are the Deacon's helpers for system-level tasks:
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- **Boot**: Triages Deacon health on daemon tick
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- Future dogs might handle: log rotation, health checks, etc.
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If you need to do work in another rig, use **worktrees**, not dogs.
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## Cross-Rig Work Patterns
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When a crew member needs to work on another rig:
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### Option 1: Worktrees (Preferred)
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Create a worktree in the target rig:
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```bash
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# gastown/crew/joe needs to fix a beads bug
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gt worktree beads
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# Creates ~/gt/beads/crew/gastown-joe/
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# Identity preserved: BD_ACTOR = gastown/crew/joe
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```
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Directory structure:
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```
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~/gt/beads/crew/gastown-joe/ # joe from gastown working on beads
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~/gt/gastown/crew/beads-wolf/ # wolf from beads working on gastown
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```
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### Option 2: Dispatch to Local Workers
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For work that should be owned by the target rig:
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```bash
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# Create issue in target rig
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bd create --prefix beads "Fix authentication bug"
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# Sling to target rig's workers
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gt sling bd-xyz beads
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```
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### When to Use Which
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| Scenario | Approach |
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|----------|----------|
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| You need to fix something quick | Worktree |
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| Work should appear in your CV | Worktree |
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| Work should be done by target rig team | Dispatch |
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| Infrastructure/system task | Let Deacon handle it |
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## Directory Structure
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```
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~/gt/ Town root
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├── .beads/ Town-level beads (hq-* prefix, mail)
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├── mayor/ Mayor config
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│ └── town.json
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├── deacon/ Deacon daemon
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│ └── dogs/ Deacon helpers (NOT workers)
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│ └── boot/ Health triage dog
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└── <rig>/ Project container
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├── config.json Rig identity
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├── .beads/ → mayor/rig/.beads (symlink or redirect)
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├── .repo.git/ Bare repo (shared by worktrees)
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├── mayor/rig/ Mayor's clone (canonical beads)
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├── refinery/rig/ Worktree on main
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├── witness/ No clone (monitors only)
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├── crew/ Persistent human workspaces
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│ ├── joe/ Local crew member
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│ └── beads-wolf/ Cross-rig worktree (wolf from beads)
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└── polecats/ Ephemeral worker worktrees
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└── Toast/ Individual polecat
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```
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## Identity and Attribution
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All work is attributed to the actor who performed it:
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```
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Git commits: Author: gastown/crew/joe <owner@example.com>
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Beads issues: created_by: gastown/crew/joe
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Events: actor: gastown/crew/joe
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```
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Identity is preserved even when working cross-rig:
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- `gastown/crew/joe` working in `~/gt/beads/crew/gastown-joe/`
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- Commits still attributed to `gastown/crew/joe`
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- Work appears on joe's CV, not beads rig's workers
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## The Propulsion Principle
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All Gas Town agents follow the same core principle:
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> **If you find something on your hook, YOU RUN IT.**
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This applies regardless of role. The hook is your assignment. Execute it immediately
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without waiting for confirmation. Gas Town is a steam engine - agents are pistons.
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## Common Mistakes
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1. **Using dogs for user work**: Dogs are Deacon infrastructure. Use crew or polecats.
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2. **Confusing crew with polecats**: Crew is persistent and human-managed. Polecats are transient and Witness-managed.
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3. **Working in wrong directory**: Gas Town uses cwd for identity detection. Stay in your home directory.
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4. **Waiting for confirmation when work is hooked**: The hook IS your assignment. Execute immediately.
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5. **Creating worktrees when dispatch is better**: If work should be owned by the target rig, dispatch it instead.
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