multica/AGENTS.md

Repository Guidelines

This file provides guidance to AI agents when working with code in this repository.

Project Context

Multica is an AI-native task management platform — like Linear, but with AI agents as first-class citizens.

• Agents can be assigned issues, create issues, comment, and change status
• Supports local (daemon) and cloud agent runtimes
• Built for 2-10 person AI-native teams

Architecture

Go backend + standalone Next.js frontend.

• server/ — Go backend (Chi router, sqlc for DB, gorilla/websocket for real-time)
• apps/web/ — Next.js 16 frontend (App Router) — self-contained, no shared package dependencies
• e2e/ — Playwright end-to-end tests
• scripts/ and root Makefile — local setup and verification

Web App Structure (apps/web/)

The frontend uses a feature-based architecture with four layers:

apps/web/
├── app/          # Routing layer (thin shells — import from features/)
├── features/     # Business logic, organized by domain
├── shared/       # Cross-feature utilities (api client, types, logger)
├── test/         # Shared test utilities and setup
├── public/       # Static assets

app/ — Next.js App Router pages. Route files should be thin: import and re-export from features/. Layout components and route-specific glue (redirects, auth guards) live here. Shared layout components (e.g. app-sidebar) stay in app/(dashboard)/_components/.

features/ — Domain modules, each with its own components, hooks, stores, and config:

Feature	Purpose	Exports
features/auth/	Authentication state	useAuthStore, AuthInitializer
features/workspace/	Workspace, members, agents	useWorkspaceStore, useActorName
features/issues/	Issue state, components, config	useIssueStore, icons, pickers, status/priority config
features/inbox/	Inbox notification state	useInboxStore
features/realtime/	WebSocket connection + sync	WSProvider, useWSEvent, useRealtimeSync
features/modals/	Modal registry and state	Modal store and components
features/skills/	Skill management	Skill components

shared/ — Code used across multiple features:

• shared/api/ — ApiClient (REST) and WSClient (WebSocket) for backend communication, plus the api singleton.
• shared/types/ — Domain types (Issue, Agent, Workspace, etc.) and WebSocket event types.
• shared/logger.ts — Logger utility.

State Management

• Zustand for global client state — one store per feature domain (features/auth/store.ts, features/workspace/store.ts, features/issues/store.ts, features/inbox/store.ts).
• React Context only for connection lifecycle (WSProvider in features/realtime/).
• Local useState for component-scoped UI state (forms, modals, filters).
• Do not use React Context for data that can be a zustand store.

Store conventions:

• One store per feature domain. Import via useAuthStore(selector) or useWorkspaceStore(selector).
• Stores must not call useRouter or any React hooks — keep navigation in components.
• Cross-store reads use useOtherStore.getState() inside actions (not hooks).
• Dependency direction: workspace → auth, realtime → auth, issues → workspace. Never reverse.

Import Aliases

Use @/ alias (maps to apps/web/):

import { api } from "@/shared/api";
import type { Issue } from "@/shared/types";
import { useAuthStore } from "@/features/auth";
import { useWorkspaceStore } from "@/features/workspace";
import { useIssueStore } from "@/features/issues";
import { useInboxStore } from "@/features/inbox";
import { useWSEvent } from "@/features/realtime";
import { StatusIcon } from "@/features/issues/components";

Within a feature, use relative imports. Between features or to shared, use @/.

Data Flow

Browser → ApiClient (shared/api) → REST API (Chi handlers) → sqlc queries → PostgreSQL
Browser ← WSClient (shared/api) ← WebSocket ← Hub.Broadcast() ← Handlers/TaskService

Backend Structure (server/)

• Entry points (cmd/): server (HTTP API), multica (CLI — daemon, agent management, config), migrate
• Handlers (internal/handler/): One file per domain (issue, comment, agent, auth, daemon, etc.). Each handler holds Queries, DB, Hub, and TaskService.
• Real-time (internal/realtime/): Hub manages WebSocket clients. Server broadcasts events; inbound WS message routing is still TODO.
• Auth (internal/auth/ + internal/middleware/): JWT (HS256). Middleware sets X-User-ID and X-User-Email headers. Login creates user on-the-fly if not found.
• Task lifecycle (internal/service/task.go): Orchestrates agent work — enqueue → claim → start → complete/fail. Syncs issue status automatically and broadcasts WS events at each transition.
• Agent SDK (pkg/agent/): Unified Backend interface for executing prompts via Claude Code or Codex. Each backend spawns its CLI and streams results via Session.Messages + Session.Result channels.
• Daemon (internal/daemon/): Local agent runtime — auto-detects available CLIs (claude, codex), registers runtimes, polls for tasks, routes by provider.
• CLI (internal/cli/): Shared helpers for the multica CLI — API client, config management, output formatting.
• Events (internal/events/): Internal event bus for decoupled communication between handlers and services.
• Logging (internal/logger/): Structured logging via slog. LOG_LEVEL env var controls level (debug, info, warn, error).
• Database: PostgreSQL with pgvector extension (pgvector/pgvector:pg17). sqlc generates Go code from SQL in pkg/db/queries/ → pkg/db/generated/. Migrations in migrations/.
• Routes (cmd/server/router.go): Public routes (auth, health, ws) + protected routes (require JWT) + daemon routes (unauthenticated, separate auth model).

Multi-tenancy

All queries filter by workspace_id. Membership checks gate access. X-Workspace-ID header routes requests to the correct workspace.

Agent Assignees

Assignees are polymorphic — can be a member or an agent. assignee_type + assignee_id on issues. Agents render with distinct styling (purple background, robot icon).

Commands

# One-click setup & run
make setup            # First-time: ensure shared DB, create app DB, migrate
make start            # Start backend + frontend together
make stop             # Stop app processes for the current checkout
make db-down          # Stop the shared PostgreSQL container

# Frontend
pnpm install
pnpm dev:web          # Next.js dev server (port 3000)
pnpm build            # Build frontend
pnpm typecheck        # TypeScript check
pnpm lint             # ESLint via Next.js
pnpm test             # TS tests (Vitest)

# Backend (Go)
make dev              # Run Go server (port 8080)
make daemon           # Run local daemon
make build            # Build server + CLI binaries to server/bin/
make cli ARGS="..."   # Run multica CLI (e.g. make cli ARGS="config")
make test             # Go tests
make sqlc             # Regenerate sqlc code after editing SQL in server/pkg/db/queries/
make migrate-up       # Run database migrations
make migrate-down     # Rollback migrations

# Run a single Go test
cd server && go test ./internal/handler/ -run TestName

# Run a single TS test
pnpm --filter @multica/web exec vitest run src/path/to/file.test.ts

# Run a single E2E test (requires backend + frontend running)
pnpm exec playwright test e2e/tests/specific-test.spec.ts

# Infrastructure
make db-up            # Start shared PostgreSQL (pgvector/pg17 image)
make db-down          # Stop shared PostgreSQL

CI Requirements

CI runs on Node 22 and Go 1.24 with a pgvector/pgvector:pg17 PostgreSQL service. See .github/workflows/ci.yml.

Worktree Support

All checkouts share one PostgreSQL container. Isolation is at the database level — each worktree gets its own DB name and unique ports via .env.worktree. Main checkouts use .env.

make worktree-env       # Generate .env.worktree with unique DB/ports
make setup-worktree     # Setup using .env.worktree
make start-worktree     # Start using .env.worktree

Coding Rules

• TypeScript strict mode is enabled; keep types explicit.
• TypeScript in apps/web uses 2-space indentation, double quotes, and semicolons.
• Prefer PascalCase for React components, camelCase for hooks and helpers, and colocated test files such as page.test.tsx.
• Go code follows standard Go conventions (gofmt, go vet). Use domain-oriented filenames like issue.go or cmd_issue.go.
• Do not hand-edit generated code in server/pkg/db/generated/.
• Keep comments in code English only.
• Prefer existing patterns/components over introducing parallel abstractions.
• Unless the user explicitly asks for backwards compatibility, do not add compatibility layers, fallback paths, dual-write logic, legacy adapters, or temporary shims.
• If a flow or API is being replaced and the product is not yet live, prefer removing the old path instead of preserving both old and new behavior.
• Treat compatibility code as a maintenance cost, not a default safety mechanism. Avoid "just in case" branches that make the codebase harder to reason about.
• Avoid broad refactors unless required by the task.

UI/UX Rules

• Prefer shadcn components over custom implementations. Install missing components via npx shadcn add.
• Feature-specific components → features/<domain>/components/ — issue icons, pickers, and other domain-bound UI live inside their feature module.
• Use shadcn design tokens for styling (e.g. bg-primary, text-muted-foreground, text-destructive). Avoid hardcoded color values (e.g. text-red-500, bg-gray-100).
• Do not introduce extra state (useState, context, reducers) unless explicitly required by the design. Prefer zustand stores for shared state over React Context.
• Pay close attention to overflow (truncate long text, scrollable containers), alignment, and spacing consistency.
• When unsure about interaction or state design, ask — the user will provide direction.

Testing Rules

• TypeScript: Vitest with Testing Library. Shared test setup lives in apps/web/test/. Mock external/third-party dependencies only.
• Go: Standard go test. Tests should create their own fixture data in a test database.
• End-to-end tests live in e2e/*.spec.ts; make check will start missing services automatically, while direct Playwright runs expect the app to already be running.
• Add or update tests whenever you change handlers, CLI commands, daemon behavior, or SQL-backed flows.

Commit & Pull Request Rules

• Use atomic commits grouped by logical intent.
• Conventional format with scopes:
  • feat(web): ..., feat(cli): ...
  • fix(web): ..., fix(cli): ...
  • refactor(daemon): ...
  • test(cli): ...
  • docs: ...
  • chore(scope): ...
• Keep PRs focused and include a short description, linked issue or PR number when relevant, screenshots for UI work, and notes for migrations, env changes, or CLI surface changes.
• Before opening a PR, run make check or the relevant frontend/backend subset.

Minimum Pre-Push Checks

make check    # Runs all checks: typecheck, unit tests, Go tests, E2E

Run verification only when the user explicitly asks for it.

For targeted checks when requested:

pnpm typecheck        # TypeScript type errors only
pnpm test             # TS unit tests only (Vitest)
make test             # Go tests only
pnpm exec playwright test   # E2E only (requires backend + frontend running)

AI Agent Verification Loop

After writing or modifying code, always run the full verification pipeline:

make check

This runs all checks in sequence:

1. TypeScript typecheck (pnpm typecheck)
2. TypeScript unit tests (pnpm test)
3. Go tests (go test ./...)
4. E2E tests (auto-starts backend + frontend if needed, runs Playwright)

Workflow:

• Write code to satisfy the requirement
• Run make check
• If any step fails, read the error output, fix the code, and re-run make check
• Repeat until all checks pass
• Only then consider the task complete

Quick iteration: If you know only TypeScript or Go is affected, run individual checks first for faster feedback, then finish with a full make check before marking work complete.

E2E Test Patterns

E2E tests should be self-contained. Use the TestApiClient fixture for data setup/teardown:

import { loginAsDefault, createTestApi } from "./helpers";
import type { TestApiClient } from "./fixtures";

let api: TestApiClient;

test.beforeEach(async ({ page }) => {
  api = await createTestApi();       // logged-in API client
  await loginAsDefault(page);        // browser session
});

test.afterEach(async () => {
  await api.cleanup();               // delete any data created during the test
});

test("example", async ({ page }) => {
  const issue = await api.createIssue("Test Issue");  // create via API
  await page.goto(`/issues/${issue.id}`);             // test via UI
  // api.cleanup() in afterEach removes the issue
});