Coworkers/IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md

Coworkers Implementation Plan

Product Direction

Coworkers is a new Plan-first product. Vibe Kanban is used only as a nearby source reference for execution details, not as a subtree, submodule, vendor package, or product base.

The target product shape is:

Project
  -> Plan
      -> Plan Agent discussion
      -> Task board
          -> Task agent runs
          -> Task worktrees
          -> Task commits
      -> Plan branch runtime
      -> Final user-confirmed merge

Core rules:

• Coworkers owns its product model, UI, task board, and orchestration layer.
• Vibe Kanban is cloned outside this repository as /home/ubuntu/dh-projects/vibe-kanban only for reference.
• The MVP is network-accessible, single-tenant, shared-control, and local-execution.
• The MVP has no built-in authentication.
• All users who can access the Coworkers URL see and operate the same projects, plans, tasks, logs, and runtimes.
• All git, agent, clone, test, worktree, and merge operations run on the Coworkers host machine.
• A project binds to exactly one git repository on the Coworkers host machine.
• A project repo may be an existing local repo or a remote repo cloned onto the Coworkers host machine.

Technology Stack

Use a TypeScript monorepo for the first version:

Package manager: pnpm
Runtime: Node.js
Server: Fastify
Web: React + Vite + TanStack Router
DB: SQLite + Drizzle
Realtime: SSE
Validation: Zod
Styling: Tailwind CSS

Rationale:

• Node.js is stable for child_process, long-running agent processes, git CLI calls, file system operations, SQLite, and streaming logs.
• pnpm keeps the monorepo standard and does not block later Bun support or a Rust execution sidecar.
• Tailwind gives a fast, consistent UI system while the product model is still evolving.

Repository Layout

Planned repository structure:

Coworkers/
  apps/
    web/
    server/
  packages/
    shared/
    ui/
  README.md
  IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md
  package.json
  pnpm-workspace.yaml

Server modules:

apps/server/src/
  index.ts
  config/
  db/
  routes/
  services/
  git/
  execution/
  orchestrator/
  events/
  logs/

Important internal boundaries:

• routes/ only validates requests and calls services.
• services/ owns project, plan, task, and agent-profile application logic.
• git/ owns all git CLI calls.
• execution/ owns agent profiles, process spawning, and log streaming.
• orchestrator/ owns task state transitions, integration queue, and operation locks.
• events/ owns plan-level SSE fanout.
• logs/ owns operation, task-run, and plan-runtime logs.

Tailwind Implementation Plan

Tailwind should be introduced as the default UI styling system from the first web app skeleton.

Phase 1: Tailwind Setup

Create the web package with Vite, React, and Tailwind:

apps/web/
  index.html
  package.json
  postcss.config.js
  tailwind.config.ts
  tsconfig.json
  vite.config.ts
  src/
    main.tsx
    app.tsx
    styles.css

styles.css should define the Tailwind layers:

@tailwind base;
@tailwind components;
@tailwind utilities;

The Tailwind config should scan:

apps/web/index.html
apps/web/src/**/*.{ts,tsx}
packages/ui/src/**/*.{ts,tsx}

Phase 2: Design Tokens

Start with a small token set, not a large design system.

Recommended tokens:

Background: zinc/slate dark-neutral base
Surface: layered cards and panels
Accent: blue or violet for primary actions
Status colors: planned, running, testing, integrated, blocked, failed
Radii: xl and 2xl for cards/panels
Spacing: 4/6/8 rhythm
Font: system sans for MVP

Expose status style helpers from packages/ui:

getPlanStatusClass(status)
getTaskStatusClass(status)
getOperationStatusClass(status)

Do not overbuild tokens before the first task board is real.

Phase 3: UI Package

Create packages/ui with minimal reusable primitives:

Button
Badge
Card
Panel
Tabs
Input
Textarea
Select
StatusPill
EmptyState
SplitPane
LogViewer
TaskCard
TaskBoardColumn

Avoid abstract layout frameworks early. The Plan page is the primary product surface and should drive UI extraction.

Phase 4: App Shell

Build a network-accessible shared-control app shell:

Left rail: Projects / Settings
Top bar: current project, server status, public URL warning
Main area: route content

The shell should make it obvious that repository paths refer to the Coworkers host machine, not the browser user's machine.

Phase 5: Core Pages

Implement Tailwind pages in this order:

1. /projects
2. /projects/new
3. /projects/:projectId
4. /projects/:projectId/plans/new
5. /projects/:projectId/plans/:planId
6. /settings/agents

The Plan page layout:

Left: Plan Agent discussion
Center: Task board
Right: Plan branch, runtime, validation, merge controls
Bottom drawer: logs and diff

Task board columns:

Planned
Ready
Running
Testing
Integration Queue
Integrated
Blocked

Phase 6: Runtime UI Behavior

Use Tailwind state styling for shared operations:

• Disable buttons when an operation lock exists.
• Show operation in progress states directly on cards and panels.
• Surface conflict, validation failure, and blocked states prominently.
• Show task logs in a durable log viewer that can load historical logs and receive SSE updates.

Data Directories

Default host-machine data layout:

~/.coworkers/
  coworkers.sqlite
  projects/
  worktrees/
  logs/
    operations/
    task-runs/
    plan-runtimes/

Default clone directory:

~/.coworkers/projects

Default worktree directory:

~/.coworkers/worktrees

Plan worktree path:

~/.coworkers/worktrees/<project-id>/<plan-id>/plan

Task worktree path:

~/.coworkers/worktrees/<project-id>/<plan-id>/tasks/<task-id>

Configuration

Environment variables:

HOST=127.0.0.1
PORT=3000
PUBLIC_URL=http://localhost:3000
COWORKERS_DATA_DIR=~/.coworkers
COWORKERS_DEFAULT_CLONE_DIR=~/.coworkers/projects
COWORKERS_WORKTREE_DIR=~/.coworkers/worktrees
COWORKERS_ALLOWED_ORIGINS=

For LAN or internet access:

HOST=0.0.0.0
PUBLIC_URL=http://<server-ip>:3000

The MVP should default to HOST=127.0.0.1. Users must intentionally opt in to network exposure.

Project Creation

Support two creation modes.

Use Local Repo

The user provides a path on the Coworkers host machine.

Validation:

• Path exists.
• Path is a directory.
• git rev-parse --show-toplevel succeeds.
• The repo is not in the middle of merge, rebase, or cherry-pick.
• The selected base branch exists.
• HEAD SHA can be read.
• Remote origin can be read when available.
• Dirty status is shown before plan creation or task execution.

Ownership:

ownership = user_owned

Clone Remote Repo

The user provides a remote URL and target directory.

Defaults:

target directory = ~/.coworkers/projects
folder name = inferred from remote URL

Rules:

• Clone happens on the Coworkers host machine.
• Clone auth is handled by the host machine's git environment.
• Coworkers does not manage GitHub, GitLab, or other provider tokens in the MVP.
• Use spawn("git", ["clone", remoteUrl, targetPath]), not shell string interpolation.
• Do not overwrite an existing non-empty directory.
• Show clone operation logs.

Ownership:

clone into ~/.coworkers/projects -> coworkers_managed
clone into a user-selected external directory -> coworkers_created_external

Branch and Commit Model

Every Plan owns a dedicated plan branch:

plan/<plan-slug>

Every Task runs in an internal task branch:

plan/<plan-slug>/task-001-<task-slug>

Rules:

• The plan branch is created from the selected base branch.
• The plan worktree checks out the plan branch.
• Each task branch is created from the current plan branch.
• Each task worktree checks out its task branch.
• Agents modify files but do not commit or merge.
• Coworkers creates one system task commit after a successful task run and task test.
• Coworkers merges the task branch into the plan branch with a normal merge.
• Coworkers does not squash task commits in the MVP.
• Coworkers never merges a task branch directly into main or master.
• Users validate and optionally run the app from the plan worktree.
• Final merge is plan branch -> base branch and requires explicit user confirmation.
• The MVP does not push automatically.

Database Model

MVP tables:

projects
agent_profiles
plans
plan_messages
plan_tasks
task_runs
execution_logs
git_operations
operations
plan_events
plan_runtimes
plan_integrations

Important statuses:

Plan: draft, discussing, waiting_approval, approved, running, paused, blocked, validating, ready_to_merge, merged, cancelled, failed
Task: planned, ready, running, testing, committed, integration_queue, integrating, integrated, blocked, failed, cancelled
Operation: running, completed, failed, cancelled
Runtime: running, stopped, failed

API Surface

Projects:

GET    /api/projects
POST   /api/projects/local
POST   /api/projects/clone
GET    /api/projects/:projectId
GET    /api/projects/:projectId/status

Agent profiles:

GET    /api/agent-profiles
POST   /api/agent-profiles
PATCH  /api/agent-profiles/:profileId
DELETE /api/agent-profiles/:profileId

Plans:

GET    /api/projects/:projectId/plans
POST   /api/projects/:projectId/plans
GET    /api/plans/:planId
POST   /api/plans/:planId/messages
POST   /api/plans/:planId/generate-structured-plan
POST   /api/plans/:planId/approve
POST   /api/plans/:planId/start
POST   /api/plans/:planId/pause
POST   /api/plans/:planId/validate
POST   /api/plans/:planId/merge-to-base
GET    /api/plans/:planId/events

Tasks:

POST   /api/plans/:planId/tasks
PATCH  /api/tasks/:taskId
POST   /api/tasks/:taskId/start
POST   /api/tasks/:taskId/retry
POST   /api/tasks/:taskId/cancel
GET    /api/tasks/:taskId/logs
GET    /api/tasks/:taskId/diff

Plan runtime:

POST   /api/plans/:planId/runtime/start
POST   /api/plans/:planId/runtime/stop
POST   /api/plans/:planId/runtime/restart
GET    /api/plans/:planId/runtime/logs

Git and diff:

GET    /api/plans/:planId/diff
GET    /api/plans/:planId/branch-status

Realtime Events

Use SSE for Plan pages:

GET /api/plans/:planId/events

Events:

plan.status_changed
plan.message_added
plan.approved
plan.validation_started
plan.validation_finished
plan.runtime_started
plan.runtime_stopped
plan.ready_to_merge
plan.merged
operation.failed

Client behavior:

• Load a Plan snapshot first.
• Connect to SSE second.
• If SSE disconnects, reload the snapshot and reconnect.

Operation Locks

Because multiple users can access the same app URL, critical operations need locks even without auth.

Rules:

• One active run per task.
• One active integration queue per plan.
• One active validation per plan.
• One active final merge per plan.
• One active start/stop operation per plan runtime.
• One active setup operation per project.

Duplicate operations should return 409 Conflict with the current operation state.

Plan Agent

Plan Agent is also an agent_profile.

Plan Agent behavior:

• Discuss requirements with the user.
• Ask clarifying questions.
• Produce structured plan JSON.
• Never modify code.
• Never create commits.
• Never merge branches.

Structured plan schema:

{
  "summary": "string",
  "assumptions": ["string"],
  "risks": ["string"],
  "tasks": [
    {
      "id": "task-001",
      "title": "string",
      "description": "string",
      "acceptance_criteria": ["string"],
      "depends_on": ["task-000"],
      "file_hints": ["string"],
      "recommended_agent": "string",
      "test_command": "string"
    }
  ]
}

Structured plan output must pass Zod validation before approval.

Task Runner

Task execution flow:

1. Confirm task is runnable.
2. Create task branch from current plan branch.
3. Create task worktree.
4. Generate task prompt.
5. Start assigned agent process.
6. Stream logs to files and Plan SSE.
7. Wait for agent exit.
8. Run task test command.
9. Detect git diff.
10. Create one system task commit.
11. Queue task for plan integration.

Task prompt must tell agents:

• Implement only this task.
• Do not commit.
• Do not merge.
• Do not edit unrelated files.
• Respect the task acceptance criteria.
• Use the provided test command when relevant.

Plan Runtime and Acceptance

The plan worktree is the acceptance environment.

Users can:

• Start Preview from the plan worktree.
• Stop Preview.
• Restart Preview.
• View runtime logs.
• Run validation command.
• View plan diff against base branch.
• Confirm final merge.

Plan runtime commands run on the Coworkers host machine in the plan worktree directory.

Vibe Kanban Reference Scope

After cloning /home/ubuntu/dh-projects/vibe-kanban, use these areas as references:

crates/executors
crates/git
crates/worktree-manager
crates/workspace-manager
crates/services/src/services/execution_process.rs
crates/db/src/models/merge.rs

Use Vibe Kanban to study:

• Agent profile abstraction.
• CLI agent spawn behavior.
• Log streaming and persistence.
• Git worktree safety.
• Branch and merge error handling.
• Approval and safety boundaries.

Do not copy Vibe Kanban UI or product model into Coworkers.

Milestones

Milestone 1: Skeleton

• Clone Vibe Kanban outside this repo as reference.
• Initialize pnpm monorepo.
• Create web, server, shared, and ui packages.
• Add Tailwind to the web app.
• Add Fastify health API.
• Add SQLite/Drizzle setup.
• Add README safety and boundary notes.

Milestone 2: Project and Agent Profiles

• Implement local repo project creation.
• Implement clone remote repo project creation.
• Add repo validation.
• Add agent profile CRUD.
• Add default data directory initialization.

Milestone 3: Git Engine

• Implement safe git CLI wrapper with spawn args.
• Implement branch creation and checks.
• Implement worktree creation and cleanup.
• Implement status, diff, commit, and merge.
• Add git operation logs.

Milestone 4: Plan Foundation

• Implement plan creation.
• Create plan branch.
• Create plan worktree.
• Implement plan page layout.
• Implement Plan SSE events.
• Store Plan Agent messages.

Milestone 5: Plan Agent and Task Board

• Run Plan Agent from an agent profile.
• Validate structured plan JSON.
• Approve plan and generate tasks.
• Render task board.
• Support task editing and agent assignment.

Milestone 6: Task Execution

• Start task manually.
• Create task branch and worktree.
• Run assigned agent.
• Stream task logs.
• Run task tests.
• Create system task commit.

Milestone 7: Plan Integration

• Implement serialized plan integration queue.
• Merge task branch into plan branch.
• Handle conflicts as blocked states.
• Update plan worktree.
• Update plan branch head SHA.

Milestone 8: Plan Runtime and Validation

• Start preview from plan worktree.
• Stop preview.
• Show runtime logs.
• Run validation command.
• Show plan diff.

Milestone 9: Final Merge

• Confirm merge from plan branch to base branch.
• Perform local merge only.
• Do not push automatically.
• Record merge result and errors.

Milestone 10: Automation

• Start plan orchestration.
• Respect task dependencies.
• Add max_parallel_tasks.
• Add retry with feedback.
• Add file-hint conflict avoidance.

MVP Acceptance Criteria

The MVP is complete when:

• A user can access Coworkers in a browser.
• A user can create a Project from a local repo or cloned remote repo.
• A user can create a Plan.
• Coworkers creates a plan branch and plan worktree.
• A user can discuss with Plan Agent and approve structured tasks.
• Coworkers shows a task board.
• A user can start a task manually.
• Coworkers creates task branch and task worktree.
• An agent modifies code in the task worktree.
• Coworkers runs tests and creates a system task commit.
• Coworkers merges the task branch into the plan branch.
• A user can start the project from the plan worktree for acceptance.
• A user can run validation on the plan branch.
• A user can confirm final local merge from plan branch to base branch.
• Coworkers does not push automatically.
• Multiple browsers viewing the same Plan see the same status and logs.

Explicit Non-Goals for MVP

• Built-in authentication.
• Multi-tenant isolation.
• Per-user permissions.
• Per-user agent credentials.
• Multi-repo Plans.
• Automatic push.
• GitHub PR creation.
• Automatic conflict resolution.
• Remote workers.
• Audit logs by user identity.
• Cost accounting.
• Complex dependency graph visualization.