Multi Agent Locks

Follow this protocol exactly.

Requirement policy

Decide requirement status before first edit.

Detection commands:

• Branch: git -C <repo> branch --show-current
• Git dir: git -C <repo> rev-parse --absolute-git-dir
• Linked worktree: git dir path contains /.git/worktrees/

If repo policy is stricter than this table, follow repo policy.

Required workflow

1. Map candidate files before the first edit.
2. Acquire locks for mapped files.
3. Continue only with acquired files.
4. Skip locked files and keep making progress on unlocked files.
5. Heartbeat while edits are in progress.
6. Release all held locks on normal completion and on EXIT/INT/TERM.

Lock defaults

• Lock mode: hard
• Conflict behavior: skip locked files
• Scope: file-level only
• Lease TTL: 180 seconds
• Heartbeat cadence: 30 seconds
• Owner format: <agent-name>:<pid>:<session-id>
• Force unlock: unsupported

Bundled CLI

Use scripts/multi_agent_locks.mjs. Default to npm execution from the skill directory (skills/multi-agent-locks):

• npm run locks -- <command> [options]

The SQLite database path is hardcoded to:

• assets/multi_agent_locks.db (relative to this skill directory)

Commands

• acquire --owner <owner> [--task-id <id>] [--repo-root <path>] [--ttl 180] <file...>
• heartbeat --owner <owner> [--ttl 180] <file...>
• release --owner <owner> <file...>
• status [file...]

Pass --json when command output needs to be parsed by automation.

Minimal shell pattern

OWNER="codex:$$:${SESSION_ID}"

cleanup() {
  npm run locks -- release --owner "$OWNER" -- "${LOCKED_FILES[@]}"
}
trap cleanup EXIT INT TERM

# Acquire, then continue only with returned acquired files.
npm run locks -- acquire --owner "$OWNER" --json -- path/a.ts path/b.ts

Behavioral requirements

• Use normalized absolute realpaths as lock keys.
• Treat expired leases as reclaimable during acquire.
• Keep lock ownership strict: only the owner may heartbeat or release its locks.