fabric-swarm git:20261021.67e83f0A

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---
name: fabric-swarm
description: >-
  Fabric mode for N similar workers taking items from one shared pool. Use for
  one list of many near-identical items (files, tickets, pages), one worker each.
category: bdb-core
---

# `/fabric-swarm` — many similar workers, one shared pool

**When:** one list of many near-identical items (files, tickets, pages) that each fit one worker. If items depend on each other, use `fabric-graph` instead.

**Agents never invoke each other.** The dispatcher (the main session) decides every next step. Workers only return a result.

## Pool file

`production_artifacts/swarm.json`, written ONLY by the dispatcher:

```json
{ "goal": "", "worker_brief": "", "max_workers": 4,
  "items": [ { "id": "", "input": "", "status": "open|claimed|done|failed", "worker": "", "attempts": 0, "result": "" } ] }
```

- Workers never write it; they return their result to the dispatcher.
- The claim: the dispatcher marks an item `claimed` for a worker before starting it, so no item runs twice. A resumed session continues from the file.

## Width

Default 4 workers at a time, hard cap 6 (same as workstreams). Harness or user limits may lower it. Each worker is a subagent with the same `worker_brief` plus exactly one item.

## Loop

1. Fill free slots with the next `open` item (mark it `claimed`, set `worker`, bump `attempts`).
2. On a result: mark `done` with a one-line `result`.
3. On a failure: retry once (`attempts` at most 2), then mark `failed`.
4. When no item is `open` or `claimed`, run one review pass over all results (a reviewer subagent reads the results against the `worker_brief`) and report done/failed counts.

## Stop

All items `done` or `failed`, or the user stops it, or usage reaches 95 % via `stay-within-limits` (pause and keep the file).

## Safety

Workers get no push, merge or publish. A swarm run never counts as a GO. Destructive or external writes stay behind the go-gate. Models per role come from the router or `.aos/pipeline.json`, never from this skill.