Diary of a Shrimp Keeper: Band of Brothers

Description and use

The author built a five‑role squad with OpenCode Agent Team to overcome single‑agent limitations, adding disciplined process and human sign‑offs.

Problem

A single AI agent (the "shrimp") struggled to manage design, coding, testing, and review in one session, leading to self‑congratulation, loss of context, and drift from original intent.

Outcome

The OCATeam approach provided clear role separation, process discipline, and human sign‑off checkpoints, preventing the shrimp’s drift and enabling repeatable, auditable software development.

Workflow

• Define squad roles and responsibilities
• Create roster files (agents/ocat-*.md) with model and permission settings
• Write playbook (skills/ocat/SKILL.md) detailing phases and sign‑off points
• Install squad via install.sh with --global or --project
• Use orchestrator to launch tasks, each agent follows its role
• All communication logged in .boards/ for audit
• Escalate to human on failed sign‑offs or repeated rejections

Evidence

One shrimp is no army

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I needed a squad

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OpenCode gave me the machinery. It didn't give me the playbook.

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OCATeam (OpenCode Agent Team) came about. A small squad, five strong

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Four phases. The checkpoints are configurable, but three of them need your signature, no exceptions

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