Thrum Registration

This is an operational strategy that agents receive via .thrum/strategies/. It describes the mandatory registration process at session start and how to communicate correctly with other agents.

STOP. Register before doing any other work. Do not skip this step.

Registration Commands

thrum quickstart --name <agent-name> --role implementer --module <branch-name> --intent "What you are working on"
thrum inbox --unread
thrum sent --unread
thrum send "Starting work on <task>" --to @<coordinator-name>

Replace the placeholders with values appropriate for your session:

--role — your function: implementer, coordinator, reviewer, planner, tester
--module — the branch or area of work (e.g., the current git branch name)
--intent — a brief description of what you are doing right now

Verify registration succeeded — you must see your agent name in the output of thrum quickstart. If it fails, check that the daemon is running:

thrum daemon status

Finding Agent Names

Run thrum team to see all active agents and their names before sending any messages. Agent names look like coord_main, impl_feature_a, etc.

thrum team

@name vs @role Addressing

Default to @name. Only use @role when you intentionally want group fanout.

Run thrum team to find agent names, then send to --to @<agent_name>. This is the correct way to message a specific agent.

Address form	Behavior	Example
`--to @name`	Direct message to one specific agent (DEFAULT)	`--to @coord_main`
`--to @role`	Group fanout — ALL agents with that role receive	`--to @coordinator`
`--to @everyone`	Broadcast to all active agents	`--to @everyone`

WARNING: Sending --to @coordinator does NOT send to one coordinator — it sends to ALL agents with the coordinator role. This is almost never what you want. Use the agent name instead.

Message Listener Pattern

Spawn a background listener so you receive async notifications without polling:

thrum wait --timeout 8m --after -15s --json

Re-arm the listener every time it returns — both when messages arrive and when it times out. This keeps you reachable throughout your session.

Completion and Blocker Messages

When your work is complete:

thrum send "Completed <task>. All tasks done, tests passing." --to @<coordinator-name>

If you hit a blocker:

thrum send "Blocked on <task-id>: <description of blocker>" --to @<coordinator-name>

Inbox Management

Check your inbox at session start and periodically during work:

thrum inbox --unread        # show unread messages only
thrum sent --unread         # show sent messages still unread by someone
thrum message read --all    # mark all messages as read
thrum reply <MSG_ID> "..."  # reply to a specific message

Next Steps

Messaging — full send/receive/reply reference including scopes, mentions, threads, and group messaging
Identity System — how agent names, roles, and modules work, and how to resolve conflicts
Resume After Context Loss — what to do when you need to recover after a session ends unexpectedly
Agent Coordination — practical multi-agent patterns built on top of this registration protocol