mitkox / machinist
Use Machinist to create, assign, and monitor software tasks. Use when a coding agent needs to work with Machinist, its GitHub issue workflow, intake labels, direct runs, or managed queue.
Machinist
Machinist turns a task or GitHub issue into an implemented, independently reviewed, and
checked pull request. It never merges the pull request.
Core model
- A task is one GitHub issue in the target repository, or a plain description.
- Assigning a task means starting
machinist runor queuingmachinist submit. Assign the same issue again to continue interrupted work. The
task-to-prcommand
reuses an existing branch, worktree, and pull request for the task.When
MACHINIST_RUN_IDis set, the agent is already inside a Machinist run. Follow the
assigned task and do not start or submit another run.
Create a task
Reuse a supplied issue when it is open and belongs to the current repository. Otherwise
create one issue with gh issue create. Keep it focused on one observable outcome and
preserve the user's constraints. Do not invent implementation details that the request
does not decide.
gh issue create --title "<short outcome>" --body "<problem, outcome, constraints, and acceptance evidence>"Use the issue URL returned by GitHub for every later command.
Assign a task
Use direct mode for immediate local work. Pass an absolute Git worktree path:
machinist run \
--command=task-to-pr \
--repo=/absolute/path/to/repository \
--prompt="Complete https://github.com/owner/repository/issues/123"Use managed mode when the control plane and worker are already running. Pass the logical
repository name from worker.toml:
machinist submit \
--command=task-to-pr \
--repo=repository-name \
--prompt="Complete https://github.com/owner/repository/issues/123"submit prints a job ID. Follow managed work in the local control-plane UI.
When the shared configuration defines a [triggers.github.<name>] trigger, adding its
configured input label, normally machinist:requested, delegates that issue through the
managed queue. Machinist verifies the label event and actor, admits the job durably, then
replaces the input label with machinist:queued. The label has no effect when that GitHub
trigger or its repository is not configured. machinist:requested andmachinist:queued are intake labels; they do not report progress after the job starts.
Report status
Check the run in the control-plane UI or the machinist run output, then the linked pull
request and its checks. The command finishes as completed, blocked, or failed with a short
summary.
For blocked work, fix the reported cause or answer the question, then assign the same
issue again.For completed work, hand the pull request to a person. Never merge unless that person
explicitly decides to do so.
When reporting status, include the issue URL, job ID when managed, pull request URL when
created, checks, and blocker or next human action.