<!-- source: openspec/current/agents-overview.md -->

---
title: Agents Overview
status: stable
owner: pavel
audience: [pavel, ai, engineer]
tldr: Source of truth for the orchestra — six agent identities, roles, Cast names, storage ownership, communication graph, and activation phases.
---
# Agents Overview

> The orchestra. Six agents, one composer, one philosophy.

---

## Status

**Layer 0 of philosophy foundation (applied 2026-05-08 from change `add-philosophy-foundation`).** Source of truth for agent identities, roles, Cast names, storage ownership, and activation phases. Per-agent capability specs (`agents/<name>.md`) land in follow-up change `add-agents-specs` (Layer 1) and become the source of truth for each agent's behaviour, surface, and contract; this file thins to a roster index at that point. Until then, this file carries the heavy content (communication graph, storage map, phase ordering) as a bridge.

The associated philosophy lives in [`openspec/_methodology/manifesto.md`](../_methodology/manifesto.md) (Phase B of `add-philosophy-foundation`; **not yet on disk while Phase A is in flight**). Phase B is blocked on Pavel-voice authorship.

---

## Vision

Rapoport Studio operates as an **orchestra of six agents**, coordinated by Maestro and composed by Pavel. Each agent has a discipline and a boundary. The studio scales by adding partners and specialists to this structure, not by replacing it.

The agents are not interchangeable specialists — each carries its own surface, its own storage, its own voice. Maestro keeps watch over the whole; the other five do their disciplines. Pavel decides.

---

## Roster

| Agent | Role | Cast (internal) | Storage ownership | Phase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Maestro** | Coordination across the studio. Audits state across agents, surfaces drift, runs decisions with Pavel. Owns the control-room surface. | Brian Jones | `_audit/` (TBD in Layer 2) | v1.0 |
| **Muse** | The AI substrate. One personality, multiple modes (Architect / Builder / Scout / Canvas; Maestro lands as fifth mode in Layer 1). | Kurt Cobain | [`packages/muse/`](../../packages/muse/) | v1.0 (Architect) → v1.2 (Builder) → v1.3 (Scout) → v2 (Canvas) |
| **Atlas** | World research. Continuously surveys tech, products, regions, societies; brings findings to the rest. Distinct from Muse Scout (which reads code). | Pigpen | `_research/world/` (TBD in Layer 2) | v1.1 |
| **Echo** | Market voice. Studio-mode (drafts under review for studio's own surface) and client-mode (executes for client engagements under review). Always under review — no auto-publish. | Jim Morrison | `_marketing/` (TBD in Layer 2) | v1.2 |
| **Pulse** | Books. Cost, P&L, pricing, monetization paths. Anchors decisions in numbers. Conceptually owns ledger functionality (implementation home decided in Layer 1). | D. Boon | `_finance/` (TBD in Layer 2) | v1.3 |
| **Forge** | Engineering CLI. Audit / spec / review / estimate / build commands turn Linear-tracked OpenSpec proposals into PRs. Already shipping per [`forge/README.md`](forge/README.md). | Jimi Hendrix | [`packages/forge/`](../../packages/forge/) | v1.0+ (commands shipped per `forge/README.md`) |

**Cast names** (Brian Jones / Kurt Cobain / Pigpen / Jim Morrison / D. Boon / Jimi Hendrix) are **team-internal only**. They never appear in public branding, client deliverables, or marketing copy. The pairing rationale lives in [`manifesto.md § Cast (internal layer)`](../_methodology/manifesto.md) — Phase B.

---

## Communication graph

```
                    ┌────────────┐
                    │  Pavel     │  composes
                    └─────┬──────┘
                          │
                    ┌─────▼──────┐
                    │  Maestro   │  coordinates
                    └─────┬──────┘
       ┌──────────┬───────┼───────┬──────────┐
       │          │       │       │          │
   ┌───▼───┐  ┌───▼───┐  ┌▼───┐  ┌▼────┐  ┌──▼───┐
   │ Muse  │  │ Atlas │  │Echo│  │Pulse│  │Forge │
   └───┬───┘  └───┬───┘  └─┬──┘  └──┬──┘  └───┬──┘
       │          │        │        │         │
       └─ Forge ◄─┘        │        └─ Maestro┘
       (Architect          │        (ledger anchors
        promotes spec      │         decisions)
        for Builder)       │
                           └─ Atlas (world research feeds
                              market positioning)
```

Bilateral edges from Maestro to every agent. Selective peer edges:

- **Muse ↔ Forge** — Architect mode (in Muse) authors specs that Forge Builder mode executes. This edge already exists per `forge/README.md § Builder mode` and `muse.md § Relationship to Forge`.
- **Atlas → Echo** — world research feeds market positioning when Echo drafts campaigns.
- **Pulse → Maestro** — ledger numbers anchor Maestro's decisions.

Other edges activate as agents come online (v1.1 Atlas, v1.2 Echo, v1.3 Pulse). v1.0 ships with only the Muse ↔ Forge edge live (per existing specs); Maestro coordinates over an as-yet-skeletal orchestra.

---

## Storage ownership

| Path | Owner | Purpose | Activation |
|---|---|---|---|
| `_audit/` | Maestro | Cross-studio audit state, drift signals, decision logs | TBD in Layer 2 (`add-knowledge-layout`) |
| `packages/muse/` | Muse | Substrate code: modes, tool registry, persona system, runners | Already shipping per `muse.md` |
| `_research/world/` | Atlas | World research outputs: tech beats, regional reports, society reads | TBD in Layer 2 |
| `_marketing/` | Echo | Drafts, schedules, campaign artifacts (studio + per-client) | TBD in Layer 2 |
| `_finance/` | Pulse | Books: cost ledgers, pricing models, P&L | TBD in Layer 2 |
| `packages/forge/` | Forge | CLI engine: commands, system prompts, GitHub/Linear clients | Already shipping per `forge/README.md` |
| `_methodology/philosophy/club-27/<name>/` | (cross-cutting) | Per-cast deep research files (ongoing, not gated to any single agent) | Beat-style work, no single change |
| `_methodology/philosophy/cinema-90s/` | (cross-cutting) | Cinema canon analysis | Beat-style work, no single change |

The `_*/` paths under repo root that don't already exist are formalised in `add-knowledge-layout` (Layer 2). This file declares the ownership map; Layer 2 ships the directory scaffolding and per-folder README contracts.

---

## Phase ordering

| Phase | Activation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| **v1.0** | Muse Architect mode (shipped) + Forge audit/spec/review/estimate (shipped) + Maestro skeleton (Layer 0+1+3 of philosophy foundation) | Maestro brain shipping as fifth Muse mode in Layer 1 |
| **v1.1** | Atlas | World research surface online; first beat configurations |
| **v1.2** | Echo + Muse Builder mode (shipped per `muse.md` v1.2) | Market voice goes live (under review); Builder execution path active |
| **v1.3** | Pulse + Muse Scout mode | Ledger online; codebase research mode active |
| **v1.4** | Maestro Watch / Risk Lens / Compass methods | Maestro maturity beyond v1.0 skeleton |
| **v2** | Muse Canvas mode (public) | Public client-intake conversation |

Ordering is **sequential, not parallel.** Each layer ships before the next starts. Per `ROADMAP.md § Layer ordering`.

---

## Naming history

Two reconciliations Layer 0 makes explicit:

### Atlas vs Muse Scout — different scopes, both valid

[`muse.md § Vision`](muse.md) lists Scout as a Muse mode for codebase research (deferred to v1.3). The new **Atlas** agent (this change) is world research — tech, products, regions, societies. **Atlas does not replace or rename Scout.**

| Concern | Surface | Reads |
|---|---|---|
| **Atlas** (agent) | World — tech beats, regional reports, society reads, cinema canon, philosophy threads | The world outside the codebase |
| **Muse Scout** (Muse mode) | Code — existing repos for entities and patterns to extract into specs | The codebase itself |

Both are valid. Both ship. They have different storage, different surfaces, different invocation patterns. A reader who finds "research" in two places is finding two different concerns under the same general label.

### Maestro as fifth Muse mode (forward dependency)

Per `add-philosophy-foundation § Decisions captured` D-7, Maestro's brain reuses Muse's tool loop, cost guards, and persona system — the agent ships as a **fifth mode** at `packages/muse/src/modes/maestro/`. This extends [`muse.md § Vision`](muse.md), which currently lists four modes (Architect / Builder / Scout / Canvas).

**This change does NOT modify `muse.md`.** The amendment listing Maestro as a fifth mode lands in `add-agents-specs` (Layer 1). A reader of this overview who jumps to `muse.md` will not yet find Maestro listed there, and that gap is intentional during Layer 0. Layer 1 closes it.

---

## Cast (internal layer)

Each agent carries a second name: a Club 27 creator. Brian Jones / Kurt Cobain / Pigpen / Jim Morrison / D. Boon / Jimi Hendrix.

**These names are team-internal only.**

- Never in public branding.
- Never in client deliverables.
- Never in marketing copy.
- Never in commits, PR titles, or release notes that ship outside the studio.

The pairing rationale lives in [`manifesto.md § Cast (internal layer)`](../_methodology/manifesto.md) — that file lands in Phase B of this change. Phase A includes the Cast column in the roster table because this file is auth-walled studio surface (not public), but a future contributor extracting public excerpts of this overview must strip the Cast column.

The Cast frame answers a question the studio asks itself: how does a creator-led practice survive the failure modes of creator-led practice? The agents are part of that answer — externalization-as-survival. The Cast names honour the lineage by not repeating its fate.

---

## Forward references — per-agent specs

Per-agent specs land in `add-agents-specs` (Layer 1). When that change ships, this section becomes a roster of links:

- `agents/maestro.md` — Maestro's surface, methods, and Watch loop (TBD)
- `agents/muse.md` — already exists at `openspec/current/muse.md`; Layer 1 amends to list Maestro as fifth mode
- `agents/atlas.md` — Atlas beats and research configurations (TBD)
- `agents/echo.md` — Echo studio-mode and client-mode contracts (TBD)
- `agents/pulse.md` — Pulse ledger model and pricing rubric (TBD)
- `agents/forge/README.md` — already exists at `openspec/current/forge/README.md`; Layer 1 amends with cross-references

Until Layer 1 ships, this overview file is the single roster point. The two existing specs (`muse.md`, `forge/README.md`) keep their current shape.

> **Layer 1 (Phase A) update:** the layout question raised by this section ("does `muse.md` move into `agents/` or stay at parent?") is resolved by the dated `## Per-agent spec layout` section below. Read that section as the authoritative convention; the bullet points above are kept for narrative continuity from `add-philosophy-foundation`.

---

## Related capabilities

- [`muse.md`](muse.md) — substrate documentation; will gain Maestro as fifth mode in Layer 1. See `muse.md § Operational modes vs SDLC personas` for why the modes are state-machine states of one agent, not a cast of distinct SDLC-role personas.
- [`forge/README.md`](forge/README.md) — engineering CLI documentation; will gain cross-references to Maestro and Echo in Layer 1.
- [`studio-workspace/README.md`](studio.md) — the workspace surface that will host control-room (`/control/*`) routes in Layer 3.
- [`platform.md`](platform.md) — overall context; locates the agent orchestra inside the studio's capability map.
- [`../_methodology/manifesto.md`](../_methodology/manifesto.md) — philosophy source of truth (lands in Phase B).
- [`../_methodology/studio-charter.md`](../_methodology/studio-charter.md) — operating-model handoff for new sub-products; references this overview as roster source-of-truth.

---

## Per-agent spec layout (applied 2026-05-09 from change `add-agents-specs`)

Layer 1 (`add-agents-specs`) Phase A authored `openspec/current/agents/maestro.md` — the first per-agent capability spec under the new `agents/` subdirectory. The Phase A change deliberately did not move or rewrite the two existing parent-level specs (`muse.md`, `forge/README.md`); it ships only the Maestro spec and this convention amendment. Phase B (separate change `add-agents-specs-phase-b`) authors atlas / echo / pulse under the same convention.

The layout convention going forward:

- **`openspec/current/agents/<name>.md`** — home for per-agent capability specs that are **new** at Layer 1 or later. Begins with `agents/maestro.md` (RAP-150). Phase B agents (`agents/atlas.md`, `agents/echo.md`, `agents/pulse.md`) follow the same path in `add-agents-specs-phase-b`.
- **`openspec/current/muse.md`** and **`openspec/current/forge/README.md`** — **remain at parent level**. These files predate `add-agents-specs` and already exist as detailed canonical capability specs (each with multiple dated amendments, ~700 and ~1,000 lines respectively, actively maintained — most recent amendments landed 2026-05-09 from `sync-forge-builder-spec`). Moving them into `agents/` would either lose substantial content (rewrite) or duplicate it (hybrid). The benefit of a single uniform `agents/` subdirectory does not justify either cost; the layout asymmetry is intentional.
- **Per-agent spec structure** is locked at seven canonical sections plus Status and Related capabilities — Function / Runtime class / Model binding / Access scope / Communication patterns / Risk matrix / Cross-cutting defenses. See `openspec/archive/<date>-add-agents-specs/design.md § 2` for the full structure rationale once that change archives.

This file (`agents-overview.md`) remains the orchestra-level index — roster, communication graph, storage ownership, phase ordering, naming history, Cast layer. Per-agent specs (parent-level for Muse / Forge; subdirectory for Maestro and future Phase B agents) carry the next layer of detail for each agent's function, runtime, model, scope, communication, risk, and defenses. A reader who wants the orchestra in summary stays here; a reader who wants Maestro specifically follows the link to `agents/maestro.md`.

Two cross-reference amendments to the existing parent-level specs — listing Maestro as the fifth Muse mode in `muse.md`, and adding a Maestro cross-reference to `forge/README.md` — are deliberately deferred from `add-agents-specs` Phase A to a sibling change `amend-muse-forge-for-maestro`. Reasoning: those amendments are small but they are edits to two large actively-maintained files; bundling them into Phase A increases review surface and risk. The deferral is recorded in `openspec/archive/2026-05-09-add-agents-specs/proposal.md § Conflicts surfaced`.

## Workflow perspective cross-reference (applied 2026-05-12 from change `establish-workflow-spec`)

Agent role assignments across the eleven-stage operating timeline are specified in [`workflow.md § 5 Roles`](workflow.md). That section contains the Role × Stage matrix (Pavel / Maestro / Muse Architect / Muse Builder / Forge / Specialist network / Client) and the engagement-mode owner variation table. A reader who wants to understand which agent owns a given stage should consult `workflow.md § 5` as the authoritative roster; this overview file remains the orchestra-level index for agent identity, communication graph, and storage ownership.
