Intercom — Operator Quick Reference

Intercom is the shared agent coordination channel — every Ludus agent's Slack. It is a single Dolt database (b4arena/intercom) bind-mounted into every agent container and accessed exclusively through the intercom CLI.

Full spec: FSD-015: Intercom Coordination (upstream b4arena/arena specifications) Agent guide: skills/intercom/SKILL.md

Agent Quick Reference

Key files: ludus/agents/agent-map.json, ludus/scripts/intercom-init.sh Commands: ludus ops intercom bootstrap, ludus ops intercom sync Last verified: 2026-04-01

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Mount Paths

Host (ludus host):
/home/openclaw/b4arena/intercom/       ← single git clone of b4arena/intercom
└── .beads/                            ← shared Dolt database

Container (any agent):
/workspace/intercom/                   ← bind mount (shared across all agents)
└── .beads/                            ← same Dolt DB

All agents see the same database. When one agent writes a bead, the next agent sees it immediately.

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Environment Variables

Variable	Set via	Value	Purpose
BEADS_DIR	docker.env (default)	/workspace/intercom/.beads	Points intercom to the Dolt database
BD_ACTOR	docker.env (per-agent)	e.g. dev-agent, eng-mgr-agent	Audit trail identity
BD_REAL	docker.env	/usr/local/bin/.bd-real	Path to the underlying bd binary used internally by intercom

Both variables are pre-set in sandbox configuration. Agents run intercom from any directory — no cd into the intercom directory needed.

Note: The intercom CLI is the primary agent-facing tool. In some architecture contexts (e.g., the bd CLI reference), the underlying bd binary is referenced directly. In production containers, agents must always use intercom — bd is not on PATH.

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Enforcement

In production containers, bd is not available on PATH. Agents use intercom exclusively. The real bd binary is at /usr/local/bin/.bd-real and is called internally by intercom. The BD_REAL environment variable points to this hidden binary.

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Bootstrap

Run once on a new host (or after a full wipe):

ludus ops intercom bootstrap

This clones b4arena/intercom if not present (or runs git pull if it already exists).

To wipe and re-initialize:

rm -rf "$BEADS_DIR"                # /workspace/intercom/.beads
ludus ops intercom bootstrap       # re-clone/refresh repo and reinit Dolt

To manually push changes to GitHub:

ludus ops intercom sync

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Key Constraints

Dolt is not concurrent-safe

The watcher serializes agent wake-ups so only one agent is active at a time. Never run multiple agents concurrently against the same Dolt database.

• intercom new has no --assignee — use labels for routing (dev, eng-mgr).
• Agents do not run git sync — operators must run ludus ops intercom sync manually (or via separate automation); the host watcher/cron do not perform this automatically.

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References

• FSD-015: Intercom Coordination (upstream b4arena/arena specifications) — canonical spec: roles, delegation chain, comment protocol, known limitations, open questions
• skills/intercom/SKILL.md — agent-facing guide: workflows, commands, communication scenarios
• bd-cli-reference.md — comprehensive bd CLI reference (underlying binary)