tribe

Cross-session coordination for Claude Code. Multiple sessions discover each other, exchange messages, and coordinate work via a shared SQLite bus.

One session becomes chief (coordinator); the rest are members (workers). Role is auto-detected — the first session becomes chief.

Install

# As a Claude Code plugin
claude plugin install tribe@bearly

# Launch with channel support (required during research preview)
claude --dangerously-load-development-channels server:tribe

How it works

┌─────────────┐     ┌──────────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐
│   Chief     │────▶│  .beads/tribe.db │◀────│  Member 1   │
│  (session)  │     │   SQLite WAL     │     │  (session)  │
└─────────────┘     └──────────────────┘     └─────────────┘
                           ▲
                    ┌──────┘
               ┌─────────────┐
               │  Member 2   │
               │  (session)  │
               └─────────────┘

• SQLite WAL as shared message bus — no daemon, handles concurrent access
• MCP channels push messages into Claude Code's context as <channel> tags
• Per-session read tracking — broadcasts aren't marked "read" globally
• Priority ordering — assign > request > query > status > notify
• PID liveness checking — dead sessions auto-pruned
• Heartbeat every 10s for liveness detection

Commands

Once installed, use /tribe in Claude Code:

| Command | What | | -------------------------- | ---------------------------------- | | /tribe | Show who's online | | /tribe status | Full dashboard (sessions + health) | | /tribe send <to> <msg> | Send a message | | /tribe assign <to> <msg> | Assign work | | /tribe broadcast <msg> | Message everyone | | /tribe sync | Ask all members to report status | | /tribe rollcall | Quick roll call | | /tribe history | Recent messages | | /tribe rename <name> | Rename this session |

Message types

| Type | Priority | Use | | ---------- | ----------- | ----------------------------- | | assign | 0 (highest) | Assign work to a member | | request | 1 | Request approval or resources | | verdict | 2 | Approve/deny a request | | query | 3 | Ask a question | | response | 4 | Answer a query | | status | 5 | Status update | | notify | 6 (lowest) | General notification |

Roles

Role is auto-detected: the first session to join becomes chief; subsequent sessions become members. Override with --role chief or --role member.

Chief (coordinator)

The chief routes work, tracks progress, and keeps the user informed. It does not do implementation work itself. Responsibilities:

• Route work to members by matching their registered domains
• Track status by periodically querying members and aggregating responses
• Detect dead members and release their bead claims
• Prevent conflicts by serializing access to shared files (package.json, tsconfig, etc.)
• Relay user messages (e.g., from Telegram) to the right member

See skills/tribe/chief.md for full instructions.

Member (worker)

Members do the actual implementation work. They coordinate with chief, not each other. Responsibilities:

• Report status when claiming beads, committing, getting blocked, or becoming available
• Ask before editing shared files — chief serializes access to prevent merge conflicts
• Report infrastructure changes — multi-file refactors, worktree creation, dependency additions
• Respond to queries promptly — chief needs timely status to coordinate effectively

See skills/tribe/member.md for full instructions.

Plugin Architecture

Tribe has a plugin system for optional capabilities that activate based on the environment.

Standalone operation

Tribe works without beads or any other external dependency. The database location is resolved in order:

1. --db flag or TRIBE_DB env var (explicit path)
2. .beads/tribe.db (if a .beads/ directory exists in the project tree)
3. ~/.local/share/tribe/tribe.db (standalone fallback)

Built-in plugins

Plugins activate automatically when their dependencies are available:

| Plugin | Activates when | What it does | | ------- | -------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | | git | Inside a git repo | Reports new commits to chief every 30s | | beads | .beads/ dir exists | Reports bead claims/closures to chief every 30s |

If a plugin's dependencies aren't present, it silently disables itself -- no configuration needed.

Custom plugins

Implement the TribePlugin interface from tools/lib/tribe/plugins.ts:

interface TribePlugin {
  name: string
  available(): boolean
  start?(ctx: PluginContext): (() => void) | void
  instructions?(): string
}

Add your plugin to the plugins array in tools/tribe.ts alongside the built-in ones.

Configuration

The server auto-detects role and name. Override via CLI args or env vars:

# CLI args
bun server.ts --name silvery --role member --domains silvery,flexily

# Environment
TRIBE_NAME=silvery TRIBE_ROLE=member TRIBE_DOMAINS=silvery,flexily

npm

Published as tribe-wire on npm.

License

MIT