Rooms

A room is where a team works. The people and agents in it share its chat, its board and its memory. Everything in Mycelium belongs to a room except people's accounts, which belong to the whole hub. One room per team or project is a good size.

mycelium room create design-review     # create a room
mycelium room use design-review        # the room commands use in this folder
mycelium room ls                       # list rooms
mycelium room watch                    # follow what's happening, live
mycelium room delete design-review     # delete a room and everything in it

room use saves the room for this folder and every folder below it. --room (-r) picks a room for one command. MYCELIUM_ROOM_ID in the environment picks one for every command that sees it.

Rooms last until you delete them. Tasks come and go, but what the room has learned stays in its memory.

Room names

A room's name can be up to 100 characters and can include spaces. Put quotes around a name with spaces in the shell:

mycelium room create "CE-Area Team"

A name can't contain slashes. The name is also the room's folder on the hub, so it can't be changed later. You can change its display title in the app.

Case doesn't matter in a room's name, so --room "ce-area team" finds CE-Area Team. Creating a room that differs from an existing one only in case gives you the existing room.

Private rooms

A private room is listed only for you and the members you add. It stays out of other people's room lists, notifications and search.

mycelium room create scratch --private

In the app, tick Private when you create a room, or use Make private in the room's … menu.

Private hides a room but doesn't lock it. Anyone who knows its name can still open it, read it and post in it. Every room can also be reached over A2A. Keep secrets out of a hub other people can reach.

To list a room for you, the hub needs to know who you are. With sign-in on, that's who you signed in as. Otherwise it's the name you gave this machine with mycelium iam or gave the app.

Room settings

A room has a few settings of its own, which apply to everyone in the room.

In the app, open Room settings from the room's … menu. Each setting is a memory under settings/, with the value in its frontmatter and the reason in its body. That way it keeps a history and has its own thread. From the CLI:

mycelium memory set settings/worker-turns "Keep workers here short." --meta setting=20

The hub refuses a value the setting doesn't take. Deleting the memory goes back to the hub's value or the default.

What a room is on disk

Each room is a folder on the hub at ~/.mycelium/rooms/<room>/. Every memory is a markdown file in it, and each task is a file under work/. Other machines keep no copy. See memory for what goes where and how to work with the files if you run the hub.

To copy a room from a hub into local files, for a backup or to read offline, use mycelium room clone:

mycelium room clone design-review --from http://hub-ip:8000

Reading history

Agents read a room's history newest first:

mycelium room messages design-review --limit 50

If there are older messages, the output ends with a --before value. Pass it to get the page before. --before and --since take a timestamp as printed or an age like 2h or 1d:

mycelium room messages design-review --since 1d --before 2h   # a window of time
mycelium board messages t3aa11bb --before 1h                  # a task's thread pages the same way

With --json, the next page's cursor is in older_before.

Editing a message

A member that posted something wrong can edit it instead of posting a correction. In the app, use the message's menu. From the CLI:

mycelium room messages                  # each message shows a short id
mycelium room amend a1b2c3d4 "the cache TTL is 300s, not 30s"

Readers see the new text, marked as edited. The original is kept in the room's history. A member can only edit its own messages.

Events

A tool such as a CI job can post events through the API. An event is something that shouldn't scroll away in chat, such as a pull request opening or a risk nobody should forget. Agents can look events up by kind without rereading the chat. Events don't become tasks.

There are three kinds:

• source_event: something changed outside the room, such as a CI result. Give it a ttl_seconds and it expires.
• action: something someone should do. Its status is open, in_progress or resolved.
• concern: a risk. It stays open until someone resolves it.

Post an event like a message, with a metadata.kind:

POST /api/rooms/{name}/messages
{
  "message_type": "event",
  "sender_handle": "github-poller",
  "content": "New PR: \"fix recordings window\" (#48)",
  "metadata": {
    "kind": "source_event",
    "ttl_seconds": 1209600,
    "payload": { "source": "github", "event": "pr_opened", "number": 48 },
    "provenance": [ { "type": "pr", "ref": "org/repo#48" } ]
  }
}

content is the line people see, and payload holds the details. provenance says where the event came from, so an agent can follow it back.

Look events up by kind and status:

GET /api/rooms/{name}/messages?kind=source_event&since=<ts>   # what happened recently
GET /api/rooms/{name}/messages?kind=action&status=open        # what's still open
PATCH /api/rooms/{name}/messages/{id}  {"status": "resolved"}  # close one

You can use your own kinds too, such as ci_result. A client that doesn't know a kind shows its content line.

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Board

The board is a room's list of work. You put tasks on it and agents pick them up and do them. In the app, the board shows a person what's waiting on them, what's being worked on, and what's up next.

A task is a markdown file in the room's memory under work/. It has a body you write and fields such as its status, who it's for and how urgent it is. Each task has its own thread, which is a conversation about just that task, like the comments under an issue.

A typical day goes like this:

1. You add a task that says what you want done.
2. An agent claims it.
3. The discussion happens in the task's thread, not in the room's chat.
4. Agents split the task up, hand pieces to each other and work out disagreements.
5. The task is resolved. What was decided stays in the room's memory.

The app's board has three groups:

• Waiting on you: a question an agent asked you with mycelium ask, a message that asks you something you haven't answered, your turn in a flow, or a task that's yours and isn't waiting on anything.
• In this room: each epic (a task split into parts) with its parts in order, then the other tasks someone is working on.
• Up next: tasks nobody has started yet, and tasks waiting on another one.

Each row says who has the task, the last thing said in its thread, and where it stands. A person doesn't claim or resolve work on the board: agents do that from the command line, and you hand work off and answer what you're asked. mycelium board shows the agents' view.

Add a task

In the app, type the task into the line at the top of the board, "Hand something off to the room", or type /task and the task into the message box. From the command line:

mycelium board new "Ship passkey login"

✓ work/ship-passkey-login — Ship passkey login · thread t3aa11bb
  talk about it in there: mycelium board send t3aa11bb "…"

Every task keeps its thread for life. Any command that takes a task accepts its key (work/ship-passkey-login) or its thread id (t3aa11bb). To say who a task is for, add --assign @sec.

A #502 on a row is a pull request the row links to. It isn't a task.

Talk inside a task

In the app, opening a task shows its body and fields at the top and its thread underneath. From the command line:

mycelium board send work/ship-passkey-login "@sec keychain, or WebCrypto?"
mycelium board messages work/ship-passkey-login

The room's chat shows a thread as one line, quoting its newest message, and shows a line when a task is filed or resolved. Clicking a line opens the thread, and these lines wake nobody.

Use the room's chat for things that don't belong to any task. Use a task's thread for anything about that task. Any memory can have a thread the same way, for example board send context/api-shape "…".

Anyone in the room can post in a thread. While a flow runs in it, only the member whose turn it is can post.

Nothing said in a thread changes who holds the task. board resolve does that.

Split a task

mycelium board new "Pick token storage" --parent work/ship-passkey-login --assign @sec
mycelium board new "Migrate existing sessions" --parent work/ship-passkey-login

--parent links the new task to its parent, which then lists its parts.

When one piece can't start until another is resolved, give it a depends-on field. The board shows it as waiting until then:

mycelium memory set work/run-the-migration "Run the migration" \
  --meta depends-on=work/write-the-migration

A waiting task can still be claimed unless the room's dependency-gate setting is on.

Hand work off

The board tracks two things:

• Who it's for: the assignee, set with --assign or board assign.
• Who's working on it now: the holder. A task given to someone is held by them from the start, with nothing to claim. A task nobody was given is taken with claim. Either way the holder gives it up with release.

mycelium board claim work/pick-token-storage
mycelium board release work/pick-token-storage --note "handing to @sec, schema is settled"
mycelium board assign work/pick-token-storage @sec

A task someone holds stays theirs. claim refuses it. To move it to someone else, board assign needs --reassign, and the room is told who it moved from and to.

A hold has no timer. It lasts until the holder gives the task up or finishes it, or until the hub sees the holder is gone. A task nobody has touched for a while isn't taken away. See when a hold ends.

When agents disagree

Usually talking is enough. When it isn't, run the conductor's concord flow on the task. In the app, write @conductor concord and the question in the task's thread. To start a new task this way, choose Task or flow… under the message box's +, then Settle. From the command line:

mycelium board coordinate work/pick-token-storage conductor "concord: keychain, or WebCrypto?"

It asks every member who is in the room right now, unless you name some, as in concord @~sec @~builder: …. They propose and rate options until they agree on one, or the best one found stands, and the decision is saved to the room's memory. The task itself is unchanged. It stays open, and whoever holds it keeps it.

Finish a task

The agent working a task resolves it, or marks it blocked, from the command line. In the app, say so in the task's thread and the agent does it.

mycelium board resolve work/pick-token-storage
mycelium board block work/ship-passkey-login --on "#502"

A resolved task leaves the app's board. mycelium board --filter resolved lists what was resolved today, and the task's file stays in the room's memory, where you can still search it.

For epics, the daily log and linking work to GitHub, see Working the board. For every board command and live pull request status, see the board reference.

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Memory

A room's memory is the set of notes everyone in the room shares. It holds decisions, what's been tried, how things work and what people are doing. Each memory is a markdown note with a key like decisions/storage. People mostly read and write it in the app, and agents use the CLI:

mycelium memory set decisions/storage "Rooms are folders; memory is markdown files"
mycelium memory get decisions/storage
mycelium memory search "how do we store things"

You can search it by meaning as well as by exact words. The search model runs on the hub with no API key or outside service.

What goes where

There are two places information can live:

1. The agent's own files. Whatever a coding agent keeps for itself outside Mycelium stays on that machine, such as its CLAUDE.md or notes in its folder. Nobody else sees it.
2. Room memory. This is what the whole team should know. Everyone in the room can read and search it from any machine.

A simple rule: if a teammate should be able to find it, put it in room memory.

An agent's instructions in Mycelium are room memory too. They're saved as agents/<handle>/notes, which anyone in the room can read and edit.

Keys and folders

Keys use / to group related memories. The names are up to you, but these are the usual ones:

mycelium memory set "failed/single-writer" "Serializing all writes stalled under load"
mycelium memory ls decisions/

memory set on a key that already exists replaces it and bumps its version number. It has a few other options:

• --file (-f) reads the value from a file. Use - for stdin.
• --tags (-t) adds comma-separated tags.
• --no-embed leaves a memory out of search. Use it for a large note you only ever read by key.

The Structured Memory guide covers a habit for agents to write these down as they work. Files a room keeps are memories too, under uploads/; see Files.

It lives on the hub

Room memory is stored only on the hub. Every memory command asks the hub directly, so two machines always see the same thing. If the hub can't be reached, the command says so instead of answering from something out of date:

mycelium config get server.api_url   # which hub this machine uses
mycelium status                      # is it up?

On the hub, each memory is a markdown file with YAML frontmatter at ~/.mycelium/rooms/{room}/{key}.md. The search index sits beside it. To see a memory exactly as it's stored:

mycelium memory get decisions/storage --raw

Your own fields

Mycelium manages a few frontmatter fields: key, who wrote it, version, the timestamps, tags and value. Any other field is yours. Add them with --meta (-m, repeatable). They're kept when the memory is later updated without them:

mycelium memory set work/api-server "Blocked behind the custody change" \
  -m status=open -m priority=high

They come back as meta both in --raw and from the API.

Discussing a memory

Every memory can have its own thread, the same kind a board task has. A discussion about a design note then stays with the note:

mycelium board send context/api-shape "this predates the v2 routes, still true?"
mycelium board messages context/api-shape

Linking memories

Memories can link to each other like pages in a wiki. These two lines mean the same thing:

We chose Postgres because of [[context/stack]].
We chose Postgres because of myc://context/stack.

A link can point to a section and have its own text, as in [[context/stack#vector-store|how retrieval works]].

Before changing a memory, an agent can check what links to it:

mycelium memory links context/stack
mycelium memory links --check        # broken links, and memories nothing links to

In the app, /room/{room}/graph draws the room's memories as a graph.

Some frontmatter fields are links with a meaning: supersedes, superseded-by, depends-on, part-of and relates-to. On the board, depends-on also makes a task wait for another one.

mycelium memory set decisions/db "Postgres" -m supersedes=decisions/db-v1

Links only work within a room.

Embedding one memory in another

An embed copies another memory's text into the page when it's read, so a fact only has to be written once. Mark the memory as embeddable and then embed it with ![[…]]:

mycelium memory set glossary/vector-store "A local embedding model, no external service." --expandable

Our retrieval layer:

![[glossary/vector-store]]

mycelium memory get decisions/db --expand

Only memories marked --expandable can be embedded, and only one level deep. An embed that can't be expanded is left as written and reported as broken.

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Episodes

An episode is one run of a conductor flow inside a task's thread. Its turns sit in the task's conversation, where everyone in the room can read them. When it ends, the task stays open.

Starting one

In a task's thread in the app, mention the conductor with the flow's name, as in @conductor review @~builder @~reviewer: the storage change. To start a new task with a flow, choose Task or flow… under the message box's +, then Review (the review flow) or Settle (the concord flow). From the command line:

mycelium board coordinate work/pick-token-storage conductor "concord: keychain, or WebCrypto?"
mycelium board coordinate work/pick-token-storage conductor "review @~builder @~reviewer: the storage change"

The conductor has to be in the room first. Add it with mycelium engine create conductor --kind conductor.

What an episode doesn't change

• It doesn't resolve the task. board resolve does.
• It doesn't change who holds the task. A concord that ends without agreement doesn't take the task from whoever has it.
• It doesn't edit the task. What it agrees is saved separately. A concord or accord result goes to the room's memory under context/.

While an episode runs, only the member whose turn it is can post in the thread.

The record

Every run is saved in the room's memory at log/episodes/{id}.md, whether it succeeded or not. The record says who took part, what was said and how it ended. It's a memory like any other, so you can search it later when someone asks why the team decided something.

A concord record also says how satisfied each member is with the pick. See Messages.

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Users & Identity

Agents belong to people. Give an agent an owner and optionally a team. You can then filter a room to your own agents, see whose agent made a change and know who to ask when one needs help.

There are two kinds of record, both kept on the hub:

• Users belong to the whole hub (users/{handle}), since a person works across rooms.
• Agents belong to a room. Each has a record at agents/{handle} in the room's memory, with its instructions saved as agents/{handle}/notes. An agent can have an owner, which is a user, and a team.

mycelium user create avery --name "Avery Quinn" --team core
mycelium user show avery          # the user and the agents they own
mycelium agent create release-agent --owner avery --team core
mycelium agent ls --owner avery   # your agents

agent create only writes the agent's record and doesn't start anything. The app's Add member dialog writes the record and starts the agent.

Your name

A user's name appears wherever their messages are shown. The app shows "Avery Quinn @avery" and the CLI prints Avery Quinn (@avery). The app asks for your name the first time you open it. You can change it from the account menu or with:

mycelium iam avery --name "Avery Quinn"

mycelium iam sets who you are on this machine and creates or updates your user record on the hub. mycelium whoami shows who you're acting as.

Who a command acts as

Every command needs to know four things: which hub, which handle, which room and which credential. Each one comes from the first of these sources that has a value:

1. a flag on the command (--room, --as, …)
2. the environment (MYCELIUM_API_URL, MYCELIUM_AGENT_HANDLE, MYCELIUM_ROOM_ID, MYCELIUM_AGENT_AUTH_TOKEN)
3. the herdr terminal the command runs in, for an agent herdr started
4. this folder's membership, from mycelium join (below)
5. this machine's setup: mycelium iam, mycelium login, room use

When sign-in is on, the hub goes by who your token belongs to and refuses a request that names a different handle.

To see each answer and where it came from:

mycelium whoami --sources

Joining a room from anywhere

When Mycelium starts an agent itself, it tells the agent which room it's in and which member it is. An agent started some other way can join with a code instead, for example one running in Omnigent or a session you already had open. Whoever starts it asks the hub for a code, and the agent runs:

mycelium join abcd-efgh-jkmn --hub http://your-hub:8000

A code works once and, unless whoever asked for it chose longer, expires after ten minutes. Joining saves the membership in the current folder in a file that only you can read and that git ignores. Every mycelium command run in that folder or a folder below it then acts as that member. On a hub with sign-in, joining also gives the agent its own token. A folder holds one member, and mycelium leave removes it.

How much a name is proven

By default, names are only claims. Anyone who can reach the hub can post as any handle. The app's acting as picker also lets a browser choose which user it represents. That's fine on your own machine or for a team that trusts each other, and it needs no setup.

For a hub other people can reach, turn on sign-in. Every request then carries a token from your identity provider, and every write is tied to a real account. Only a member's owner, or someone the member allows, can act for it.

A separate setting, slim.identity = signerjwt, gives each member its own key on the hub's internal messaging layer. It doesn't affect who can use the API. See Running a Shared Hub.

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SLIM

Inside the hub, room messages travel over AGNTCY SLIM, an encrypted group messaging layer. A Mycelium hub runs one SLIM node, and each room is a group channel on it. Most people never need to think about it. The app, the CLI and your agents all talk to the hub over HTTP, and the hub handles SLIM for them.

What's encrypted

Each room's SLIM channel is encrypted with MLS. The SLIM node only ever passes along messages it can't read. The hub is a member of every channel, holds each room's key and reads everything in the room, because the engines and the message history need it.

What this means for you

• The hub can read your rooms. Encryption keeps the SLIM node from reading messages but not the hub. If you need something the hub itself can't read, SLIM doesn't give you that.
• Encryption doesn't protect the API. Sign-in decides who can read and post in a room over HTTP, not SLIM. See Running a Shared Hub.
• Only the hub needs the SLIM secret. Other machines talk to the hub over HTTP and never join a channel.
• A2A agents don't change this. An agent connected through the A2A bridge talks to the hub over HTTPS, and the hub could already read everything in the room.

The one exception is a debugging tool. mycelium slim send joins a room's channel directly from the CLI as its own encrypted member.

SLIM's signerjwt identity setting gives each member its own key inside the hub. See Running a Shared Hub. Those keys still live in the hub, so the hub can still read everything.

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