CADRE — Coordinated Agent Development Runtime Engine

CADRE is a framework for parallel agent-based software development against a set of open GitHub issues. Given a repository and a list of issues, CADRE provisions one git worktree per issue, then orchestrates a coordinated team of single-purpose agents within each worktree to analyze the issue, plan the implementation, write code, write tests, verify correctness, and open a pull request — all in parallel across issues, with checkpointing and resume at every level.

Quick Start

npm install -g @cadre-dev/cadre

# Create a cadre.config.json in your repo
cadre run -c path/to/cadre.config.json

# Resume from last checkpoint
cadre run -c path/to/cadre.config.json --resume

# Check progress
cadre status -c path/to/cadre.config.json

# List active worktrees
cadre worktrees -c path/to/cadre.config.json

Configuration

Create a cadre.config.json:

{
  "projectName": "my-project",
  "repository": "owner/repo",
  "repoPath": "/path/to/local/clone",
  "baseBranch": "main",
  "issues": {
    "ids": [42, 57, 61]
  },
  "options": {
    "maxParallelIssues": 3,
    "maxParallelAgents": 3
  },
  "commands": {
    "install": "npm install",
    "build": "npm run build",
    "test": "npm test"
  },
  "github": {
    "auth": {
      "appId": "12345",
      "installationId": "67890",
      "privateKeyFile": "/path/to/private-key.pem"
    }
  }
}

See docs/config-schema.md for the full schema reference.

GitHub MCP Server

CADRE uses the GitHub MCP server for all GitHub interactions (issues, pull requests, comments) and authenticates as a GitHub App.

Install the server:

brew install github/gh-mcp/github-mcp-server

GitHub App Authentication

CADRE authenticates to GitHub as a GitHub App. You need:

1. A registered GitHub App with permissions for issues (read/write) and pull requests (read/write)
2. The App installed on the target repository or organization
3. The App's private key file (.pem)

Configure in cadre.config.json:

{
  "github": {
    "auth": {
      "appId": "12345",
      "installationId": "67890",
      "privateKeyFile": "/path/to/private-key.pem"
    }
  }
}

Values support ${ENV_VAR} syntax to reference host environment variables:

{
  "github": {
    "auth": {
      "appId": "${CADRE_GITHUB_APP_ID}",
      "installationId": "${CADRE_GITHUB_INSTALLATION_ID}",
      "privateKeyFile": "${CADRE_GITHUB_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE}"
    }
  }
}

Claude CLI Setup

CADRE supports Claude CLI (claude) as an alternative agent backend alongside the default GitHub Copilot CLI.

Install the Claude CLI:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Authenticate:

claude login

This opens a browser to authenticate with your Anthropic account. Alternatively, set the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

Configure CADRE to use Claude:

Set agent.backend to "claude" in cadre.config.json:

{
  "projectName": "my-project",
  "repository": "owner/repo",
  "repoPath": "/path/to/local/clone",
  "baseBranch": "main",
  "issues": {
    "ids": [42, 57, 61]
  },
  "agent": {
    "backend": "claude",
    "model": "claude-opus-4-5",
    "timeout": 600000,
    "claude": {
      "cliCommand": "claude"
    }
  }
}

agent config reference:

| Key | Type | Default | Description | |-----|------|---------|-------------| | agent.backend | "copilot" | "claude" | "copilot" | Which AI backend to use for agent invocations | | agent.model | string | backend default | Model identifier (overrides the backend's default model) | | agent.timeout | number (ms) | backend default | Timeout in milliseconds for agent invocations | | agent.claude.cliCommand | string | "claude" | Path or name of the claude CLI executable |

Architecture

CADRE processes issues through a 5-phase pipeline:

1. Analysis & Scouting — Understand the issue and locate relevant code
2. Planning — Break the issue into implementation tasks with dependencies
3. Implementation — Execute tasks with code-writer, test-writer, and code-reviewer agents
4. Integration Verification — Run build and tests to verify correctness
5. PR Composition — Generate and create a pull request

Each issue runs in its own git worktree with full isolation. Multiple issues are processed in parallel up to a configurable concurrency limit.

Plugin / Extension APIs

Cadre supports runtime extension points without patching core switches:

• @cadre-dev/framework/runtime: registerAgentBackendFactory() for backend plugins.
• @cadre-dev/framework/runtime: ProviderRegistry enhancements (registerProviders, describe, getCapabilities, healthCheck).
• @cadre-dev/framework/engine: pluggable CheckpointStore with default FileSystemCheckpointStore.
• @cadre-dev/framework/notifications: registerNotificationProviderFactory() for custom notification providers.
• @cadre-dev/framework/engine: registerGatePlugin() for custom phase gates.
• @cadre-dev/framework/core: FleetEventBus.use() middleware hooks for event lifecycle interception.
• src/agents/registry.ts: defineAgent() and registry discovery helpers.

Agent Roster

| Agent | Purpose | |-------|---------| | issue-analyst | Analyze issue requirements and scope | | codebase-scout | Locate relevant files in the codebase | | implementation-planner | Plan implementation as dependency-aware tasks | | adjudicator | Choose between competing plans | | code-writer | Implement code changes | | test-writer | Write tests for changes | | code-reviewer | Review changes for correctness | | fix-surgeon | Fix issues found by review or tests | | integration-checker | Verify build and test pass | | pr-composer | Compose PR title and body |

CLI Commands

• cadre run — Process issues with agent pipelines
• cadre status — Show fleet and issue progress
• cadre reset — Reset fleet or issue state
• cadre worktrees — List or manage active worktrees

When installed globally (npm install -g @cadre-dev/cadre), the cadre command is available directly. You can also use npx @cadre-dev/cadre without installing.

Key Design Principles

1. No AI logic in the runtime — The runtime manages processes, git, and files. Intelligence lives in agent prompts.
2. File-based IPC — Agents communicate through files, not APIs.
3. Worktree isolation — Each issue gets its own git worktree. No cross-contamination.
4. Idempotent resume — Safe to run --resume repeatedly.
5. Git operations are the runtime's job — Agents write files; the runtime handles git.
6. MCP-native GitHub access — GitHub interactions use the MCP protocol, not CLI wrappers.

Flow DSL Package (@cadre-dev/framework/flow)

Cadre now includes a framework package for declarative pipeline orchestration graphs. This package is additive and does not replace the existing app orchestrators yet. See docs/flow-dsl.md for a complete reference.

import {
  FlowRunner,
  defineFlow,
  step,
  gate,
  loop,
  parallel,
  conditional,
  fromStep,
  fromContext,
} from '@cadre-dev/framework/flow';

const flow = defineFlow('example', [
  step({
    id: 'seed',
    input: fromContext('start'),
    run: (_ctx, input) => Number(input),
  }),
  gate({
    id: 'non-negative',
    input: fromStep('seed'),
    evaluate: (_ctx, value) => Number(value) >= 0,
  }),
  loop({
    id: 'retry-loop',
    maxIterations: 3,
    do: [
      parallel({
        id: 'fan-out',
        concurrency: 2,
        branches: {
          a: [step({ id: 'a-task', run: () => 'a' })],
          b: [step({ id: 'b-task', run: () => 'b' })],
        },
      }),
      conditional({
        id: 'exit-check',
        when: (ctx) => Boolean(ctx.getStepOutput('a-task')),
        then: [step({ id: 'done', run: () => true })],
        else: [step({ id: 'retry', run: () => false })],
      }),
    ],
    until: (ctx) => Boolean(ctx.getStepOutput('done')),
  }),
]);

const runner = new FlowRunner();
await runner.run(flow, { start: 0 });

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Copyright (c) 2026 Jacob Freck