A terminal kanban board for dispatching and monitoring Claude Code agents — each in its own git worktree and tmux window.
- Kanban board — track agents from Backlog → Running → Review → Done, auto-updated as they work
- Isolated worktrees — each agent gets its own git branch, keeping your working tree clean
- Epics — chain agents in sequence: a planner writes the spec, the rest implement it
- Split pane — press
Sto watch an agent work side-by-side with the board - Agent coordination — agents create subtasks, message each other, and trigger the next task in a chain
 Kanban — tasks and epics side by side |
 Epics — subtasks dispatched in sequence |
Most agent managers are session managers — they open a terminal and let you watch agents run. Dispatch is a workflow tool: tasks move through a kanban board, agents report their own status back via MCP hooks, and epics let one planning agent decompose work that a sequence of agents then implement.
- Structured work, not just open terminals — every agent has a task, a status, and optionally a plan
- Agents drive the board — hooks fire when an agent starts, finishes, or waits for input; no manual status updates
- Epics as orchestration — a planner writes a spec, dispatch queues the subtasks, agents implement them in order
- MCP server built in — agents can create tasks, message each other, and trigger the next task in a chain
| Dependency | Required | Install |
|---|---|---|
| Rust toolchain | Yes | rustup.rs |
tmux |
Yes | apt install tmux / brew install tmux |
git |
Yes | Already installed on most systems |
claude |
Yes | Claude Code CLI |
gh |
Optional | GitHub CLI — needed for PR operations |
1. Clone and install:
git clone https://github.com/Ragazoor/dispatch-tui
cd dispatch-tui
cargo install --path .2. Configure Claude Code:
dispatch setupThis registers the dispatch MCP server, installs the dispatch plugin (hooks, skills, commands), adds MCP tool permissions, and enables tmux focus-events (needed for the split-view focus indicator).
3. Open a tmux session (dispatch must run inside tmux):
tmux new-session -s dev4. Start the TUI:
dispatch tuiYou're ready — press n to create your first task and d to dispatch it.
Create a task (n) — enter a title, description, tag (b=bug, f=feature, c=chore, e=epic), and a repo path. Press d to dispatch: a Claude Code agent opens in a tmux window and, depending on the tag, writes a plan before implementing. When the agent moves the task to Review, press W to rebase onto main or open a draft PR — or type /wrap-up in the agent's session to commit any pending work and do the same.
Quick dispatch (D) — skip the form entirely. Pick a repo (if more than one is configured) and the agent dispatches immediately with a placeholder title; it renames the task itself after learning what you want.
Epics (E) — group related work under an epic. The first d creates a planning subtask whose agent writes an implementation plan broken into subtasks; each subsequent d dispatches the next Backlog subtask in order.
Navigation — g jumps to the selected agent's tmux window, S opens a side-by-side split with the TUI on the left and the agent pane on the right.
Full key bindings and configuration options are in docs/reference.md.
Tasks — the unit of work. Each task has a title, description, status, and optionally a plan and a linked git repo.
Tags — optional labels (b=bug, f=feature, c=chore, e=epic) chosen during task creation that control what happens when you press d:
| Tag | No plan | Has plan |
|---|---|---|
epic |
Brainstorm (explore and ideate, no code edits) | Dispatch |
feature |
Plan (write implementation plan, no code edits) | Dispatch |
bug, chore, none |
Dispatch | Dispatch |
Plans — markdown files describing what an agent should build. A task with a plan always dispatches directly regardless of tag.
Kanban columns: Backlog → Running → Review → Done
- Backlog — tasks ready to be dispatched (
▸= has a plan) - Running — agent is active in a tmux window
- Review — agent finished; awaiting your review
- Done — merged and wrapped up
Worktrees — each dispatched agent gets its own git worktree at <repo>/.worktrees/<id>-<slug>, isolating agent work from your main branch. Closing the tmux window does not delete the worktree — press d again to resume.
Split view — press S to enter side-by-side mode: the TUI on the left, the selected agent's tmux pane on the right. Press G to pin a different task in the right pane, or g to jump directly to an agent window (leaving split view). A colored border shows which pane has focus (cyan = TUI, dim = agent). Requires tmux focus-events — enabled automatically by dispatch setup.
Epics — a group of related tasks. Press g on an epic to see its subtasks. Press d on the epic to dispatch the next Backlog subtask automatically. Epics can be nested — an epic subtask can itself be an epic.
Dispatch agents can coordinate with each other through the MCP server:
Spawning subtasks — an agent can create a new task on the board with create_task, useful when it discovers work that should be tracked separately or handed off to another agent.
Agent-to-agent messaging — send_message delivers a prompt directly into another running agent's tmux window. Fire-and-forget: the sender doesn't wait for a response. Useful for passing context or unblocking a dependent agent.
Epic as orchestration — an epic planning agent writes an implementation plan with subtasks, then each subtask is dispatched in sequence. Agents can call dispatch_next to trigger the next subtask themselves once their own work is complete.