---
name: using-gc
description: 'Operate Gas City through its Mayor, registry packs and native run state. Use when: the caller explicitly selects Gas City; factory completion does not replace independent judgment.'
practices: [team-topologies, design-by-contract]
hexagonal_role: driving-adapter
consumes: [explicit-packets]
produces: [gas-city-runtime-evidence]
context_rel:
- kind: partnership
  with: agent-native
skill_api_version: 1
user-invocable: true
metadata:
  tier: execution
  dependencies: []
  capabilities: [dispatch_explicit_packet, observe_gc_runtime, inspect_pack_registries, drive_mayor_door]
  effects: [operate_gas_city, configure_codex_trust]
  canonical_status: canonical
  disposition: keep_optional_adapter
output_contract: runtime evidence per supplied packet
---

# Using GC

Use Gas City only when the caller explicitly selects it. Treat it as a
replaceable execution adapter, not a correctness or completion boundary.
The adapter cannot select AgentOps semantics, issue a binding verdict, or turn factory completion into delivery or validation proof.

## Choose the factory first

AgentOps supports both Gas City and the
[Agentic Coding Flywheel](https://agent-flywheel.com) as external
software-factory runtimes. Use this skill only for Gas City. If the caller
selects the Flywheel, switch to [using-flywheel](../using-flywheel/SKILL.md)
and its native workflow instead of wrapping it in Gas City.

AgentOps supplies skills and evidence contracts to either factory. It does not
need its own Gas City formula or role pack. Install or link AgentOps skills into
the provider runtime before starting workers; the upstream Mayor, coordinator,
and workers can then discover and select `plan`, `implement`, `test`,
`validate`, and other AgentOps skills normally.

## Gas City 1.4 operating model

Gas City 1.4 is run-centered. The supervisor serves the dashboard and typed,
paginated session/run APIs. Every graph-owning city or rig scope needs its own
`core.control-dispatcher`; that deterministic worker advances formula control
beads. Agent workers claim routed work. The upstream `gc.mayor` skill is the
guided coordinator; `gc.run-operator` launches and supervises formulas.

The normal AgentOps path is:

1. Install and pin the upstream `gascity` workflow and rig-role imports.
2. Add the project as a rig, prepare its stock maintainer runtime, and make
   AgentOps skills visible to its provider sessions.
3. Create a caller-owned source intent bead and hand its id to the Mayor,
   which authors the workflow beads and dispatches the upstream `build-basic`,
   continuation, review, or implementation formula that matches the available
   artifacts.
4. Read run, session, bead, artifact, and verdict state. Completion is never
   inferred from chat or pane prose.

Prepare and qualify a rig before its first build with the shipped AgentOps
CLI (no repo checkout required):

```sh
ao gc prepare --city /path/to/city --rig /path/to/rig
ao gc check --city /path/to/city --rig /path/to/rig
```

The command verifies the exact official workflow and role pins, snapshots the
upstream validation scripts and schemas unchanged inside the rig's `.gc`
runtime, installs only small AgentOps-owned wrappers at the formula check
paths, selects an existing Python that can import PyYAML, and links the
AgentOps skills into the city and rig Codex sinks. Skills come from the
enclosing AgentOps checkout when one is present, otherwise from the installed
skills root; pass `--skills-source` to pin a different directory. It never
modifies the GC binary, cache, formulas, roles, or upstream pack. `check`
issues only native inspection commands, writes no adapter files, and fails
before model spend when that runtime contract is missing or drifted.

`prepare` also pre-seeds Codex trust for every session directory that exists
when it runs — the city and rig roots, each `.gc/agents/**` session home, and
each rig worktree root — so a Codex session in one of those directories does
not block on the interactive trust dialog. Both persisted layers are seeded in
`$CODEX_HOME/config.toml`: workspace trust (`[projects."<dir>"] trust_level =
"trusted"`), without which Codex silently reports that directory as having no
hooks at all, and per-hook trust
(`[hooks.state."<hooks.json>:<event>:<m>:<h>"] trusted_hash = "sha256:..."`),
which is what the pack's per-provider `.codex/hooks.json` would otherwise
prompt for. Hook digests are read back from Codex's own `hooks/list`, never
recomputed.

Trust is judged by value, not by the presence of a table. `prepare` appends
only entries that are missing and refuses, naming the entry, when one exists
but does not confer trust — an explicit `trust_level = "untrusted"`, a hook
Codex reports as changed since it was trusted, a recorded hook Codex still
rejects, or a hook recorded `enabled = false` (a disabled hook is not a trusted
working hook). It never overwrites an operator decision, and re-running is a
no-op. It also fails rather than continue if Codex returns an empty or
unrecognized hook list. The trust store itself is never edited in place: the
merged content is parsed in memory first, then installed with the CLI's durable
atomic writer, so no failure path can leave a partially written Codex config.

`ao gc check` verifies the same pre-seed from local state only — it runs no
Codex subprocess and writes nothing, deriving each expected hook key from the
directory's own `hooks.json` — and names the specific deficient directory or
hook using the same rule `prepare` seeds to.

**Two named limitations.**

1. **`check` cannot detect a stale hash.** Because it never asks Codex, a
   recorded `trusted_hash` that no longer matches the hook's current content
   reads as satisfied and still raises the trust dialog in a real session. Only
   `prepare` sees that — Codex reports the hook as changed and `prepare`
   refuses. A green `check` therefore means "trust is recorded", not "trust is
   fresh".
2. **Homes created after `prepare` are not covered.** Discovery is by
   filesystem marker, so the guarantee covers session directories that exist at
   `prepare` time. A session home Gas City materializes *later* still carries
   untrusted hooks on its first spawn; `prepare` names the configured agents
   that have no home yet.

The operational rule that follows from both: run `prepare`, start the city,
then run `prepare` again (it is idempotent) before dispatching.

## Preferred pack and registries

The built-in `main` registry catalogs official packs. The community registry is
optional configuration:

```sh
gc pack registry list
gc pack registry refresh
gc pack registry search --all
gc pack registry show main:gascity
gc pack registry add community https://registry.gascity.com/registry.toml
gc pack registry search --registry community --all
```

`search` reads the local registry cache; `show` reports release provenance and
exact import commands. `gc import add` declares a source/version, and `gc import
install` resolves it into `packs.lock`. Prefer an exact accepted release for
reproducible cities.

AgentOps prefers the official `gascity` build pack, the workflow family visible
in the public Maintainer City factory. The current accepted reference is
`gascity` 0.1.6 at commit
`3b3b89f2011e06d84459aa7bea1552382f13930a`:

- dashboard: `https://factory.gascity.com`;
- workflows: `build-basic`, `build-from-*`, `implement`, review, issue, and PR
  flows;
- stock rig roles: `gc.run-operator`, `gc.implementation-worker`, planners,
  reviewers, and publisher;
- scope-local formula control: `core.control-dispatcher`;
- guided coordination: the upstream `gc.mayor` skill.

Install the workflow pack at city scope and its sibling roles pack on every rig
that runs work, following the exact commands returned by
`gc pack registry show main:gascity`. Keep the stock `gc.*` namespace; do not
nest or rename the roles behind an AgentOps pack.

Work enters the city through the Mayor. The caller authors ONE source intent
bead with acceptance, then hands the Mayor its id — the Mayor decomposes,
authors the workflow beads, and dispatches. The caller never runs `gc sling`
itself; an operator-slung run bypasses the coordinator that owns retries,
re-dispatch, and tending for that workflow.

```sh
gc bd create "Add a --json flag to the export command"
gc mail send mayor -s "Build ago-XXXX" \
  -m "Decompose and launch build-basic for bead ago-XXXX with push=true open_pr=true." --notify
```

Or, in an interactive Mayor session:

```text
Use skill gc.mayor
```

Direct `gc sling` remains a debugging tool for a city with no live Mayor; a
run started that way has no coordinator and the operator inherits its tending.

AgentOps skills are tools available to those factory agents, not a replacement
workflow. Explicitly name a skill in the bead or prompt when its behavior is
required. The current upstream decomposition does not automatically propagate a
free-form `Required Skills` section from the caller-owned source bead into every
generated work item. Inspect the decomposition before implementation; put a
required skill name on the actual work item or worker prompt when its use is an
acceptance condition. Skill presence and skill invocation are different facts.

## Upgrade an existing city to 1.4

Before starting its orchestrator, run once per city:

```sh
gc doctor --fix
gc import install
gc supervisor stop --wait   # macOS when an older direct supervisor remains
gc start
```

Then confirm:

- `gc version` reports `1.4.0` from the intended path;
- `gc doctor` has no blocking failures;
- each graph-owning rig has an unsuspended `core.control-dispatcher`;
- imports and `packs.lock` resolve;
- `ao gc check` accepts the contained maintainer runtime and
  AgentOps skill links;
- on macOS, the supervisor LaunchAgent resolves to the same executable as the
  selected `gc` binary;
- old standalone-dashboard bookmarks or reverse proxies are removed.

A stale registered city may block every start. Repair that city with `gc doctor
--fix`, or explicitly unregister it if it is intentionally retired.

Retire an old HQ/canary by exact registered name or path, without stopping the
machine-wide supervisor needed by its replacement:

```sh
gc cities --json
gc stop /path/to/old-city --timeout 45s
gc unregister /path/to/old-city
gc cities --json
```

`unregister` fails rather than silently accepting an unknown target. Preserve
the city directory until its Beads state is backed up or confirmed disposable.
Create the replacement from the upstream Gas City template, install its pinned
imports, and verify it with `gc cities --json`, `gc --city <new-city> status`,
and `gc --city <new-city> doctor --json`.

## Orchestrating through the Mayor: the tending loop

After handing intent to the Mayor, the orchestrator runs five verbs. Each verb
has one owner; crossing owners is the recurring failure class this section
exists to stop.

| Verb | Owner | Surface |
|---|---|---|
| Monitor | orchestrator | `$API/runs/census` and `$API/runs/<run-id>` on a fixed cadence, plus `gc mail inbox` for Mayor replies. `failed > 0` in the census, a run in `failed`/`canceled`, or unread Mayor mail is the act signal; everything else is a tick. |
| Observe | orchestrator | On an act signal, walk the visibility layers in order — census, run detail, bead graph, session roster, pane truth — and stop at the first layer that explains. Do not start at pane truth. |
| Nudge | orchestrator, once | A `ready` bead: dispatch once to its `gc.run_target`. A routed bead with a live session: `gc session wake <run_target>` once. A second nudge on the same subject means the diagnosis is wrong — mail the Mayor instead. |
| Redirect | Mayor | Priority, scope, cancellation, or model/provider changes travel by mail with bead/run ids. The orchestrator never re-slings, edits workflow beads, or patches a live run. |
| Rework | GC first, then Mayor | Failed review findings re-enter the run through its native fix loop (`review_fix_formula`, default `fix-loop-base`); bounded gated retries are `gc converge` loops. Only a TERMINAL `failed`/`canceled` run — or a completed run whose result misses caller acceptance — goes back: mail the Mayor the run id and the failure evidence for re-decompose and relaunch. |

Rework the orchestrator performs by hand (editing a failed run's worktree,
re-slinging its formula, closing its beads) creates a second uncoordinated
author for the same intent; the Mayor's relaunch then races it.

## Stall protocol

First classify the bead.

- Still `ready`: dispatch it once to its `gc.run_target`, then stop and inspect.
- Already routed/in progress: re-slinging is a **NO-OP**. Wake its owning worker
  once:

  ```sh
  gc session wake <run_target>
  ```

Then capture the exact tmux pane named by session state and run `gc doctor`.
Never repair a city from inside that city.

Never create pack-owned sessions by hand. `gc session new` for a singleton or
scaled agent (`core.control-dispatcher`, role workers) makes a mis-scoped
session that squats the canonical name in `start-pending` and blocks the
reconciler from spawning the real one — extending the exact stall being
repaired. Session lifecycle belongs to the reconciler and demand scaling.
When the city itself needs tending (a stalled reconciler, sessions that never
leave draining, model or provider rewiring), send the request to the Mayor:

```sh
gc mail send mayor -s "<subject>" -m "<request with bead ids>" --notify
```

The upstream pack may leave a future affinity-bound step assigned to a session
that has already drain-acked. Diagnose this only from outside the city:

```sh
ao gc recover-affinity --city /path/to/city --rig /path/to/rig
```

The default is a dry run. If every listed assignment is correct, repeat with
`--apply`. The bounded repair only clears the assignee on a currently ready
formula bead whose `gc.session_affinity=require` session is no longer live. It
does not sling, retry, close, restart, or select work.

## Visibility: four layers

1. **Supervisor/run state** — `gc dashboard`, run detail, `gc status`, and
   `gc session list --json`. Run detail unifies the stage ladder, structured
   transcripts, token rate, and estimated burn rate. A roster may still report
   active while a provider is wedged.

   Programmatic run status comes from the supervisor's typed run API — the
   same data the dashboard renders. `gc status` prints the API base; neither
   `gc status --json` nor any other CLI subcommand carries run objects.

   ```sh
   API="http://127.0.0.1:<port>/v0/city/<city-name>"
   curl -s "$API/runs/<run-id>"   # {run_id, title, status, target, scope, started_at, updated_at}
   curl -s "$API/runs/census"     # {status_counts: {pending, active, waiting, canceling, completed, failed, canceled, skipped}}
   ```

   Poll run status and census for progress; a nonzero `failed` count is the
   first machine-readable failure signal. The dashboard's run page
   (`/city/<city-name>/runs/<run-id>`) is the human view of the same objects.
2. **Bead graph** — `gc bd --rig <rig> ready --json` and `show <id> --json`.
   This is workflow-state truth, but a claimed bead cannot reveal a wedged pane.
3. **Pane truth** — `tmux -L <socket> capture-pane -pt <session>`. This exposes
   trust prompts, update nags, API/DNS failures, and interactive wedges. A pane
   parked on Codex's `Do you trust the contents of this directory?` (or the
   later `Press t to trust all` hooks dialog) means that session directory was
   not pre-seeded — the workflow queues dispatches as pending with no active
   worker and reports no error. Almost always the home was created after the
   last `ao gc prepare`; re-run `prepare`, then restart that session.
   `ao gc check` names the untrusted directory or hook before you spend a
   dispatch on it. Gas City also appears to auto-answer this dialog by sending
   keys into the pane, so a wedge may clear on its own — treat that as a race
   you do not want to depend on, not as a reason to skip the pre-seed.
4. **Health machinery** — `gc doctor`, `gc order history`, storage health, and
   events. This proves metabolism, not semantic acceptance.

When layers disagree, trust the more direct observation: pane over roster for a
session wedge, bead/run state over prose for workflow completion.

`gc status` may return a partial `no_agents_running` snapshot while
`gc session list --json` shows a live Mayor or worker. Treat that as an
observability disagreement, not permission to restart. Use session and pane
truth for liveness, bead/run state for workflow progress, and Doctor for
metabolism. A supervisor with abnormal CPU, a timed-out native stop, or a
recurring hook rewrite remains an upstream operational defect; this helper
reports it but never kills or patches GC processes.

The caller-owned input bead and the generated workflow root have separate
lifecycles. A successful `build-basic` run may close its workflow root while
leaving the input bead open. Likewise, `push=false` and `open_pr=false` produce
a successful no-op publish while the approved commit remains in its source
anchor worktree. Neither state is semantic completion by itself.

## Boundaries

- GC quests, runs, attempts, stalls, cancellations, and internal close state
  stay in GC. They never become AgentOps Plan, Candidate, RPI, or verdict state.
- A GC close or completed run is not AgentOps completion. Only a fresh Validate
  context issues the semantic result or, when requested, persists `verdict.v2`.
- This skill performs no automatic selection, retry, semantic validation, Git,
  integration, closure, release, or delivery.
- The operator lane into a city is a closed set: author source intent beads,
  `gc mail` (work dispatch and city tending both go to the Mayor),
  `gc doctor [--fix]`, supervisor start/stop from outside,
  `ao gc prepare|check|recover-affinity`, and reading state. The Mayor authors
  workflow beads and dispatches; creating, scaling, or repairing pack-owned
  sessions by hand is outside the lane, and the reconciler owns session
  lifecycle.