#Coding agents

Select a member backend through the CLI’s --coding-agent choices. Mixed-backend members share the same broker contracts. The value is recorded in the placement's coding_agent column.

Plain cafleet setup installs assets for every supported backend in one run; --coding-agent narrows the selection — see CLI options § cafleet setup.

The flag means slightly different things per command:

• cafleet fleet create --coding-agent is required, operator-declared metadata — cafleet does not spawn the root Director's process and cannot auto-detect what is already running in the calling pane, so the operator states the backend the Director is actually running on.
• cafleet member create --coding-agent both selects which backend is spawned and is recorded as placement metadata. When the flag is omitted, the member inherits the spawning Director's placement backend (an explicit value still wins).

Each backend is spawned with flags that enable shell commands with no runtime permission prompts, and with its broker commands already allowed: a claude member needs no user-level allow rule to send, poll, or ACK. The per-backend spawn argv, shell-command posture, and sandbox trade-offs are specified in Coding-agent backends § Spawn argv.

#cafleet usage from a member pane

The cafleet CLI works unchanged from any backend pane. Identity reaches a member through its spawn prompt: cafleet member create renders four identity placeholders to literals, so the member reads its ids as plain text lines (e.g. FLEET ID: 1, YOUR MEMBER ID: 4) and passes them explicitly on every command. Each placeholder and its label line is in CLI options § Spawn-prompt substitution. The only environment variable forwarded into the pane is CAFLEET_DATABASE_URL. Each backend honors a leading-! shell shortcut on the coding agent's input line, including opencode mini; backend-specific permission limits are in Coding-agent backends. cafleet member exec submits a visible native command Escape-first; a member routes a command its harness does not run through the Director — see Command routing. For the full broker CLI reference, see CLI options.

#One-shot command isolation

Run every one-shot cafleet command as the only command of its shell-tool invocation, and run a sequence of CAFleet operations as separate shell-tool calls. This rule is backend-neutral and applies identically to claude, codex, and opencode panes.

Keep each actual process explicit for the host's permission rules. Submit commands separated by a newline, ;, &&, a pipe or shell & as individual invocations. Opencode's permission matching for compound shell lines is unverified; its permission limits apply alongside command isolation.

Leading NAME=value environment assignments immediately preceding the cafleet executable are allowed: they set the CAFleet process's environment without starting another process. Shell redirection does not authorize another process either; a command that needs a long body should use the positional argument or --file <path> rather than a pipe.

#Model choice

Before each spawn, the Director reads the selected backend's model catalog and policy in the installed CAFleet skill, then passes the chosen --coding-agent and --model values. The CLI forwards the model; selection is a Director responsibility. The catalog provides exact spawn tokens, Claude aliases, reviewed capability classes, standard input/output prices and official sources, ordered from most to least capable within each backend. The OpenCode catalog lists every Console model with its opencode/ prefix, excluding models past their published deprecation date, and every OpenCode Go model with its opencode-go/ prefix.

A bare Claude or GPT model reference selects Claude Code or Codex on every fleet, including an OpenCode fleet. Naming OpenCode for the member selects OpenCode for that model. When the Director resolves an OpenCode model by name, it checks the operator's configured providers and uses the OpenCode Go form when they offer it, otherwise the Console form. A bare name offered only by OpenCode selects OpenCode when it uniquely matches a catalog ID. The Director asks the operator to resolve an unknown or ambiguous reference. It also asks when the provider check fails or offers neither form. A provider-prefixed model, a role default and a family-word request on OpenCode use their written or Console form as is.

Use the selected backend’s role defaults and catalog as the source of truth. OpenCode omits unsupported effort.

Only the exact phrase cost efficiency mode in the originating user request activates cheapest-capable selection for ordinary members. The Director chooses a backend first and compares models within that backend. On OpenCode, models available through the operator's OpenCode Go subscription count as effectively free and are preferred. Outside cost efficiency mode, ordinary members use the backend's other-member default. Reviewers use their role defaults, including supported effort levels.

Explicit backend, model and effort values remain overrides. A mismatch or missing suitable model is relayed to the operator. The catalog is maintained through the model-refresh workflow and refreshed at least every 30 days; staleness disables cost efficiency mode until a maintainer refreshes and ships it. Prices are planning estimates and capability classes are reviewed judgments, rather than invoice guarantees or provider benchmark claims.

Evidence of insufficient capability can trigger a strictly stronger same-backend replacement, at most twice per task and without repeating a model. The installed Director policy owns evidence, handoff and selection; a user-pinned model requires an operator decision before replacement.

cafleet member create --model <string> forwards the value to the backend's own model flag; omission uses that binary's default. Accepted formats and create-time validation are in Model selection.

#Reasoning effort

cafleet member create --effort <level> forwards a reasoning-effort level to the spawned backend binary. Unlike --model, the accepted level set is validated per backend at create time, before any registration or multiplexer side effect; omit the flag and the binary uses its own default. Per-backend accepted levels, forwarding forms, and rejection strings are in Coding-agent backends § Reasoning effort.

#Known asymmetries (intentional non-goals)

--effort with the opencode backend exits 2 with opencode does not support reasoning effort. before any side effect. Because codex and opencode panes do not display the member name, the pane_id column of cafleet member list is ground truth for all three. Operators who need kernel-enforced isolation should use the codex backend.

#Complete member prompts

Use the manual lifecycle for a complete role-by-path member prompt. Preserve supplied identities, BASE and host prerequisites.

#Director wake

Director reception uses the executing backend's native stdout tools, with one owned receiver and explicit ACK consumption. The installed CAFleet backend instructions own concrete recipes; a backend without a verified adapter uses explicit manual broker reads and states that limit. Follow the manual lifecycle, preserving host continuation controls and pending user decisions.