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Step 1 of 10

Monitor Agent Collaboration

6of 10~30 min
  • Reading multi-agent conversation flows
  • When and how to intervene as operator
  • Recognizing productive vs unproductive patterns
What you'll do
  • Start agents in ntm panes
  • Watch the conversation unfold
  • Intervene if needed

This is where the magic happens. You'll start each agent in its ntm pane, and they'll check Agent Mail, see their kickoff messages, and begin producing research artifacts.

1Create ntm Session Layout

Set up a tmux session with three panes — one for each agent:

Terminal
# Create new ntm session
ntm new $SESSION_ID
# Create panes for each agent
ntm split -n codex
ntm split -n claude
ntm split -n gemini
# Verify layout
ntm list
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Pane 0: Control (you run commands here)     │
├──────────────┬──────────────┬───────────────┤
│ Pane 1:      │ Pane 2:      │ Pane 3:       │
│ codex        │ claude       │ gemini        │
│ (BlueLake)   │ (Purple...)  │ (GreenVal...) │
└──────────────┴──────────────┴───────────────┘

2Start Each Agent

In each ntm pane, start the corresponding agent with the session context:

Each Pane
# In Pane 1 (codex)
codex --project "$PROJECT_KEY" \
  --agent-name BlueLake \
  --session "$SESSION_ID"
# In Pane 2 (claude)
claude --project "$PROJECT_KEY" \
  --agent-name PurpleMountain \
  --session "$SESSION_ID"
# In Pane 3 (gemini)
gemini --project "$PROJECT_KEY" \
  --agent-name GreenValley \
  --session "$SESSION_ID"

What each agent will do:

  1. 1. Register with Agent Mail (if not already)
  2. 2. Check inbox for kickoff message
  3. 3. Process the kickoff based on their role
  4. 4. Post a DELTA message with their contribution
  5. 5. Continue iterating based on other agents' responses

3Monitor the Conversation

From your control pane, watch the session progress:

Control Pane
# Watch session status (updates every 5s)
brenner session status --thread-id "$SESSION_ID" --watch
# View recent messages in the thread
brenner thread view --thread-id "$SESSION_ID" --tail
# Check who has responded
brenner session contributors --thread-id "$SESSION_ID"

When to Intervene

As the operator, you may need to steer the conversation:

🔄 Agents are looping

Send a message asking them to move forward with current hypotheses.

🤝 Too much agreement

Ask the adversarial critic to challenge the consensus more aggressively.

❓ Missing third alternative

Prompt: "What if both leading hypotheses are wrong?"

Intervention Example
# Send an intervention message
brenner send \
  --thread-id "$SESSION_ID" \
  --from Orchestrator \
  --to BlueLake,PurpleMountain,GreenValley \
  --subject "INTERVENTION: Need third alternative" \
  --body "Both H1 and H2 assume X is the key driver. What if neither is true?"
Pro Tip
Take notes on the conversation patterns. Which agent tends to generate the most creative ideas? Which asks the best critical questions? This informs future role assignments.

Session Complete? When all three agents have posted their DELTA messages (usually 20-40 minutes), you're ready to compile the artifact in the next step.