CodeGrid — agent operating manual

CodeGrid runs many coding agents side by side on an infinite 2D canvas. Each pane is one process (claude, codex, gemini, cursor-agent, grok, or a shell) with its own working directory, git branch, and stable session_id. The agent bus lets any pane discover, read, and message any other pane locally.

This skill is the umbrella entry point. Two references cover the full surface:

Operating CodeGrid — the mental model (canvas / pane / workspace / agent / bus), MCP tools (list_agents, read_pane, message_agent), the control-socket JSON-RPC API (agent_list, agent_read, agent_send, open_folder, new_session, new_workspace), the codegrid:// deep-link scheme, and an operating playbook with recipes.
Agent-bus collaboration — the read → message → read protocol, identifying agents by role and session_id, orchestration patterns (delegate, review, pipeline, parallel fan-out, monitor, debate), etiquette and scope safety, loop/runaway prevention, failure recovery, and worked end-to-end examples.

When to load which reference

You're about to…	Load
Discover what's running, open a folder, spawn a session, or drive CodeGrid from outside	`using-codegrid`
Hand work to / consult / review with another agent already running in CodeGrid	`codegrid-agent-bus`
Both	Load `using-codegrid` first, then `codegrid-agent-bus`

Quickstart (inside a CodeGrid pane)

list_agents()                                  # discover panes (session_id, role, status)
read_pane(<session_id>)                        # see what they're doing — always safe
message_agent(<session_id>, "[from <you>] <self-contained request>")
… wait, then read_pane(<session_id>) for the reply.

Quickstart (from outside CodeGrid, e.g. another tool)

SOCK="$(cat ~/.codegrid/socket-path 2>/dev/null || echo ~/.codegrid/socket)"
printf '%s\n' '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"agent_list"}' | nc -U "$SOCK"

# Or deep-link the installed app:
open "codegrid://open?path=/abs/path/to/repo&type=codex"
open "codegrid://new"

Install

install the codegrid skill from https://github.com/BankrBot/skills/tree/main/codegrid

Source

Canonical source of truth lives in the CodeGrid repo under skills/ (skills/using-codegrid/SKILL.md, skills/codegrid-agent-bus/SKILL.md). This Bankr Skills provider is a published copy kept in sync.
App download + full docs: https://codegrid.app.
Token (Base): 0x6B456E66524aEC1792013eF9DFE87e3F84311ba3 — see https://codegrid.app/token.

Safety defaults an agent should respect

Read before you write. read_pane is free; never message a busy agent.
Address by session_id, never pane number — pane numbers shift.
Be explicit about scope. Other agents may be in YOLO/autonomous mode and will act on whatever you send. Say "propose only, do not edit files" when you want analysis.
One message, then wait. Multiple messages interleave into the target's input box and corrupt it.
Bound debates and don't spawn unbounded helpers. Converge and report to the user.
Stay local. Everything is same-machine IPC; there is no remote bus.

Full guidance: see the two reference files.