@aoagents/ao-core

@aoagents/ao-core

Core services, types, and configuration for the Agent Orchestrator system.

What's Here

• src/types.ts — All TypeScript interfaces (Runtime, Agent, Workspace, Tracker, SCM, Notifier, Terminal, Session, events)
• src/services/ — Core services (SessionManager, LifecycleManager, PluginRegistry)
• src/config.ts — Configuration loading + Zod schemas
• src/utils/ — Shared utilities (shell escaping, metadata parsing, etc.)

Key Files

src/types.ts — The Source of Truth

Every interface the system uses is defined here. If you're working on any part of the orchestrator, start by reading this file.

Main interfaces:

• Runtime — where sessions execute (tmux on Unix, process / ConPTY via node-pty on Windows, docker, k8s)
• Agent — AI coding tool adapter (claude-code, codex, aider)
• Workspace — code isolation (worktree, clone)
• Tracker — issue tracking (GitHub Issues, Linear)
• SCM — PR/CI/reviews (GitHub, GitLab)
• Notifier — push notifications (desktop, Slack, webhook)
• Terminal — human interaction UI (iTerm2, web)
• Session — running agent instance (state, metadata, handles)
• OrchestratorEvent — events emitted by lifecycle manager
• PluginModule — what every plugin exports

src/services/session-manager.ts — Session CRUD

Handles session lifecycle:

• spawn(config) — create new session (workspace + runtime + agent)
• list(projectId?) — list all sessions
• get(sessionId) — get session details
• kill(sessionId) — terminate session
• cleanup(projectId?) — kill completed/merged sessions
• send(sessionId, message) — send message to agent

Data flow in spawn():

• Load project config
• Validate issue exists via Tracker.getIssue() (if issueId provided, fails-fast if not found)
• Reserve session ID
• Determine branch name
• Create workspace via Workspace.create()
• Generate prompt via Tracker.generatePrompt()
• Build layered worker prompt via buildPrompt() into systemPrompt + taskPrompt
• Persist systemPromptFile for the session and, for OpenCode workers, write OPENCODE_CONFIG
• Build launch command via Agent.getLaunchCommand()
• Create runtime session via Runtime.create()
• Run Agent.postLaunchSetup() (optional)
• Write metadata file
• Return Session object

Note: If issue validation fails (not found, auth error), spawn fails before creating any resources (no workspace, no runtime, no session ID). This prevents spawning sessions with broken issue references. Worker sessions keep persistent instructions in the prompt file. OpenCode workers consume that file through OPENCODE_CONFIG, while OpenCode orchestrators continue to project their system prompt into workspace AGENTS.md.

src/services/lifecycle-manager.ts — State Machine + Reactions

Polls sessions, detects state changes, triggers reactions:

State machine:

spawning → working → pr_open → ci_failed/review_pending/approved → mergeable → merged

Reactions:

• ci-failed → send fix prompt to agent
• changes-requested → send review comments to agent
• approved-and-green → notify human (or auto-merge)
• agent-stuck → notify human

Polling loop:

• For each session: check agent activity state (Agent.getActivityState())
• If PR exists: check CI status (SCM.getCISummary()), review state (SCM.getReviewDecision())
• Update session status based on state
• Trigger reactions if state changed
• Emit events

src/services/plugin-registry.ts — Plugin Discovery + Loading

Loads plugins and provides access to them:

• register(plugin, config?) — register a plugin instance
• get<T>(slot, name) — get plugin by slot + name
• list(slot) — list all plugins for a slot
• loadBuiltins(config?) — load built-in plugins (runtime-tmux, agent-claude-code, etc.)
• loadFromConfig(config) — load built-ins today; external plugin descriptors are the marketplace extension point

Built-in plugins (loaded by default):

• runtime-tmux, runtime-process
• agent-claude-code, agent-codex, agent-aider, agent-cursor, agent-kimicode, agent-opencode
• workspace-worktree, workspace-clone
• tracker-github, tracker-linear, tracker-gitlab
• scm-github, scm-gitlab
• notifier-desktop, notifier-discord, notifier-slack, notifier-composio, notifier-openclaw, notifier-webhook
• terminal-iterm2, terminal-web

src/config.ts — Configuration Loading

Loads and validates agent-orchestrator.yaml:

Main config sections:

• Runtime data paths are auto-derived from the config location under ~/.agent-orchestrator/{hash}-{projectId}/
• port — web dashboard port (default 3000, set different values for multiple projects)
• terminalPort — terminal WebSocket port (auto-detected if not set)
• directTerminalPort — direct terminal WebSocket port (auto-detected if not set)
• defaults — default plugins (runtime, agent, workspace, notifiers)
• plugins — installer-managed external plugin descriptors (registry, npm, or local)
• projects — per-project config (repo, path, branch, symlinks, reactions, agentRules)
• notifiers — notification channel config (Slack webhooks, etc.)
• notificationRouting — which notifiers get which priority events
• reactions — auto-response config (ci-failed, changes-requested, approved-and-green, etc.)

Zod schemas validate all config at load time.

Common Tasks

Adding a Field to Session

• Edit src/types.ts → Session interface
• Edit src/services/session-manager.ts → initialize field in spawn()
• Rebuild: pnpm --filter @aoagents/ao-core build

Adding an Event Type

• Edit src/types.ts → EventType union
• Emit the event: eventEmitter.emit() in relevant service
• Add reaction handler (optional): src/services/lifecycle-manager.ts

Adding a Reaction

• Edit src/services/lifecycle-manager.ts → add handler function
• Wire it up in the polling loop
• Add config schema in src/config.ts if new reaction type

Feedback Tools (v1)

@aoagents/ao-core exports two structured feedback tool contracts:

• bug_report
• improvement_suggestion

Both share the same required input fields:

• title
• body
• evidence (array of strings)
• session
• source
• confidence (0..1)

Example:

import { FEEDBACK_TOOL_NAMES, FeedbackReportStore, getFeedbackReportsDir } from "@aoagents/ao-core";

const reportsDir = getFeedbackReportsDir(configPath, projectPath);
const store = new FeedbackReportStore(reportsDir);

const saved = store.persist(FEEDBACK_TOOL_NAMES.BUG_REPORT, {
  title: "SSO login loop",
  body: "Google SSO redirects back to /login repeatedly.",
  evidence: ["trace_id=abc123", "screenshot: login-loop.png"],
  session: "ao-22",
  source: "agent",
  confidence: 0.84,
});

Storage format:

• Reports are persisted under ~/.agent-orchestrator/{hash}-{projectId}/feedback-reports
• Each report is a typed key=value file (report_<timestamp>_<id>.kv) for easy inspection
• A deterministic dedupe key (sha256, 16 hex chars) is generated from normalized tool+content

Migration notes:

• No migration needed for existing AO installs
• The feedback-reports directory is created lazily on first persisted report

Testing

# Run all core tests
pnpm --filter @aoagents/ao-core test

# Run in watch mode
pnpm --filter @aoagents/ao-core test -- --watch

# Run specific test
pnpm --filter @aoagents/ao-core test -- session-manager.test.ts

Tests are in src/__tests__/:

• session-manager.test.ts — session CRUD, spawn, cleanup
• lifecycle-manager.test.ts — state machine, reactions
• plugin-registry.test.ts — plugin loading, resolution
• tmux.test.ts — tmux utility functions (not a plugin test)
• prompt-builder.test.ts — prompt generation utilities

Building

# Build core
pnpm --filter @aoagents/ao-core build

# Typecheck
pnpm --filter @aoagents/ao-core typecheck

This package is a dependency of all other packages. Build it first if working on the codebase.

Architecture Notes

Why flat metadata files?

• Debuggability: cat ~/.agent-orchestrator/<hash>-my-app/sessions/app-3 shows full state
• No database dependency (survives crashes, easy to inspect)
• Backwards-compatible with bash script orchestrator

Why polling instead of webhooks?

• Simpler (no webhook setup, no ngrok for local dev)
• Works offline (CI/review state is fetched, not pushed)
• Survives orchestrator restarts (no missed events)

Why plugin slots?

• Swappability: use tmux on Linux/macOS, process (ConPTY) on Windows, docker in CI, k8s in prod — same agent/workspace stack across all of them
• Testability: mock plugins for tests
• Extensibility: users can add custom plugins (e.g., company-specific notifier)