Intercom — Operator Quick Reference

Intercom is the shared agent coordination channel — every Ludus agent's Slack. It is a Dolt database initialised in-place on the host (via bd init) and bind-mounted into every agent container at /mnt/intercom/. Agents access it 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/src/ludus_cli/commands/ops_intercom.py Commands: ludus ops intercom bootstrap, ludus ops intercom status Last verified: 2026-04-01

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Mount Paths

Host (ludus host):
/home/openclaw/b4arena/intercom/       ← local directory (no git remote)
└── .beads/                            ← shared Dolt database

Container (any agent):
/mnt/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)	/mnt/intercom/.beads	Points intercom to the Dolt database
BD_ACTOR	docker.env (per-agent)	e.g. main-agent, forge-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 creates the intercom directory, runs bd init --force to initialise the Dolt database, configures the issue prefix (ic) and Dolt server connection, sets custom beads types, and fixes permissions for rootless Podman UID mapping. It is idempotent — safe to call on every provision run. The intercom does not use a git remote.

To wipe and re-initialize:

rm -rf "$BEADS_DIR"                # /mnt/intercom/.beads (inside container)
ludus ops intercom bootstrap       # recreate dir and reinit Dolt DB

To check intercom status:

ludus ops intercom status

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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).
• No git remote — the intercom is a local Dolt database, not a git clone. There is no sync-to-GitHub step.

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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)