Claude Colony is a powerful orchestration system designed for managing multiple AI agents within a tmux environment, specifically tailored for collaborative software development using Claude Code. This framework allows teams of AI agents to communicate and collaborate seamlessly on complex tasks, enhancing productivity and efficiency in development settings.

Key Features

• Multi-Agent Collaboration: Leverages Claude Code's native agent system located in the .claude/agents/ directory, enabling the creation and management of customized agents with distinct roles and specialties.
• Visual Workflow Management: Agents are organized visually in a tmux session layout, providing clear oversight of active participants in a project.

┌─────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│                     │      Specialist Agent 1     │
│                     ├─────────────────────────────┤
│   Manager Agent     │      Specialist Agent 2     │
│      (40%)          ├─────────────────────────────┤
│                     │      Specialist Agent 3     │
│                     ├─────────────────────────────┤
│                     │   Shared Context (10%)      │
└─────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘

Quick Start Guide

Setting up a collaborative AI environment is straightforward:

# Initialize the colony in your project
colony init

# Start a colony with a preset configuration
colony start --preset fullstack

# Check the status of the colony
colony status

# Stop the active colony session
colony stop

Agent and Preset Management

Claude Colony supports built-in presets tailored for various development needs, including:

To view available presets or start with a specific one:

# List available presets
colony presets

# Start with a specific preset
colony start --preset fullstack

Custom Agent Creation

Creating agents enhances the adaptability of the system. Agents can be defined directly in .claude/agents/ as markdown files:

<!-- .claude/agents/api-designer.md -->
---
name: api-designer
description: REST API design specialist
model: sonnet
---

# API Designer
You are an API design specialist focused on RESTful best practices...

Communication Protocol

Agents interact through a file-based message broker with a straightforward communication protocol, utilizing @mentions for task assignments and team updates:

@frontend: Build the login form with validation
@backend: Create the /auth/login endpoint
@all: Team standup in 5 minutes
@manager: I'm blocked on the API schema

System Requirements

• Node.js: Version 18 or higher
• tmux: Installed and configured
• Claude Code CLI: Ensure that the Claude Code CLI is available (use claude) for interaction.

With Claude Colony, software development is optimized through structured communication and collaboration among AI agents, streamlining workflows in a tmux environment.