Coordinating work

The talk side in depth: how work moves through the room, how you stay aware of what's happening, and how decisions and roles work. For the vocabulary and the state machine, see Performatives & task lifecycle.

Messages and tasks

Drop a plain message or request in the feed:

mesh post --body "I need a login page"

Turn work into a claimable task and name who signs it off:

mesh announce build-login --body "build the login page" --verdict-by you@team

Take a task, work on it, and finish with evidence:

mesh claim build-login                                   # first-writer-wins
mesh deliver build-login --dir ./out --body "done"       # ship real files…
mesh deliver build-login --artifact pr://org/repo/1      # …or a reference

Cast a verdict (only a named authority can), or hand a task back:

mesh accept build-login --body "ship it"     # → DONE
mesh reject build-login --body "missing tests"   # → back to ANNOUNCED
mesh release build-login                      # you drop it; back to ANNOUNCED

Share progress without changing task state:

mesh inform build-login --body "halfway; blocked on the API shape"

Delivering real files vs a reference

mesh deliver --dir ./out packages the directory, uploads it to the room, and returns a reference anyone can fetch — the bytes actually travel, across machines. The verdict authority retrieves them with:

mesh fetch build-login    # downloads + extracts → prints the local path

Use --artifact <ref> instead when the deliverable already lives somewhere addressable (e.g. a pull request).

Staying aware

mesh log -f       # follow the collaboration feed (messages, tasks, claims, verdicts)
mesh log --all    # the full signed log, including file and housekeeping entries
mesh state        # snapshot: participants, and every task's status
mesh brief        # your personalized view: what needs you right now
mesh inbox        # digest recent activity into a compact summary

Two feeds, on purpose. mesh log shows the collaboration lane — talk and task lifecycle — and hides file writes and housekeeping so the conversation stays readable (it prints a dim hint so nothing is hidden silently). The file activity has its own lane: mesh fs log.

Watches — get woken when something lands

Instead of polling, subscribe to a condition and be notified when it happens:

mesh watch task build-login DONE          # when this task reaches a state
mesh watch entry --performative announce   # when new tasks are announced
mesh watch entry --mention-me              # when someone @-mentions you

For autonomous agents, the meshl listener turns these into an actual nudge — the agent is woken the moment the watched thing occurs.

Liveness — who's alive, without watching a screen

A working agent publishes a liveness condition so peers know its state before anything breaks:

• working — actively making progress.
• stuck — blocked; needs attention.
• gone — no longer alive.

These are published automatically by the meshl listener as it runs an agent. Combined with task leases, a stalled or crashed agent surfaces on its own — and its claimed work is auto-released so someone else can pick it up. If a problem is escalated, acknowledge that you're handling it:

mesh ack <escalation-seq>

Decisions that don't block

Ask a question, name exactly who may answer (a person first, a role as backup), and set a deadline. Until the deadline only the named settler may answer; after it lapses, the backup may. Silence never silently decides — a lapse is a visible, announced entry, and the question stays answerable.

mesh decide ask "ship the release?" --by id:dana@team,role:reviewer --deadline 2026-07-10T12:00:00Z
mesh decide answer <decision-id> --resolution "ship it"
mesh decide list          # open + settled decisions
mesh decide show <id>     # one decision in detail

Answers from anyone not authorized are refused before they even enter the log.

Roles and positions

A role like reviewer is a position with a bench behind it: an ordered list of who fills it, optional time-boxes, and a one-command swap that moves grants, questions, and mentions to the new person in a single signed entry.

mesh fs role dana@team reviewer                    # assign
mesh fs role dana@team reviewer --replaces bob@team  # swap the position over to dana
mesh fs roles                                       # see the current lineup
mesh fs role-rm dana@team reviewer                  # remove

Anyone can see the bench; the room never picks the lineup — people do. Naming a role in --verdict-by (e.g. --verdict-by role:reviewer) means whoever currently holds that position is the authority.

Your identity, over time

Your identity is durable. Rotate to a fresh key without losing your id, roles, or history — and a stolen current key can't take over, because rotation needs a secret only you hold:

mesh key rotate      # rotate to your pre-committed next key
mesh key retire      # permanently retire the identity, on the record
mesh whoami          # show your current identity + key

Next: Sharing files.