firstmate
Agent distro where one 'first mate' agent runs a crew of coding agents; can optionally use Jev to match task briefs to dispatch rules.
Overview
firstmate is an agent distro: a portable directory of instructions, skills, tooling, policies and state conventions that turns a general-purpose terminal coding agent into a crew manager. You talk to one agent, the first mate, which spawns autonomous agents in visible tmux, Herdr or experimental Zellij, cmux or Orca sessions, gives each a clean git worktree, supervises them to completion and hands back finished PRs, approved local merges or investigation reports. Larger fleets can use persistent secondmates on the same machine or over SSH.
There is no app to install; the cloned repository is the distro. According to the list summary, firstmate can optionally use Jev to match task briefs to dispatch rules before local policy chooses an agent configuration. The README excerpt reviewed does not describe this option.
What the decision model decides
| Type | Question | Answers |
|---|---|---|
| Choice | Which dispatch rule matches this task brief?(inferred) | — |
How it works
- Give the first mate a task brief
- Optionally Jev matches the brief to dispatch rules
- Local policy picks an agent configuration and spawns a crewmate
- First mate supervises and reports outcomes
Strengths
- Parallel agents with isolated worktrees
- Visible, steerable crew sessions
- Jev matching optional
Caveats
- Jev option not described in the README
- Requires terminal multiplexer setup
Getting started
Clone the repository and launch a supported coding agent inside it to start your first mate.At a glance
- Type
- Project
- Status
- beta
- Language
- Markdown + shell
- Runtime
- agent distro (terminal coding agents)
- Has code
- yes
- License
- MIT
Use cases and integrations
How curated lists describe it
Firstmate can optionally use Jev to match task briefs to dispatch rules before local policy chooses an Agent configuration.
logicrw/awesome-jev-projects
Frequently asked questions
What is an agent distro?
A portable directory of instructions, skills and policies that specialises a general coding agent.
Where does Jev fit?
Optionally matching task briefs to dispatch rules, per the listing.
Is there an app to install?
No, the cloned repository is the distro.
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