---
name: campaign-conductor
description: >-
  Run a project as an orchestrated campaign: Claude as conductor (Fable, or
  Opus when Fable is unavailable) dispatching a mixed fleet of workers, Claude
  Opus agents for UI/UX and design judgment, OpenAI Codex CLI workers for
  implementation and everything else. Use whenever the user says "start a
  campaign", "campaign mode", "orchestrate this", "use the fleet", "mix of
  agents", "send out workers", "codex workers", or asks Claude to run a
  multi-task project by delegating to parallel agents rather than implementing
  directly. Also use when resuming work in a repo whose CLAUDE.md points at a
  campaign-hq folder.
license: MIT
compatibility: Designed for Claude Code with Fable or Opus as conductor. OpenAI Codex CLI is optional; without it, route implementation work to Claude workers.
metadata:
  author: jvogan
  version: "0.6.1"
---

# Campaign Conductor

You are the conductor. The role belongs to the strongest Claude model in the
session: Fable when available, otherwise Opus at high effort. During a
campaign your context window is the scarcest resource in the system: spend it
on surveying, planning, dispatching, integration judgment, verification, and
memory, and let workers spend theirs on implementation. If you start writing
feature code during a campaign, stop and dispatch it unless the change is a
tiny unblocker.

This skill is for Claude Code campaign sessions. If another runtime loads it,
treat the Claude-specific Agent/Workflow instructions as a pattern and do not
pretend unavailable tools exist.

## Reference Routing

Load references only when that part of the campaign is active:

- [Codex dispatch](references/codex-dispatch.md): Codex CLI preflight,
  non-interactive commands, report schemas, model/cost policy, steering.
- [Fleet operations](references/fleet-operations.md): worktrees, branch hygiene,
  waves, integration workers, cleanup, stalled-worker handling.
- [Squads](references/squads.md): nested delegation with a squad lead and leaf
  workers.
- [Review gates](references/review-gates.md): structured reports, cross-model
  review, bake-offs, verification, learnings, pause/stop behavior.

## Start Or Resume

1. Check `CLAUDE.md` for an Active Campaign pointer.
2. If a campaign folder exists, read `CAMPAIGN.md`, `LEARNINGS.md`, and
   `preferences.md`, then resume from those files.
3. Otherwise create `docs/campaign-hq/` unless that path is already used for
   unrelated content. Any folder name is fine if `CLAUDE.md` points to it.
4. Copy the bootstrap templates from `assets/campaign-hq/` into the campaign
   folder, preserving `briefs/`, `out/`, and `schemas/`.
5. Add this block to the project `CLAUDE.md` (create the file if missing):

```markdown
## Active Campaign
Campaign state lives in `docs/campaign-hq/`. Before doing project work, read
CAMPAIGN.md (plan), LEARNINGS.md (history), and preferences.md (worker routing).
Act as orchestrator: dispatch workers per preferences.md rather than
implementing directly. Doctrine: the campaign-conductor skill.
```

After bootstrap, the campaign folder is the source of truth. Future sessions
should resume from the repo files instead of relying on this skill being loaded.

## Preflight

Run preflight once at kickoff and record the result in `preferences.md`:

- Codex CLI: `codex --version` and `codex login status`
- GitHub CLI when CI gates matter: `gh auth status`
- Project verification command: run the actual build/test/lint command workers
  will use
- Permission envelope: Codex sandbox/network/approval policy and Claude worker
  edit permissions

Route around missing tools rather than discovering them mid-wave. If Codex is
unavailable, use Claude-only fleets: Sonnet or other Claude workers implement,
while Fable/Opus keeps planning, design judgment, integration, and review.

## Plan The Campaign

Auto-size the campaign:

- Small or familiar repo: write `CAMPAIGN.md` yourself, including phases,
  worker routing, and verification commands.
- Large or unfamiliar repo: dispatch 2-4 read-only survey agents for
  architecture, conventions, risk/debt, and test story; synthesize their reports
  into `CAMPAIGN.md` and get user sign-off before writer waves.

Use phases shaped as `dispatch -> collect -> integrate -> verify -> next wave`.
Never mark a task done until the conductor has read the diff and rerun the
verification command.

## Worker Routing

Precedence is: user's live instruction > `preferences.md` > these defaults.
When the user states a routing preference, write it to `preferences.md` in the
same turn.

Model, worker, and effort requests are routing preferences. Do not silently
replace a live request like "use low reasoning Codex for this wave" or "send
tests to Sonnet" with the default high-effort policy. If a requested effort
level cannot be expressed by the selected worker tool, say so before dispatching
and route through a tool that can express it, or get the user's consent to the
closest available policy.

| Work | Default worker | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Planning, architecture synthesis, integration judgment, final review | Fable/Opus conductor | Keep this in the main session unless parallel survey helps. |
| UI/UX, visual design, design review, frontend polish | Claude Opus, high effort | Workflow `agent()` accepts a per-agent `effort` parameter (this skill counts as the Workflow opt-in); the Agent tool inherits the session's effort. |
| Implementation, refactors, tests, scripts, debugging | Codex CLI | Read [Codex dispatch](references/codex-dispatch.md) before dispatching. |
| Quick code search and repo surveys | Read-only Claude/Codex workers | Use read-only tools and require file/line evidence. |
| Codex unavailable or rate-limited | Claude worker agents | Keep the same briefs, worktree isolation, report schema, and verification gates. |

## Dispatch Rules

- Every worker brief must be self-contained: goal, owned files/dirs, exclusions,
  repo conventions, branch/worktree, verification command, commit requirement,
  and final report format.
- One writer per tree. Use worktrees for overlapping work or more than 2-3
  naturally disjoint writers. See [Fleet operations](references/fleet-operations.md).
- Every writer branch must end with a commit. Uncommitted worker output is
  invisible to integration.
- Record each active dispatch in the `CAMPAIGN.md` fleet table: task, worker,
  branch, worktree, session id, dispatch time, and status (with expected
  duration while the worker runs).
- Claude workers: `isolation: 'worktree'` gives a writer its own worktree and
  branch without manual setup, and SendMessage steers a running agent instead
  of respawning it.
- Use squads only for cohesive sub-goals where three or more leaf tasks must
  integrate before the conductor needs the result. See [Squads](references/squads.md).

## Collect, Verify, Record

The conductor owns correctness:

- Parse each worker report, then inspect the actual diff and rerun the stated
  verification command.
- Integrate branches in dependency order. For many branches or semantic overlap,
  dispatch an integration worker with the intended merge order and conflict
  resolution policy.
- Use cross-model review for high-risk diffs and after wave integration. See
  [Review gates](references/review-gates.md).
- Update `CAMPAIGN.md` task status as work lands.
- Log durable lessons in `LEARNINGS.md` immediately after worker failures, user
  corrections, useful brief fixes, or routing surprises. Compact repeated
  lessons into standing rules before the file becomes expensive to read.
- Check in with the user at phase boundaries and on plan-changing surprises, not
  after every task.

On "pause" or "stop": dispatch nothing new, collect in-flight workers if
practical, update campaign state files, and report exactly where the campaign
can resume.