Multi Agent

---
title: "Orchestration: MCP & skill"
description: Register warden as an MCP server so an orchestrator agent can manage the fleet, and install the /warden skill.
---

`warden daemon mcp` is a stdio MCP server so an orchestrator agent session (e.g. Claude) can manage the fleet through tool calls.

## Register the MCP server

Register `warden daemon mcp` as an MCP server in your orchestrator agent's MCP config. For a Claude Code orchestrator that's `~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json` or the project-level `.claude/mcp.json`; other MCP-capable agents use their own config path:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "warden": {
      "command": "warden",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "WARDEN_ADDR": "127.0.0.1:8765"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

## Tools exposed

| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| `list_agents` / `get_agent` | List agents / full detail for one |
| `spawn_agent` | Spawn (prompt mode or `type`+`repo`; `supervised` opt-in); `kind` arg for a session kind (e.g. `kind:"terminal"` = a plain shell) |
| `adopt_agent` | Register an existing Claude session |
| `send_to_agent` / `get_agent_output` / `digest` | Type into / read recent output / catch-up summary of an agent |
| `stop_agent` | Umbrella teardown (default: terminate + clear record + remove worktree; `keep_record`/`keep_worktree` subtract, `hard`/`pr`/`force` modifiers) |
| `terminate_agent` / `restore_agent` | Stop (reversible) / resume an agent |
| `recover_agents` | Recover archived agent records whose tmux session is still alive (tombstone-reaper safety net; `apply:false` reports candidates only) |
| `delete_agent` / `remove_worktree` | Clear record / remove worktree (guarded) |
| `list_worktrees` / `prune_worktrees` | List / reconcile a repo's worktrees |
| `handoff_agent` / `rotate_agent` | Hand off work — delegate to new/`to` existing agent, or `retire`→successor in place; `rotate_agent` is an alias for `handoff_agent {retire:true}` |
| `fork_agent` | Fork an agent's recorded session into a new managed agent (branches the conversation; Codex-only; source keeps running) — wraps `spawn_agent` with `fork_from` set, mirrors `wd agent fork` |
| `ctx_set` / `ctx_get` / `ctx_list` | Shared-context blackboard |
| `ctx_cas` / `ctx_append` | Compare-and-set / append-to-list context writes (lock-free coordination) |
| `send_message` / `read_inbox` / `wait_for_message` | Directed messaging, incl. a blocking long-poll wait |
| `list_approvals` / `approve` | List / answer pending tool-permission prompts |
| `set_auto_approve` / `set_auto_approve_policy` | Per-agent auto-approve toggle / manage the allow-deny rule policy (tool/glob/regex/paths, per-agent overrides) |
| `set_permission_mode` | Change an agent's permission mode |
| `commit` / `push` / `sync` / `check` | The git + check lifecycle on an agent's branch (warden rails) |
| `get_collaboration_status` / `who_is_editing_file` | See which agents are editing the same files |
| `get_branch_status` | Per-agent CI status + standing vs `origin/main` (the branch monitor, read-only) |
| `create_pipeline` / `validate_pipeline` / `list_pipeline_templates` | Author / locally validate / list templates for a DAG pipeline |
| `start_pipeline` / `pause_pipeline` / `resume_pipeline` / `cancel_pipeline` | Run / pause / resume / cancel a pipeline |
| `show_pipeline` / `list_pipelines` / `delete_pipeline` | Inspect / list / delete pipelines |
| `retry_pipeline_job` / `edit_pipeline_job` / `emit_pipeline_output` | Per-job retry / edit a pending job / set handoff output |
| `list_schedules` / `get_schedule` / `create_schedule` / `enable_schedule` / `disable_schedule` / `delete_schedule` | List / get / create / enable / disable / delete the daemon's cron/at schedules (403 when disabled) |
| `snapshot_create` / `snapshot_list` / `snapshot_restore` | Worktree + transcript checkpoints and rollback |
| `insights` / `savings` / `spend` | History-mined patterns / the token-savings ledger / the $ spend rollup |
| `get_metrics` / `get_pressure` | Live/historical resource metrics / memory-pressure gate verdict |
| `search` / `history` / `audit_log` | Full-text search / archived agents / the action audit trail |
| `set_force_compact` | Interrupt→`/compact`→resume a context-critical busy agent |
| `library_list` | Browse presets + prompt templates + pipeline templates (one umbrella) |
| `export_sessions` / `import_sessions` / `list_plugins` | Serialize / load session metadata / list registered plugins |

> **Full parity (76 tools):** every fleet/data feature warden's CLI has is also an MCP tool — including all pipeline verbs (`pause`/`resume`/`retry`/`edit-job`/`emit`/`delete`/`validate`), scheduling, `rotate`/`handoff`, `fork`, and agent roles (`set_role`/`list_roles` + `spawn_agent`'s `role` param). The only CLI-only verbs are host/process/interactive/secret ones (`daemon`, `config`, `token`, `attach`, `repl`) plus the worktree-local `review`/`models` superpowers; see the [feature catalog](/warden/reference/features/).

Example orchestrator prompts:

- *"What is PROJ-350 doing?"* → `get_agent`
- *"Tell PROJ-343 to run the tests"* → `send_to_agent`
- *"List all my agents"* → `list_agents`
- *"Spin up an agent to research SSE reconnection"* → `spawn_agent` with a `prompt` (auto-typed)
- *"Spawn a debug-ci agent in /path/to/repo"* → `spawn_agent` with `type`+`repo`
- *"Stop PROJ-350"* → `terminate_agent` (reversible); "clear its record too" → `delete_agent`; *"tear PROJ-350 down completely"* → `stop_agent` (default: terminate + clear record + remove worktree)
- *"Kick off the analyze-implement-review pipeline on /path/to/repo"* → `create_pipeline` (template) + `start_pipeline`
- *"Commit and push agent-4f2a's branch"* → `commit` then `push`; *"is anyone else editing auth.go?"* → `who_is_editing_file`

> Prefer natural language over tool calls? `warden backend repl` is a local-LLM conductor REPL that drives these same operations from plain English without an orchestrator agent session — see [Interactive REPL](/warden/multi-agent/repl/).

## The `/warden` Claude skill

A packaged Claude Code skill teaches a Claude orchestrator session *how and when* to manage the fleet (triage, create-from-prompt, relay "tell X to do Y", terminate-with-confirmation, daemon-down handling, self-rotation). It drives the MCP tools, falling back to the `warden` CLI when the MCP server isn't registered. (Other MCP-capable orchestrators drive the same tools directly without the skill.)

```sh
make install-skill   # symlinks skills/warden into ~/.claude/skills/warden
```

With the MCP server registered (above) and the skill installed, just talk to a Claude session: *"list my agents"*, *"spin up an agent to research X"*, *"what is agent-4f2a doing?"*, *"tell agent-4f2a to run the tests"*, *"kill the idle ones"* — it drives the MCP tools (falling back to the `warden` CLI if the MCP server isn't registered). The daemon must be running.