Kanban Orchestrator — Decomposition Playbook

Kanban Orchestrator — Decomposition Playbook

The core worker lifecycle (including the kanban_create fan-out pattern and the "decompose, don't execute" rule) is auto-injected into every kanban process via the KANBAN_GUIDANCE system-prompt block. This skill is the deeper playbook when you're an orchestrator profile whose whole job is routing.

Profiles are user-configured — not a fixed roster

Hermes setups vary widely. Some users run a single profile that does everything; some run a small fleet (docker-worker, cron-worker); some run a curated specialist team they've named themselves. There is no default specialist roster — the orchestrator skill does not know what profiles exist on this machine.

Before fanning out, you must ground the decomposition in the profiles that actually exist. The dispatcher silently fails to spawn unknown assignee names — it doesn't autocorrect, doesn't suggest, doesn't fall back. So a card assigned to researcher on a setup that only has docker-worker just sits in ready forever.

Step 0: discover available profiles before planning.

Use one of these:

• hermes profile list — prints the table of profiles configured on this machine. Run it through your terminal tool if you have one; otherwise ask the user.
• kanban_list(assignee="<some-name>") — sanity-check a single name. Returns an empty list (rather than an error) for an unknown assignee, so this only confirms a name you're already considering.
• Just ask the user. "What profiles do you have set up?" is a fine first turn when the goal needs more than one specialist.

Cache the result in your working memory for the rest of the conversation. Re-asking every turn wastes a tool call.

When to use the board (vs. just doing the work)

Create Kanban tasks when any of these are true:

1. Multiple specialists are needed. Research + analysis + writing is three profiles.
2. The work should survive a crash or restart. Long-running, recurring, or important.
3. The user might want to interject. Human-in-the-loop at any step.
4. Multiple subtasks can run in parallel. Fan-out for speed.
5. Review / iteration is expected. A reviewer profile loops on drafter output.
6. The audit trail matters. Board rows persist in SQLite forever.

If none of those apply — it's a small one-shot reasoning task — use delegate_task instead or answer the user directly.

The anti-temptation rules

Your job description says "route, don't execute." The rules that enforce that:

• Do not execute the work yourself. Your restricted toolset usually doesn't even include terminal/file/code/web for implementation. If you find yourself "just fixing this quickly" — stop and create a task for the right specialist.
• For any concrete task, create a Kanban task and assign it. Every single time.
• Split multi-lane requests before creating cards. A user prompt can contain several independent workstreams. Extract those lanes first, then create one card per lane instead of bundling unrelated work into a single implementer card.