istosandClaude Opus 5
eec69ba575
install.py shipped mode 644 in v0.1-alpha, so the README one-liner's ./install.py was permission-denied on every install. The repo modes and update.sh's repair line were hotfixed already (all 14 shebang'd tracked files are 100755; update.sh:165 names install.py) — this is the guard that keeps them that way, and the patch release that heals the field. - tests/test_release_artifact.py: the invariant, read from the tar header rather than the repo — every member whose content starts `#!` must carry the exec bit, failing by name. No exception list: there is no shipped file that legitimately may not be run, and gaining one means editing the test with a reason. Two tests keep it honest: the guard is proven to bite by repacking the real artifact with install.py's mode stripped, and an unpacked release must run ./install.py as a program, not via python3. - tests/test_update_from_release.py: an install whose install.py is mode 644 — the shape v0.1-alpha left in the field — is executable again after any update. `cp` onto an existing file keeps the destination's mode, so the chmod line is the only thing healing it; removing that line fails this test. - manager/core/VERSION → 0.1-alpha.1: cutting the patch is the honest move over a release note telling users to work around it. - manager/core/release-manifest: the invariant, stated where the shipping list lives. Verified: python3 -m unittest discover -s tests (267 tests, OK). Both new assertions were watched failing first — a build-side `chmod -x` on the staged install.py, and update.sh with install.py dropped from its chmod list — then restored. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Bench
A live kanban for coding-agent work: task files in stage directories are
the only source of truth; a stdlib-only board narrates everything that
happens to them — agents working in git worktrees, PRs opening on review,
CI and Copilot state on the cards, drives of the app from a task's own
branch, and an archive that is never a delete. Turn on team mode
(BOARD_SYNC=1) and the truth is origin/main: moves commit and push
themselves, every board pulls on a beat, and the person who claimed a
card first keeps it.
Install into a repo
mkdir .task-manager && curl -L \
https://github.com/12vectors/bench/releases/latest/download/bench.tar.gz \
| tar -xz -C .task-manager
./.task-manager/start.sh # wires the project (idempotent) and serves
No token, no clone: releases are curated artifacts that never contained bench's own cards or settings, so the board starts empty by construction.
Commit .task-manager/ into the host repo — core is vendored on purpose,
so clones work offline and updates show up in the host's own diffs.
The workflow brief ships as .task-manager/AGENTS.md — the cross-vendor
name coding agents read natively — with CLAUDE.md beside it as a one-line
compatibility pointer. Both live inside .task-manager/, so a host repo's
own root AGENTS.md is never touched.
Update
./.task-manager/update.sh # latest release
BENCH_REF=v2 ./.task-manager/update.sh # an exact release tag
The artifact is stamped with the repo it was built from, so updating
needs no configuration; BENCH_SOURCE=<owner/repo> in
manager/local/.env overrides the stamp. Updates replace
manager/core/ and the top-level scripts wholesale and touch nothing
else — tasks, plans, reference, and everything under manager/local/
(your driver, commands, prompt overrides, settings, state) survive every
update. Then python3 .task-manager/install.py and restart the board.
If the source repo has no published release yet, update.sh says so and
changes nothing.
Working on bench itself
git clone git@github.com:12vectors/bench.git && cd bench && ./start.sh
A clone carries bench's own cards and local/ content — that is dev mode,
not an install. (Installing from a clone anyway works: install.py
clears the shipped cards on its first boot in a host repo.) Releases are
built by ./release.sh from the manifest at
manager/core/release-manifest: tag = v<VERSION>, one stable asset
name (bench.tar.gz), contents at the tarball root — the two things the
install one-liner above depends on.
The three-layer law
Core knows about tasks, worktrees, PRs and events. It knows nothing about
any particular app (drivers do: local/driver/start), agent vendor
(adapters do: core/adapters/), or project (local/ does). Full docs in
AGENTS.md; the adapter contract in manager/core/adapters/README.md.
License
MIT.