Loading
Use when a person in their own Claude Code or Codex session mentions OpenRig, rigs or the rig command, or wants a team of coding agents (Claude Code, Codex) on their project. That includes installing,
The skill file stays in the publisher's repository.
Paste the copied command in a terminal. It installs this SKILL.md into that agent.
npx skills add mvschwarz/openrig --skill rigs -a cursor -y
Use when a person in their own Claude Code or Codex session mentions OpenRig, rigs or the rig command, or wants a team of coding agents (Claude Code, Codex) on their project. That includes installing, setting up, starting or updating OpenRig, seeing, getting back to or re-attaching to their OpenRig agents (including bringing a stopped team back), TUI or operator, starting or sharing a team, and joining this session to one. Operating a running rig from inside it (fleet recovery, seat handover, watchdog wakes, in-rig upgrades) is the openrig-skills skill.
Use when a person in their own Claude Code or Codex session mentions OpenRig, rigs or the rig command, or wants a team of coding agents (Claude Code, Codex) on their project. That includes installing, setting up, starting or updating OpenRig, seeing, getting back to or re-attaching to their OpenRig agents (including bringing a stopped team back), TUI or operator, starting or sharing a team, and joining this session to one. Operating a running rig from inside it (fleet recovery, seat handover, watchdog wakes, in-rig upgrades) is the openrig-skills skill.
OpenRig runs a team of coding agents (Claude Code, Codex and others) side by side in tmux. A local daemon keeps their tasks, messages and state, so the team keeps working across restarts. This skill gets OpenRig installed, gets a team working on what the person wants, and shows how to work with that team from here.
The goal is a team doing the person's work, not just an install. Go through the steps in order and stop early only if the person asks you to. When they say what they want built, give it to OpenRig's operator (step 2) instead of building it yourself.
Tell the person what you're about to run and why before you run it. Don't install system packages or change their
machine without a yes. Starting OpenRig and a team writes files: Codex hooks and settings in
~/.codex/config.toml, a discovery skill in ~/.claude/skills and ~/.agents/skills, and, in the repository, managed
guidance in AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md plus the team's skills and plugins. Say so before you start OpenRig
(the full list).
rig --version. If it prints a version, go to step 2.node --version, tmux -V, claude auth status or codex login status.npm install -g @openrig/cli, then rig preflight (Node, tmux, the daemon port and state folders)
and rig doctor.rig context get help is the help guide for the installed version. If rig itself won't
run, use https://www.openrig.dev/help/agents. Getting started: https://openrig.dev/docs/getting-startedStart OpenRig: rig daemon status, and rig daemon start if it isn't running. rig preflight and rig doctor
don't start it. Starting it also starts OpenRig's own team, the kernel, whose operator sets up the person's team.
Keep it.
Show them OpenRig, the handoff: once OpenRig is running, open the OpenRig TUI and operator for the person. Say
you're opening it, then run rig terminal open saved:kernel --window on the daemon's desktop. This is the next step
after installing or starting OpenRig, and the way back whenever they want their agents or OpenRig again. Don't wait
to be asked or for particular words. If they've said not now, give them that command for later. It opens a view
itself, using herdr when installed or plain tmux otherwise:
openrig kernel space, reusing a live
one. No new window and no macOS prompt; their own spaces stay in the sidebar.echo $TERM_PROGRAM $__CFBundleIdentifier tells you where you run. herdr, Apple_Terminal or ghostty, or
tmux with com.apple.Terminal or com.mitchellh.ghostty, mean no macOS prompt, so don't mention one. tmux
with anything else (iTerm, VS Code) can prompt, so say Allow is fine first.Then tell the person in a sentence or two where it opened and that the operator is ready for what they want to
build. Don't list agents or statuses (the TUI shows them), and don't suggest a command for them to type.
Preserve the current terminal. If OpenRig's notes say it couldn't confirm the view, say so plainly. If it's already
open, point them to it rather than opening another. Only if the window cannot open, rig tui --shared is the
dashboard-only fallback; explain the failure and help with the chosen fallback. Herdr is visible only in a terminal
the person can see; switching the shared TUI to :terminals does not open one. No and headless/SSH use are valid
background outcomes. Provider-only --provider herdr or --provider cmux is for an existing provider workspace,
not the first desktop window.
If the window can't open, or over headless SSH: say plainly that no visible terminal was opened, and ask the person to open a new terminal window or tab on the daemon's host. Over SSH, that's a new SSH session to it with the known account. If you only know an HTTP daemon address, ask for the SSH details rather than inventing them. Then give them one complete command:
rig terminal open saved:kernel --window can't open a window, it says why
and ends with run: and a command (the error field with --json). That command already names the installed
herdr binary and the daemon's socket, or the conversation to attach. Relay it exactly rather than composing one.
If a note asks you to place the view once Herdr starts, run that rig terminal open yourself after they start it.operator.agent in
rig ps --nodes --rig kernel --json --fields logicalId,canonicalSessionName,tmuxAttachCommand and give
env -u TMUX followed by its tmuxAttachCommand, exactly as listed (never a guessed name), for the operator's
conversation. That command names the daemon's tmux server when it isn't the default one.For any other failure, the table under "What can interrupt installation and the OpenRig view" in
rig context get reference/getting-started.md#open-the-kernel-conversations says why and what to do next.
Give the operator the goal: ask what they want worked on, in which repository and on which branch, unless they've
said. Find the operator.agent row in rig ps --nodes --rig kernel --json, take its canonicalSessionName
(never the logical ID or a guessed name) and send:
rig send <canonicalSessionName> 'This is the agent that installed OpenRig. The person will answer in your pane. Goal: <goal>. Project folder: <absolute path>. Branch: <branch>.'
Or the person types the goal and folder in the operator's pane. If they give you a goal later, forward it the same
way. The operator helps them pick a team that fits their logins, starts it on their yes and gives the goal to the
team's lead. Before that yes, it says what launching into their folder changes for their own agent there; relay
that with the question. Show them where the operator answers, and don't build the project yourself.
Relay the operator's questions: the operator asks in its own pane, and the person may not be looking there.
After each step you hand it, read its screen with rig capture <canonicalSessionName>. When it asks the person
something (start this team? which folder? which option?), ask them here in the operator's words and send their
answer back with rig send, or tell them to answer in the operator's pane. Unlike a prompt or a menu, a question
doesn't show up as a stopped seat, so don't leave it to a background wait.
Installation is finished when the operator is ready and the person is talking to it; a healthy daemon alone isn't that. If they'd rather talk later, keep that choice, leave them the exact connection step and say the handoff to the operator is still pending.
See what's running: rig ps, then rig ps --nodes --rig <rig> for a team's agents. If a team is already
running in that repository, tell the operator.
Check it's ready before you say so: rig ps --nodes --rig <rig>. If an agent is stopped at a prompt or a menu,
read it with rig capture <seat>@<rig> and answer with the key that screen shows (rig send --help says how to
send a digit, a letter or Escape), or ask the person. Capture it again before sending anything more.
Join this session to the team, if that helps:
rig attach --self --rig <rigId> --pod <pod> --member <name> --runtime <claude-code|codex> --print-env adds this
session as a new member of a pod. --node <logicalId> binds it to an existing seat instead. Attach once, and keep
the variables it prints (OPENRIG_NODE_ID and OPENRIG_SESSION_NAME). Each command may run in a fresh shell, so put
them in front of every later rig command. Check with rig whoami --json.
Replies: other agents can't type into this session. Read work sent to you with
rig queue list --destination <your address> and rig queue show <id> --full, and read an agent's screen with
rig capture <seat>@<rig>.
dev-build@starter, or
orch-lead in workshop and factory (for starter and factory, rig specs preview <name> --kind rig says what
each seat does; for a running team, rig ps --nodes --rig <rig>). Find it with
rig queue list --destination <seat>@<rig> -a.rig queue show <id> --full names the seat it
went to, and that seat's next task is the one whose handedOffFrom is that ID
(rig queue list --destination <seat>@<rig> -a -o json). Follow each handoff until an agent reports the result, and
use rig capture <seat>@<rig> to see what it's doing. Then read what it produced and tell the person what the team
actually did (the branch, commit, review or PR text), not just that you sent it.rig queue create --source <your name> --destination <seat>@<rig> --body-file <file>, and tell that agent with
rig send <seat>@<rig> "task <id> is yours". A message informs, and a queue task is the work someone owns.
--source names you when this session hasn't joined the team.rig send <seat>@<rig> "..." types into an agent's terminal,
rig capture <seat>@<rig> reads its screen, and rig ps --nodes --rig <rig> shows who's on it.rig context profile world-public --situation fresh.rig context get onboarding-width (the capability map).rig context list.rig <command> --help is always current for the installed version.Written for OpenRig 0.6.7. When something here and --help disagree, --help wins.