Project Managers Reference

This page is a Reference. It describes each PM's capabilities, spawn conditions, memory layout, and worker model routing. Consult it when you need to know which PM handles a task type, what models they use, or how their memory is structured. For background on why the PM model exists, see Architecture.

PM Overview

PM Lifecycle

All PMs follow the same lifecycle regardless of domain:

VECTOR spawns PM with task spec
  └─▶ PM boot sequence:
        1. Read BRAIN.md (identity, domain rules)
        2. Semantic search lessons.md (relevant past task patterns)
        3. Read beliefs.json (active BEE beliefs for this PM's domain)
        4. Read injected skill context (auto-matched skills)
        5. Begin task work
  └─▶ Task execution:
        1. Plan → Gate A
        2. Spawn worker(s) with [GATE:GATE-A-ID] in spec
        3. Receive completion signal (worker session ends)
        4. Review via git diff → Gate B
        5. Integration check → Gate C
  └─▶ PM close sequence:
        1. Write task result to ticket
        2. Output belief_updates JSON
        3. Compact own memory (lessons.md append)
        4. Session ends — context discarded

Session timeout: 30 minutes. Cron PM timeout: 20 minutes. Worker timeout: 15 minutes.

FORGE–Codex communication rule: FORGE communicates with Codex workers via Git only. FORGE spawns a worker, waits for session end (completion signal), then reviews git diff main..task/TASK-xxx. FORGE never monitors PTY output or reads worker self-reports.

FORGE

Domain: Engineering — code, architecture, build, testing, debugging.

Model: anthropic/claude-opus-4-6 with thinking:high always enabled.

Primary trigger conditions:

• Any task involving code creation, modification, or review
• Build failures requiring diagnosis
• Architecture decisions requiring analysis
• Test coverage gaps
• Security patches with code impact

Worker model routing:

Memory layout:

Hard rule: FORGE must follow the Zero-Regression Protocol on every code change:

1. Read codebase before touching it
2. Plan with minimal blast radius
3. Document blast radius in task spec
4. Surgical fix — change only what's required
5. Validate: tsc + full test suite + smoke test

BRAIN.md: Must never be deleted. Permanent file.

GHOST

Domain: GitHub intelligence, upstream sync, merge engineering, security advisories.

Model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6

Primary trigger conditions:

• Scheduled sync cycles (07:00, 15:00, 23:00 EST)
• Upstream changes requiring merge classification
• PR review requests from VECTOR inbox
• Daily intelligence sweep (07:00 EST)
• ClawHub scan (daily, part of intel sweep)

Cron schedules:

Worker model routing:

Merge classification system:

Batch size limit: Batches larger than 20 commits → automatic escalation. GHOST does not auto-merge large batches without VECTOR review.

CUSTOM_PATCHES.md: GHOST is the sole maintainer. No other PM or agent writes to this file.

Memory layout:

Intel sweep output: memory/intel/ghost-clawhub-scan.md — ADOPT/TRIAL/SKIP triage. ADOPT-rated skills generate tickets in tasks/forge.md automatically.

ORACLE

Domain: AI research, competitive intelligence, technology signals.

Model: anthropic/claude-opus-4-6

Primary trigger conditions:

• Scheduled daily sweep (07:15 EST)
• VECTOR requests for competitive analysis
• Market positioning tasks
• Technology evaluation requests

Cron schedule:

Worker architecture (multi-step pipeline):

Important constraint: o3 cannot loop tool calls as a spawned worker (tool incompatibility). o3 always receives full pre-gathered corpus and reasons without tools.

Source coverage:

Rate limit rule: Stagger worker launches when using Brave Search. Parallel workers hitting Brave Search simultaneously trigger rate limits.

Memory layout:

SENTINEL

Domain: Operations — infrastructure health, deployment safety, security posture.

Model: anthropic/claude-opus-4-6

Primary trigger conditions:

• Scheduled health pulses (08:00, 12:00, 16:00, 20:00 EST)
• Post-promotion health checks
• Security scan requests
• Infrastructure incident response

Cron schedule:

Worker model routing:

Standup role: SENTINEL provides the security posture segment of the daily standup:

• Security concerns about work currently in progress
• Data sovereignty status (India deployments)
• Privacy risk flags (Canada/PIPEDA)
• Architecture security gaps in proposed builds
• Attack surface changes from completed work

Memory layout:

COMPASS

Domain: Product strategy, business strategy, revenue analysis.

Model: anthropic/claude-opus-4-6

Primary trigger conditions:

• Revenue strategy decisions
• Product roadmap questions
• ORACLE intel requiring business synthesis
• Country/department targeting for enterprise sales
• Pricing model decisions

Mandate: Synthesizes ORACLE intelligence into actionable revenue strategy. Maps competitive signals to product decisions. Defines country and department targeting for enterprise sales.

Worker model routing:

Memory layout:

SAGE

Domain: Content creation, communications, pitch materials, brand voice.

Model: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6

Primary trigger conditions:

• Content calendar execution
• LinkedIn, Twitter/X, blog posts
• Pitch materials and proposals
• Meeting preparation briefs
• Documentation (this page was written by SAGE)

Mission statement: Turn strategy into story. Pitch materials, content calendar, meeting narratives, brand voice.

Standup role: SAGE speaks last in the daily standup. Frames the external narrative from everything the other PMs decided — what's the story we're telling the market this week?

Worker model routing:

Platform constraints SAGE enforces:

Memory layout:

PM Isolation Rules