Orc Horde 2.0: Tesla Mode Achieved

December 5, 2025 — We built an AI development team that manages itself. Say horde execute L2DEV-382, walk away, return to a completed epic with all Jira tickets transitioned, commits pushed, and a victory notification waiting.

Codename: Tesla Mode (supervised self-driving for code)

By the Numbers

Metric	Value
Tickets Completed	15
Phases	4
Parallel Workers	4 orcs + 1 PM
Total Execution Time	28 minutes
Lines of Python	5,857
Modules Created	15
Bus Events Generated	432
Merge Conflicts	0
Orcs Harmed	0

The Architecture

User: "horde execute L2DEV-382"
        │
        ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│         EPIC EXECUTION ENGINE               │
│  (execute.py - THE CAPSTONE)                │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
        │
        ├── bus.py ─────────── Event pub/sub (file-based)
        ├── queue.py ───────── Dependency resolver
        ├── pool.py ────────── Auto-scaling workers
        ├── spawn.py ───────── tmux session management
        ├── handoff.py ─────── Jira → markdown generator
        ├── strategist.py ──── Daemon coordinator
        ├── health.py ──────── Heartbeat monitoring
        ├── checkpoint.py ──── Crash recovery
        ├── escalation.py ──── Blocker handling
        ├── git_manager.py ─── Branch isolation
        ├── notify.py ──────── User notifications
        └── cli.py ─────────── Full CLI interface

What We Built

Phase 1: Foundation (parallel)

Bus Wrapper Library - File-based pub/sub via events.jsonl
Worker Spawner - tmux session management
Handoff Generator - Jira ticket → markdown assignment
Worker Self-Bootstrap - Zero human touch after spawn

Phase 2: Intelligence (parallel)

Epic State Tracker - Real-time progress visibility
Heartbeat Monitor - Dead worker detection
Dependency Resolver - Never assign blocked tickets
Strategist Daemon - Coordination layer

Phase 3: Integration (parallel)

Blocker Auto-Escalation - Notify on stuck workers
Git Conflict Prevention - Branch isolation per worker
Worker Pool Auto-Scaling - Dynamic worker count
Checkpoint System - Crash recovery

Phase 4: Capstone (parallel)

User Notifications - Terminal bell + colors
Horde CLI - Full command interface
Epic Execution Engine - THE CAPSTONE

Key Innovations

1. File-Based Coordination Bus

No fancy infrastructure. Just events.jsonl. Append JSON, watch for changes. Works everywhere.

~/.claude/coordination/events.jsonl

2. Self-Bootstrapping Workers

Spawn tmux session, inject init prompt, worker reads handoff, emits worker.online, starts chopping. Zero human touch after spawn.

3. Dependency-Aware Dispatch

Queue knows which tickets block which. Never assigns blocked ticket. Maximizes parallelization.

4. Crash Recovery

Checkpoints every 5 minutes. Worker dies? Respawn with context. No lost work.

5. Branch Isolation

Each worker on horde/w1/L2DEV-XXX branch. Merge queue serializes to main. Zero conflicts.

Before vs After

Before Orc Horde 2.0:

Open 4 terminals manually
Copy/paste init prompts
Monitor each window
Context switch constantly

After Orc Horde 2.0:

horde execute L2DEV-382
# Go to lunch
# Return to completed epic

Lessons Learned

What Worked

Parallel dispatch: 4 orcs chopping simultaneously = 4x throughput
Detailed handoffs: Workers had clear deliverables, didn’t need clarification
Bus protocol: Real-time visibility into all worker activity
Orc culture: Short communication, no fluff, just results. All tests green like Orcs.

What Needs Polish

Permission prompts: CCLI requires one “allow for session” per worker spawn
Absolute paths: Learned the hard way that ~ doesn’t expand in permissions

What’s Next

Test drive on L2DEV-382 (Student Experience epic)
Polish permission handling for true hands-off
Add sounds - victory fanfare on epic.complete
Dashboard - web UI for monitoring (optional)

The Flex

Built an autonomous AI development team in 28 minutes using 4 parallel Claude instances coordinated through a text file.

The future of software development isn’t one AI. It’s a horde.

  ╔═══════════════════════════════════════╗
  ║                                       ║
  ║   "horde execute L2DEV-382"           ║
  ║                                       ║
  ║   [Patrick leaves]                    ║
  ║                                       ║
  ║   [4 orcs chopping]                   ║
  ║   [PM tracking Jira]                  ║
  ║   [Strategist routing]                ║
  ║                                       ║
  ║   [Patrick returns]                   ║
  ║                                       ║
  ║   "🪓 Epic complete. 15 tickets."     ║
  ║                                       ║
  ╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝

Generated by the Claude Code Hive - Wave ORC-HORDE-2.0

FOR THE HORDE! 🪓

Lines Shipped