Files
roboco/CLAUDE.md
T
Renn F 8e87506da4 docs: deploy via GitHub Pages Actions; serve at docs.roboco.dev
The gh-pages branch deploy (mkdocs gh-deploy --force) raced GitHub's built-in branch deployment and got canceled, and each force-push wiped the custom-domain CNAME. Switch to GitHub's official Pages Actions flow (build -> upload-pages-artifact -> deploy-pages) with a single 'pages' concurrency group, so there is one deterministic deployment and no branch to force-push.

- Set the custom domain to docs.roboco.dev (site_url + a docs/CNAME that ships in the build artifact, so the domain persists across deploys).
- Point the advertised docs URL at https://docs.roboco.dev across README, the usage/deployment stubs, the Makefile help, pyproject, and CLAUDE.md.
- Requires a one-time Settings -> Pages -> Source = "GitHub Actions"; the gh-pages branch is no longer used.
2026-06-22 16:02:56 +02:00

30 KiB

CLAUDE.md

This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.

Licensing

RoboCo is licensed under AGPL-3.0 (see LICENSE). Copyright (c) 2026 Renzo Franceschini. Do NOT reintroduce an MIT or other license reference anywhere (README, headers, package metadata) — the project is AGPL.

Contributions require a signed Contributor License Agreement (CLA.md), automated via the CLA Assistant workflow (.github/workflows/cla.yml). The CLA preserves the option to dual-license / offer a commercial edition later; keep copyright assignment language intact. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Project Overview

RoboCo is an AI Agentic Company - a virtual organization of 25 AI agents + 1 human CEO, designed to operate as a complete software development workforce. The system implements a structured organizational hierarchy with formal communication protocols, task management, and quality controls.

Core Architecture

CEO (Renzo - Human)
    |
    +-- Intake (on-demand interviewer: chats only with the CEO to draft a task)
    +-- Secretary (on-demand chief-of-staff: reads company state, runs gated CEO directives)
    +-- PR Reviewer (read-only: the main reviewer — inbound external/fork + internal PRs, and the root→master in-path gate)
    |
    +-- Board (3 agents)
         +-- Product Owner
         +-- Head of Marketing
         +-- Auditor (silent observer, reports to CEO)
              |
              +-- Main PM (coordinates all cells)
                   |
                   +-- Backend Cell (6 agents: 2 Devs, 1 QA, 1 PM, 1 Documenter, 1 PR Reviewer)
                   +-- Frontend Cell (6 agents: 2 Devs, 1 QA, 1 PM, 1 Documenter, 1 PR Reviewer)
                   +-- UX/UI Cell (6 agents: 2 Devs, 1 QA, 1 PM, 1 Documenter, 1 PR Reviewer)

Hardware Infrastructure

  • Olares One (Powerhouse): Intel Ultra 9 + RTX 5090, runs Claude Code instances and AI inference - NOT YET ARRIVED
  • UGREEN NAS (Warehouse): 36TB RAID6, 128GB RAM, hosts PostgreSQL, Redis
  • Pi Cluster (Operations): Monitoring, notifications, smart home

Development Standards

Python (Backend)

# Package manager
uv

# Before any commit
uv run ruff format .
uv run ruff check .
uv run mypy roboco/
uv run pytest

# Coverage target: 80%

TypeScript (Frontend)

# Package manager
pnpm

# Before any commit
pnpm format
pnpm lint
pnpm typecheck
pnpm test

# Coverage target: 80%

Technology Stack

Layer Technology
API Framework FastAPI
Database PostgreSQL + asyncpg
Vector Store PostgreSQL + pgvector (in-house engine)
RAG Engine in-house (asyncpg + pgvector, hybrid retrieval)
Cache/Queue Redis
Container Runtime Docker + Docker Compose
Cloud LLM Claude API (claude-opus-4-6) + xAI Grok (official grok CLI, SuperGrok subscription)
Local LLM Ollama (glm-5:cloud for RAG/hybrid retrieval)
Embeddings qwen3-embedding:0.6b (1024 dim)
Frontend Next.js 16 + TypeScript + Tailwind + Radix UI (in panel/)
Edge / Proxy nginx (single entry point on port 3000)

Multi-Agent Workspace Structure

Each agent gets their own git clone of a project, enabling parallel development without conflicts:

{ROBOCO_WORKSPACES_ROOT}/          # Default: /data/workspaces
+-- {project-slug}/
    +-- {team}/
        +-- {agent-slug}/
            +-- [git repository]

Example:

/data/workspaces/
+-- roboco/
    +-- backend/
    |   +-- be-dev-1/     # be-dev-1's workspace
    |   +-- be-dev-2/     # be-dev-2's workspace
    +-- frontend/
        +-- fe-dev-1/
        +-- fe-dev-2/

Note: the Next.js control panel now lives at roboco/panel/ inside this repo (no longer a separate roboco-panel project or workspace).

Key Configuration (roboco/config.py):

  • ROBOCO_WORKSPACES_ROOT: Root directory for workspaces (default: /data/workspaces)
  • ROBOCO_WORKSPACE_AUTO_CLONE: Auto-clone repos on first access (default: true)
  • ROBOCO_WORKSPACE_CLONE_TIMEOUT: Clone timeout in seconds (default: 300)

On a Python workspace, WorkspaceService runs uv sync --extra dev (not plain uv sync) so the clone's .venv carries the full gate toolchain (ruff/mypy/xenon/pytest) — the lint/type/complexity tools live in the dev extra, which plain uv sync skips. Without it an agent's make quality fails on ruff: command not found and the agent can't gate its own work.

Git Workflow

Branch Naming Convention

Branch names follow the pattern: {type}/{team}/{task-hierarchy}

Types: feature, bug, chore, docs, hotfix

Task Hierarchy: Uses -- separator (not /) to avoid git ref conflicts.

Examples:

  • Root task: feature/backend/ABC12345
  • Subtask: feature/backend/ABC12345--DEF67890
  • Sub-subtask: feature/backend/ABC12345--DEF67890--GHI11111

Commit Format

Commits are automatically prefixed with the task ID:

[{task-id[:8]}] {message}

Example:

[ABC12345] Add user authentication endpoint

Work Sessions

When a developer claims a task, a WorkSession is created that tracks:

  • Branch name and base/target branches
  • All commits made during the session
  • Files modified
  • PR number/URL when created
  • Merge status and who merged

Git Credentials

Git authentication is managed per-project through encrypted GitHub PATs:

  • Each project stores its own git token - no global fallback
  • Tokens are encrypted at rest using Fernet symmetric encryption
  • API never exposes tokens - only returns has_git_token: boolean
  • Self-service via UI - users set/update tokens in project settings

Project fields:

Field Description
git_token_encrypted Fernet-encrypted GitHub PAT (DB column)
has_git_token Boolean indicator for API responses

Token flow:

  1. User creates project in UI, enters GitHub PAT
  2. Token encrypted and stored in projects.git_token_encrypted
  3. WorkspaceService decrypts token when cloning repos
  4. GitService decrypts token for PR operations (gh CLI)

HTTPS URLs require tokens - attempting to clone without a token will raise WorkspaceError.

Task Lifecycle

Task States

The complete task lifecycle is defined in roboco/foundation/policy/lifecycle.py (roboco/enforcement/task_lifecycle.py is a backwards-compat shim over it):

backlog -> pending -> claimed -> in_progress -> [blocked|paused] -> verifying
                                     |                                  |
                                     v                                  v
                                 awaiting_qa <------------------+   awaiting_documentation
                                     |         (needs_revision) |           |
                                     v                          |           v
                                 awaiting_documentation --------+   awaiting_pm_review
                                     |                                      |
                                     v                                      v
                                 awaiting_pm_review             awaiting_ceo_approval
                                     |                                      |
                                     v                                      v
                                 completed                              completed

In-path PR-review gate (awaiting_pr_review): each assembled PR is reviewed before the PM merges. The cell PM's submit_up opens the cell→root PR and the Main PM's submit_root opens the root→master PR; both enter awaiting_pr_review, where a reviewer pr_passes it on to awaiting_pm_review or pr_fails it back to needs_revision — the merge-level reject the PM otherwise lacks. Leaf dev tasks and branchless coordination roots skip the gate.

States:

State Description
backlog PM setup phase - dependencies or session setup needed
pending Ready for work - orchestrator can spawn agents
claimed Agent has locked the task
in_progress Active development
blocked External dependency blocking progress
paused Temporarily stopped (can resume)
verifying Self-verification by developer
needs_revision QA or CEO requested changes
awaiting_qa Submitted for QA review — PR must already exist
awaiting_documentation Documentation phase — PR already open from pre-QA; doc writes docs
awaiting_pr_review In-path PR-review gate: a reviewer checks the assembled cell→root / root→master PR before the PM merges (assembled, PR-bearing tasks only)
awaiting_pm_review Docs complete, PM reviews + merges
awaiting_ceo_approval Major tasks escalated for CEO final approval
completed Terminal state - work done and merged
cancelled Terminal state - work cancelled

Role-Based Transitions

All status transitions are validated through the enforcement layer. Key restrictions:

Transition Allowed Roles
backlogpending (activate) PM roles only
pendingclaimed (claim) Role must match task type (QA for awaiting_qa, etc.)
claimedpending (unclaim) Assignee or PM
awaiting_qaawaiting_documentation (pass) QA only
awaiting_qaneeds_revision (fail) QA only
awaiting_documentationawaiting_pm_review Documenter or Developer (parallel completion)
in_progressawaiting_pr_review (submit_up / submit_root) PM roles (opens the assembled cell→root / root→master PR)
awaiting_pr_reviewawaiting_pm_review (pr_pass) PR reviewer only
awaiting_pr_reviewneeds_revision (pr_fail) PR reviewer only
awaiting_pm_reviewcompleted PM roles only
awaiting_pm_reviewawaiting_ceo_approval PM roles only
awaiting_ceo_approvalcompleted/needs_revision/cancelled CEO only
Any → cancelled PM roles only

Unclaim Operation: Agents can release claimed tasks back to the pool using unclaim(). This transitions claimedpending and optionally reassigns to another agent.

Git Integration Requirements

All tasks follow git workflow. PR is created BEFORE QA review (not after) so QA can review the real PR diff on GitHub and downstream PM/CEO approval chain off a PR that already exists:

  1. claimed -> in_progress: branch_name is auto-set on claim (hierarchical branches)
  2. verifying -> awaiting_qa (submit-qa): Requires self_verified, commits, pr_number (PR open), and at least one progress_updates entry
  3. awaiting_qa -> awaiting_documentation (pass-qa): Requires pr_number and substantive QA notes
  4. awaiting_documentation -> awaiting_pm_review: Requires docs_complete=True (PR already exists from step 2 above)
  5. awaiting_pm_review -> awaiting_ceo_approval: Must have pr_number set and all subtasks in a terminal state

CEO Approval Workflow

Major tasks are escalated to CEO for final approval:

  1. PM reviews and approves, escalates to awaiting_ceo_approval
  2. CEO can:
    • Approve: Merges PR, task -> completed
    • Request changes: Task -> needs_revision
    • Cancel: Task -> cancelled

Data Models

Core Models (roboco/models/)

Model Purpose
Task Atomic unit of work with acceptance criteria
Project Git repository configuration and CI/CD commands
WorkSession Links agent work to task, tracks branch/commits/PR
Agent AI agent with role, team, capabilities
Session Communication session with messages
Channel Team communication channel
Message Extracted message from agent streams
Notification Formal notification requiring acknowledgment
Journal Agent personal log for reflections/learnings

Task Model Key Fields

# Git configuration (all tasks follow git workflow)
task_type: TaskType      # code, documentation, research, planning, design, administrative
project_id: UUID         # Project this task works on (required)
branch_name: str         # Branch for this task (auto-created on claim)
work_session_id: UUID    # Active work session

# PR tracking (parallel execution in awaiting_documentation)
pr_number: int           # GitHub/GitLab PR number
pr_url: str              # Full URL to PR
docs_complete: bool      # Documenter has finished
pr_created: bool         # Developer has created PR

# Commits linked to task
commits: list[CommitRef] # All commits made for this task

Communication Model

Communication = constant stream (always flowing, logged, observed) Notifications = formal signals (require acknowledgment, sent by PMs/Board only)

Channel Structure

  • Cell channels: #backend-cell, #frontend-cell, #uxui-cell
  • Cross-cell: #dev-all, #qa-all, #pm-all, #doc-all
  • Management: #main-pm-board, #board-private
  • Special: #announcements (read-only except Board/Main PM), #all-hands

The Auditor has silent read access to ALL channels.

Key Principles

  1. Everything is a task - All work is tracked and documented
  2. No work without a task - Create task record first
  3. No task without acceptance criteria - How do we know it's done?
  4. No closure without documentation - Future agents need context
  5. Communication is constant - Stream reasoning, log everything
  6. State is sacred - If interrupted, state must be recoverable
  7. The Auditor sees all - Quality monitored silently
  8. Commits linked to tasks - Every commit references its task ID
  9. CEO approves major changes - Escalation path for important work

Agent Gateway

Agents do not call the API or per-domain MCP tools directly. They go through two thin MCP servers (roboco-flow, roboco-do) backed by the server-side Choreographer in roboco/services/gateway/. The Choreographer composes the existing services (TaskService, JournalService, GitService, etc.) into intent-verb sequences. Tracing, claim-locking, evidence assembly, and remediation hints are all centralized there.

Each agent gets a spawn manifest at /app/tool-manifest.json listing the verbs its role is allowed to call. The orchestrator builds the manifest from roboco/services/gateway/role_config.py and mounts it read-only into the agent container.

Verb surface (canonical source: lifecycle.intents_for_role; every role also gets i_am_idle)

Role Flow verbs (beyond i_am_idle)
developer give_me_work, i_will_work_on, open_pr, i_am_done, i_am_blocked, resume, unclaim
qa give_me_work, claim_review, pass_review, fail_review, i_am_blocked, resume, unclaim
documenter give_me_work, claim_doc_task, i_documented, i_am_blocked, resume, unclaim
cell_pm give_me_work, i_will_plan, delegate, complete, submit_up, triage, unblock, escalate_up, reassign, resume, unclaim
main_pm give_me_work, i_will_plan, delegate, complete, submit_root, triage, triage_all, unblock, escalate_up, escalate_to_ceo, resume, unclaim
pr_reviewer give_me_work, claim_pr_review, post_pr_review (inbound external/fork PRs), claim_gate_review, pr_pass, pr_fail (in-path assembled-PR gate)
product_owner triage, escalate_to_ceo
head_marketing triage, escalate_to_ceo
auditor triage (read-only — no say/dm)
prompter (none beyond i_am_idle — not a delivery-lifecycle role; intake interviewer, human-only)
secretary (none beyond i_am_idle — human-only chief-of-staff; reads company state + runs gated CEO directives)

Content tools (do_server) — most roles: commit, note, say, dm, evidence. Auditor is restricted to note (scope=reflect) + evidence. The pr_reviewer posts its change-request on the PR itself (no agent comms). The prompter (intake) and secretary are restricted to note + evidence — human-only, no say/dm/notify.

MCP servers running per agent container

Server Purpose
roboco-flow Intent verbs (give_me_work, i_am_done, claim_review, complete, ...)
roboco-do Content tools (commit, note, say, dm, evidence)
roboco-git-readonly Read-only git: status, log, diff, branches
roboco-optimal RAG: roboco_ask_mentor, roboco_kb_search
roboco-docs Project docs file management (selected roles)

Every verb returns a standardized Envelope:

  • ok: {status, task_id, next, evidence?, context_briefing}
  • error: {error, message, remediate, missing}

The next field tells the agent what to call next; the remediate field on errors tells them exactly how to fix and retry. Agents should not guess state — trust the response.

Agent Providers

Agent backends are pluggable. roboco/llm/providers/ defines an AgentProvider lifecycle ABC (base.py) and a ProviderRegistry keyed by ModelProvider (registry.py), with ClaudeCodeProvider (default) and GrokCliProvider. The orchestrator resolves a provider at spawn from the agent's ModelProvider; when no dedicated provider is registered it falls back to the built-in Claude Code spawn. ModelProvider (roboco/models/base.py) is ANTHROPIC (default), GROK, LOCAL, OLLAMA_CLOUD, OPENAI (reserved). The seam is additive: only GROK routes through GrokCliProvider; Anthropic / Ollama Cloud / self-hosted spawns are unchanged, and every provider gets the same MCP gateway + tool-manifest wiring by construction.

Grok runtime. GROK agents run xAI's official grok CLI (model grok-build) authenticated by a SuperGrok subscription, not a metered API key — so a Grok workforce can't stall mid-task on out-of-credits. The host ~/.grok/auth.json is mounted read-only into each agent (GrokCliProvider._append_grok_auth_mount; ROBOCO_HOST_GROK_DIR is the host mount source, set up once with grok login). It reaches parity with the Claude path by construction: same MCP gateway + manifest, per-role tool-removal and git-operation deny rules, a prompt-injection guard on the task prompt, headless tool auto-approval, and per-agent token/cost capture from the grok session store. It covers both one-shot delivery roles and the interactive Intake (Prompter) and Secretary chats (per-turn grok -p with session resume).

Token auto-refresh. The grok access token has a fixed ~6h server-set TTL and the CLI cannot refresh it headlessly — on an expired token it hangs forever at an interactive login prompt. The orchestrator mints a fresh token from the offline-access refresh token (xAI's OIDC refresh_token grant) before expiry and rewrites the shared auth.json in place (roboco/llm/providers/grok_auth.py refresh_if_stale, run once per dispatch tick; the orchestrator's ~/.grok mount is read-write so it can rewrite it). As a backstop the agent entrypoint runs python -m roboco.llm.providers.grok_auth --check and refuses to start (exit 78) on a missing/expired token instead of hanging.

Self-Healing & Feature Flags

Self-healing CI loop (default-off). RoboCo can watch its own repository's CI (a single named workflow) and, on a detected regression, open a fix task that is held out of dispatch until the CEO approves it (it terminates at awaiting_ceo_approval), then dispatch it through the normal delivery flow. It is dormant by default and armed by ROBOCO_SELF_HEAL_ENABLED plus a second opt-in ROBOCO_SELF_HEAL_ORIGINATE_ENABLED; origination is bounded by ROBOCO_SELF_HEAL_MAX_OPEN_TASKS / _MAX_PER_CYCLE so it can't flood the backlog. It never auto-merges or self-deploys (roboco/services/self_heal_engine.py).

Feature flags / company-in-a-box. Env-gated, default-off subsystems toggle from the panel's Settings → Feature Flags card (panel/src/components/settings/feature-flags-card.tsx) instead of hand-editing env: web research (ROBOCO_RESEARCH_ENABLED), the strategy engine (ROBOCO_STRATEGY_ENGINE_ENABLED), pitch provisioning (ROBOCO_PROVISIONING_*), external / internal PR review, the agent-runtime toolchain match (ROBOCO_TOOLCHAIN_MATCH_ENABLED), the architectural-conventions standard (ROBOCO_CONVENTIONS_ENABLED), and the self-heal flags above. A toggle persists in the settings store and takes effect on the next backend restart; an unset flag falls back to its environment / config default.

Architectural Conventions Standard

Per-project architectural standard (default-off). Beyond the make-style gates (which check syntax/types/tests, not where code lives), each project can carry a repo-canonical .roboco/conventions.yml — an architecture map (which definition kinds belong in which modules), a toggleable rule set, custom regex rules, and waivers — so an agent cannot land a Pydantic model defined inside a router, a helper in a route file, or a # noqa / # type: ignore. Gated by ROBOCO_CONVENTIONS_ENABLED; fully inert when off.

Effective map. Consumers read the effective map — auto-derived defaults (from a repo scan + BUILTIN_RULES) overlaid by the committed file — so behaviour is identical whether the file is present, absent, or partial. ConventionsService (roboco/services/conventions.py) builds it, caches it per (project, HEAD sha) in project_conventions_cache (migration 043), renders the per-task baseline constraints + the ambient prompt block, and scaffolds/restores the file via a PR (GitService.open_conventions_pr). The schema lives in roboco/foundation/policy/conventions/ (pure).

Validator. A single Python CLI, python -m roboco.conventions check --root <repo> --files <a> <b> ... (roboco/conventions/), uses tree-sitter (Python + TypeScript grammars, shipped in the agent image) to classify each changed definition and flag forbidden placements + hygiene + custom-rule matches as JSONL findings, after waiver filtering. Precision over recall (it abstains when uncertain so a block gate can't false-positive-strand a task) and fail-loud (a validator that cannot run exits 3 so the gate blocks, never silently passes).

Threading + enforcement. The standard reaches the work two ways: an ambient "Architectural Standard" block injected at spawn (compose_prompt) and an auto-attached ## Constraints section on every project task (TaskService.create). Enforcement is deterministic: a block-level finding refuses i_am_done (dev pre-submit) and pr_pass (the in-path PR gate) with the offending file:line + fix hint; findings also surface in QA's claim_review evidence (convention_findings). A false positive is relieved by a waiver the dev commits in their branch — accountable, reviewed in the PR. The panel's per-project Conventions tab (in the edit-project dialog) shows the map + health and offers Save / Restore.

Services

Core services in roboco/services/:

Service Purpose
TaskService Task CRUD and state transitions
WorkSessionService Git session management, PR lifecycle
WorkspaceService Multi-agent workspace resolution and cloning
ProjectService Project/repository management
MessagingService Channels, sessions, messages
NotificationService Formal notifications
JournalService Agent journals and entries
OptimalService RAG queries (in-house pgvector engine)
PermissionsService Role-based access control

Configuration

Key settings in roboco/config.py (env prefix: ROBOCO_):

# Database
ROBOCO_DATABASE_HOST=localhost
ROBOCO_DATABASE_PORT=5432
ROBOCO_DATABASE_USER=roboco
ROBOCO_DATABASE_PASSWORD=roboco
ROBOCO_DATABASE_NAME=roboco

# Redis
ROBOCO_REDIS_HOST=localhost
ROBOCO_REDIS_PORT=6379

# Security (REQUIRED)
# Generate with: python -c 'from cryptography.fernet import Fernet; print(Fernet.generate_key().decode())'
ROBOCO_ENCRYPTION_KEY=<your-fernet-key>

# Workspaces
ROBOCO_WORKSPACES_ROOT=/data/workspaces
ROBOCO_WORKSPACE_AUTO_CLONE=true
ROBOCO_WORKSPACE_CLONE_TIMEOUT=300

# RAG (in-house pgvector engine)
ROBOCO_RAG_CHUNK_STRATEGY=fixed
ROBOCO_RAG_CHUNK_SIZE=512
ROBOCO_RAG_USE_HYDE=true
ROBOCO_RAG_USE_HYBRID_SEARCH=true

# AI/LLM
ROBOCO_DEFAULT_EMBEDDING_MODEL=qwen3-embedding:0.6b
ROBOCO_LOCAL_LLM_MODEL=glm-5:cloud
ROBOCO_LOCAL_LLM_BASE_URL=http://roboco-ollama:11434/v1
ROBOCO_OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://roboco-ollama:11434

Docker Deployment

Container Architecture

The system runs as Docker Compose services. All Dockerfiles live under docker/ at the project root; every service uses context: . plus dockerfile: docker/<name>.Dockerfile.

Service Purpose Healthcheck
postgres PostgreSQL + pgvector pg_isready
redis Cache, sessions, event bus redis-cli ping
ollama Local LLM + embeddings ollama list
ollama-init Pulls models on startup One-shot
agent-base-image / agent-*-image Pre-built images spawned per agent One-shot
orchestrator API + agent spawner Depends on all above
panel Next.js control panel (internal, port 3000)
nginx Reverse proxy fronting panel + orchestrator

Single Entry Point

nginx is the only externally-exposed service. It listens on localhost:3000 and routes:

  • /api/* and /ws/*orchestrator:8000
  • everything else → panel:3000

This avoids CORS since the browser sees one origin. The Next.js code uses relative URLs (/api, /ws) and lets nginx do the dispatch.

WebSocket streams

The orchestrator exposes WebSocket endpoints under /ws (router in roboco/api/websocket.py, ConnectionManager + broadcast_* helpers):

Endpoint Purpose
/ws/channels/{id}, /ws/agents/{id}, /ws/sessions/{id}, /ws/notifications/{id} Per-resource live streams
/ws/system Operator/system-wide stream (no per-agent keying) — the rate-limit lifecycle (RATE_LIMIT_HIT / RATE_LIMIT_LIFTED) and live usage (USAGE_SNAPSHOT, pushed to the usage dashboard)

Server-side events reach these sockets through roboco/api/websocket_bridge.py, which subscribes to the StreamEventBus and forwards each event to the matching connections. To add a new live event: define an EventType (dotted value), publish it to the bus, add a _handle_* forwarder in websocket_bridge, and consume it on the panel via the useWebSocket("/<endpoint>", …) hook — do not stand up a parallel endpoint or client stack.

Rate limiting & usage

  • Provider rate limits are tracked in Redis (RateLimitStateTracker, roboco/services/gateway/). On a provider 429 an agent calls i_am_blocked(reason="rate_limited"); the spawn gate then queues (never drops) further work for that provider, and a background probe-and-resume loop in the orchestrator clears the limit and revives parked agents when it lifts.
  • Provider overloads reuse the same park-and-probe break. A persistent model-API overload (HTTP 529 / 500 / 503 — the SDK already retries transient ones) parks the provider exactly like a 429 instead of crash-retrying the agent straight back into the overload and burning tokens; the overload is detected orchestrator-side from the dead container's log markers, and the background loop revives the parked work when it recovers. Gated by ROBOCO_OVERLOAD_BREAK_ENABLED (default-on).
  • Token usage is captured per agent session from the Claude Code transcript via the SDK server's /usage/sync (hook → orchestrator finalize → agent_spawn_sessionsdaily_usage_rollups → dashboard). Cost uses provider-aware pricing in roboco/billing/pricing.py (Anthropic priced; local/Ollama intentionally $0). The token sweep also publishes USAGE_SNAPSHOT to /ws/system, so the dashboard's "Token Usage & Cost" panel updates live and falls back to HTTP polling when the stream is down.

Startup Sequence

The startup order is critical due to dependencies:

postgres ──┐
redis ─────┼──> ollama ──> ollama-init ──> orchestrator ──> panel ──> nginx
           │        │            │
           │        │            └── Pulls qwen3-embedding:0.6b, glm-5:cloud
           │        └── Healthcheck: ollama list
           └── Healthcheck: pg_isready, redis-cli ping

Important timing notes:

  1. ollama-init pulls models (~30s for embedding model, ~2min for LLM)
  2. Orchestrator waits for models before starting
  3. FastAPI lifespan indexes documents using Ollama (~30-60s)
  4. Orchestrator polls /health until API is ready before starting dispatcher
  5. After orchestrator is up, panel (Next.js) builds/starts, then nginx

Database migrations

Schema changes ship as Alembic migrations under alembic/versions/. Run:

docker compose exec orchestrator alembic upgrade head

after pulling any change that adds a new migration.

Ollama Configuration

Ollama provides two APIs:

  • /v1/* - OpenAI-compatible API (for LLM chat/completion)
  • /api/* - Native Ollama API (for embeddings, model management)

The embedder uses /api/embed endpoint with the qwen3-embedding:0.6b model.

Environment variables for Docker:

ROBOCO_LOCAL_LLM_BASE_URL=http://roboco-ollama:11434/v1    # OpenAI-compat
ROBOCO_OLLAMA_BASE_URL=http://roboco-ollama:11434          # Native API

Common Issues

Symptom Cause Fix
404 /api/embed Model not pulled Check docker logs roboco-ollama-init
All connection attempts failed API not ready Orchestrator starts before FastAPI lifespan completes
Healthcheck failing Wrong endpoint Use ollama list not curl

Blueprint Reference

The organizational structure, communication matrix, role descriptions, and access-control model are documented inline above and in the user-facing documentation site (MkDocs Material; source under docs/, built by mkdocs.yml, deployed by .github/workflows/docs.yml via GitHub Pages Actions and served at docs.roboco.dev). docs/rag/ remains the agent-facing RAG corpus (excluded from the published site); the old root usage.md / deployment.md are now redirect stubs into the site.