flatmachine-manager

Stop writing FlatMachine YAML by hand. Pick a template, parameterize it, get a validated config with rollback.

Why use it

• You never touch YAML — templates are valid by construction, you just set names/agents/purpose
• Every create and update is automatically validated and versioned — rollback is one diff + duplicate away
• Catches broken Jinja templates, missing states, dead transitions, and best-practice violations before they hit runtime
• Checkpoint bloat from terminated machines is cleaned up with cull — no manual SQL

When to use

• You need a new workflow (agent loop, pipeline, writer-critic, OODA, signal-wait, worker pool)
• You're modifying an existing machine and want the change tracked
• You want to compare two versions of a config
• You need to fork a machine for experimentation
• Checkpoint DB is growing and you want to reclaim space

When NOT to use

• You're editing non-FlatMachine files
• The machine is already running inside the AgentHarness runtime with first-class tool control

Usage

./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh <action> [options]

Common options: --db <path> (registry DB, default ~/.agents/machine-manager/machine_manager.db), --json (machine-parseable output).

Examples

# Run a machine from the registry
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh start --name tagline-writer \
  --input '{"task": "write a tagline for a CLI tool"}'

# Run with a specific working directory
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh start --name my-bot \
  --input '{"task": "fix the bug"}' --working-dir /path/to/project

# Create a writer-critic machine
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh create \
  --name "tagline-writer" \
  --template writer-critic \
  --description "Generate and refine product taglines" \
  --agent "You are a creative copywriter who generates memorable taglines:writer:creative taglines:smart" \
  --agent "You score tagline clarity and memorability on a 1-10 scale:critic:score clarity and memorability:fast"

# Add a human review gate
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh update \
  --name tagline-writer \
  --op add_state \
  --param state_name=human_review \
  --param after_state=review \
  --description "Add human approval gate"

# Validate before shipping
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh validate --name tagline-writer

# Compare what changed
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh diff --name tagline-writer --v1 1 --v2 2

# Fork for experimentation
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh duplicate \
  --source tagline-writer --target tagline-writer-v2

# List, inspect, retire
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh list
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh get --name tagline-writer
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh deprecate --name tagline-writer

# Pick a model profile
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh select-model --purpose creative

# Maintenance — clean up checkpoint bloat (no LLM, direct SQL)
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh cull-stats --machine-db ./my-machine.sqlite
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh cull-trim --machine-db ./my-machine.sqlite
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh cull-purge --machine-db ./my-machine.sqlite --older-than 7

# List available tools (shows alias + current Tool ID)
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh list-tools
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh list-tools --provider cli-tools
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh list-tools --include-deprecated

# Hide/restore a tool for new machine creation
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh deprecate-tool --name bash
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh undeprecate-tool --name bash

# Health check
./skills/flatmachine-manager/run.sh doctor

Agent shorthand for create: --agent "system:name:purpose:profile" (repeatable, system required). System prompt is the first field and cannot be empty. Use --system "prompt" when the system prompt contains colons. Use --tools read,bash to limit which CLI tools are available (default: all of read, bash, write, edit).

Update operations for update --op: add_state, remove_state, update_state, add_agent, update_agent, update_context, update_setting. Params via --param key=value.

Templates: tool-loop, writer-critic, ooda-workflow, pipeline, signal-wait, distributed-worker.

Output

• Human-readable markdown by default, --json for scripting
• Non-zero exit on errors
• Validation surfaces: schema errors, Jinja issues, best-practice violations, unreachable states

How it works (brief)

1. run.sh bootstraps (applies schema.sql on first run, installs package if needed) then dispatches to Python CLI
2. start executes the machine's embedded config from the selected registry version (no temp-file ref resolution)
3. Tool registry stores immutable tool definitions keyed by Tool ID, with alias names (e.g. create_machine) pointing to the current definition
4. Cull commands operate directly on machine SQLite DBs, no LLM involved

Running the manager machine

python/src/flatmachine_manager/main.py still provides an interactive standalone manager machine for terminal use. For agent-driven workflows, use run.sh subcommands directly (and run.sh start when you want to execute a registry machine).

Cost / benefit summary

• Cost: constrained to templates and structured mutations — no freeform YAML editing
• Benefit: zero hallucination risk, automatic validation, full version history, checkpoint cleanup — configs are correct by construction