company-sdk

AI agent team operating system. Roles, levels, squads, protocol, and CLI — everything you need to run a software project with an AI team.

npm install -g company-sdk

sdk-bootstrap my-project --squad mvp

What It Is

Three layers that work together:

| Layer | What it is | Files | |---|---|---| | Roles | Agent prompts. Paste one into a conversation and that agent is live. | roles/ | | Protocol | How agents talk to each other. Bus format, escalation, decision log. | protocol.md | | Squads | Activation sequences for a specific workflow (website, feature, MVP, startup). | squads/ |

Same roles, same protocol — different squad for different work. A website doesn't need a CLO. A startup does.

For the full walkthrough → HOW_IT_WORKS.md

Quick Start

Via npm (recommended)

npm install -g company-sdk

# Bootstrap a new project
sdk-bootstrap my-saas --squad mvp

# See the activation sequence for that squad
sdk-squad mvp

Manual

git clone [email protected]:matiasbargas/company-sdk.git

node path/to/company-sdk/scripts/bootstrap.js my-saas --squad mvp

Pick a Squad

Do you have an existing product?
  ├── No → Do you need the full org structure?
  │         ├── Yes → startup   (~3–6 weeks, all 16 agents)
  │         └── No  → mvp       (~1–2 weeks, 10 agents)
  └── Yes → Is it a website?
             ├── Yes → website   (~3–7 days, 6 agents)
             └── No  → feature   (~days, 3 agents)

| Squad | Agents | Time | Use for | |---|---|---|---| | website | 6 | 3–7 days | Landing page, marketing site, static site | | feature | 3 | Days | Adding a feature to an existing product | | mvp | 10 | 1–2 weeks | New product, lean activation | | startup | 16 | 3–6 weeks | Full org: strategy → legal → security → engineering |

The Role Set

Strategic Layer

| Role | File | Owns | |---|---|---| | Coordinator | roles/coordinator.md | Release management, org memory, Sprint 0 gate | | CEO | roles/ceo.md | Strategic framing, final escalation, gate reviews |

Domain Specialists

| Role | File | Owns | Activate when | |---|---|---|---| | CLO | roles/clo.md | Legal, compliance, contracts | Any legal, financial, or user data feature | | CFO | roles/cfo.md | Budget, runway, unit economics | Any cost or revenue component | | CISO | roles/ciso.md | Threat model, security, compliance | Any product handling user data, keys, or money | | CMO | roles/cmo.md | Market, positioning, launch | Before architecture — market shapes product | | CRO | roles/cro.md | Revenue, GTM, pricing | Any monetization component | | CDO | roles/cdo.md | Instrumentation, metrics, data governance | Any product that needs to measure itself | | COO | roles/coo.md | Vendors, support, operational runbook | External vendors or customer-facing ops | | CHRO | roles/chro.md | Hiring, onboarding, team health | Any project requiring new hires or team changes |

Execution Layer

| Role | File | Owns | |---|---|---| | CTO | roles/cto.md | Architecture, make/buy, team sizing, technical risk | | Mario (Chief Engineer) | roles/chief-engineer.md | Irreversible decision review, architectural authority over all ICs | | PM | roles/pm.md | User story, scope, friction log, vision alignment | | Staff Engineer | roles/staff-engineer.md | Interface contracts, platform primitives, cross-cell coherence | | EM | roles/em.md | Cell management (max 2 cells), critical path, sprint | | Liaison | roles/liaison.md | Execution ↔ leadership communication bridge |

The Level Ladder

Every role has a level. Compose teams at the right level for the work.

IC Track

| Level | Title | What they do | |---|---|---| | L1 | Junior | Learns inside well-scoped tasks. Needs daily check-ins. | | L2 | Mid | Executes reliably within defined scope. Needs weekly alignment. | | L3 | Senior | Owns a module end-to-end. Drives scope definition. | | L4 | Staff | Cross-team technical direction. Owns the platform layer. | | L5 | Principal | Org-wide technical strategy. Sets irreversible decisions. |

Management Track

| Level | Title | Scope | |---|---|---| | M1 | EM | 1–2 cells, day-to-day execution | | M2 | Senior EM | 2–4 cells, cross-cell coherence | | M3 | Director | Multiple EMs, 1 product area | | M4 | VP | Multiple Directors, org-wide delivery | | M5 | C-Suite | Company-wide strategy and accountability |

Full ladder → levels/ladder.md

The Cell Model

The atomic unit of an engineering team.

Cell-2:   1 Senior + 1 Mid/Senior      →  owns 1 service or module
Cell-4:   1 Staff + 2 Senior + 1 Mid   →  owns a full product slice

EM ratio: 1 EM per 2 cells max.

Tier 1 (Solo):     1 person
Tier 2 (Small):    1× cell-2    →  1 EM
Tier 3 (Medium):   2× cell-2    →  1 EM
Tier 4 (Large):    4× cell-2    →  2 EMs
Tier 5 (Program):  3–6× cell-4  →  1 EM per 2 cells

Anti-patterns: a cell of 3 is not a cell. A cell of 5+ is two cells with blurred ownership. An EM managing 3+ cells is a bottleneck.

Communication Flow

The Owner speaks only to CEO or Coordinator. Never directly to execution agents.

OWNER
  ├──> CEO ──────────────────────────────────────────> COORDINATOR
  │      |                                                   |
  │      └──> CLO | CFO | CISO | CMO | CRO | CDO | COO | CHRO
  │                                                          |
  │      └──> CTO ──> Mario (Chief Engineer)                |
  │                        |                                 |
  │      └──> PM     Staff Engineer                         |
  │                        |                                 |
  │                  Cell-A ←──> EM ←──> Liaison ──────────┘
  │                  Cell-B ←──> EM
  │
  └──> COORDINATOR (process, status, gate reviews)

Liaison is the only agent that crosses between execution and leadership simultaneously. Mario is the only agent with horizontal authority across all engineering teams — craft, not management.

CLI Reference

# Bootstrap a new project directory with all template files
sdk-bootstrap <name> [--squad <type>] [--output <dir>]

# View squad activation sequence
sdk-squad list
sdk-squad <website|feature|mvp|startup>

# Document operations
sdk-doc list <file>                                     # list sections
sdk-doc read <file> --section <heading>                 # read a section
sdk-doc append <file> --section <heading> --content     # append to section
sdk-doc rewrite <file> --section <heading> --content    # replace a section
sdk-doc add-item <file> --section <heading> --item      # append a list item
sdk-doc decision <file> --decision --context --made-by  # log a decision

Examples:

# Start an MVP project
sdk-bootstrap analytics-tool --squad mvp

# Log an architecture decision
sdk-doc decision projects/analytics-tool/history.md \
  --decision "Use Supabase instead of raw Postgres" \
  --context "Saves 2 weeks of auth setup" \
  --made-by CTO \
  --reversible yes

# Update a requirements section
sdk-doc append projects/analytics-tool/product-requirements.md \
  --section "## Out of Scope" \
  --item "Admin dashboard — post-MVP"

File Map

company-sdk/
  README.md
  HOW_IT_WORKS.md         ← Full narrative walkthrough
  AGENTS.md               ← Activation order + dependency graph
  SQUADS.md               ← Squad comparison and decision guide
  protocol.md             ← Bus format, escalation, decision log rules
  package.json

  roles/
    _template.md          ← Blank 4-block prompt template
    coordinator.md | ceo.md
    clo.md | cfo.md | ciso.md | cmo.md | cro.md | cdo.md | coo.md | chro.md
    cto.md | chief-engineer.md | pm.md | staff-engineer.md | em.md | liaison.md

  levels/
    ladder.md             ← IC and Management track definitions

  squads/
    website.md | feature.md | mvp.md | startup.md

  project-template/
    project.md            ← Owner brief and conversation record
    history.md            ← Decision log
    liaison-log.md        ← Daily sprint health
    general-requirements.md
    [domain]-requirements.md  ← 12 domain stubs

  scripts/
    bootstrap.js          ← sdk-bootstrap
    squad.js              ← sdk-squad
    doc.js                ← sdk-doc

  example-bitcoin-wallet/
    project.md            ← Complete example conversation
    marketing-review.md   ← CMO market analysis

Golden Rules

1. Owner speaks only to CEO or Coordinator. Never directly to execution agents.
2. Every consequential decision gets written to history.md. If it's not written, it didn't happen.
3. "Almost done" is not a status.
4. Blockers escalate the same day.
5. Sprint 0 gate is real. Nothing gets coded until all boxes are checked.
6. 1 Senior + 1 Mid/Senior per cell. EM manages 2 cells max.
7. The requirements files are the source of truth, not conversations.
8. Different squad, same protocol. Don't rewrite the rules — pick the right squad.
9. Level determines behavior. Compose teams at the right level for the work.
10. The Liaison crosses layers. Everyone else stays in their lane.

company-sdk — 16 roles · 4 squads · 2-track level ladder · 3 CLI tools