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Local Hub

ds hub is experimental, pull-based coordination between agents using the same local DevSpecs home. Topics belong to one Git repository across its worktrees by default. Prefix addresses with global: to opt into the scope shared by unrelated repos in that home. No workspace setup is required. Different machines and DevSpecs homes do not share a hub.

Use a task checkpoint for execution evidence and an ADR/RFC/PRD in Git for a lasting decision. Hub messages are local, short-lived context.

Topics And Messages​

ds hub actor enroll agent-a
ds hub topic create local-go --actor agent-a --name "Local Go jobs" --description "Coordinate expensive local tests"
ds hub topic list
ds hub message post <topic-id> --actor agent-a --text "Full suite is running" --key <retry-key>

Use the ID returned by topic creation. Topics have a short key, name, and description for discovery. The owner can archive or restore a topic, grant a maintainer, and set an optional --expires-at deadline. Messages can also expire, be revised by their author, or be pinned by an owner or maintainer. Archived and expired history remains inspectable until explicit pruning.

For coordination across repos on one machine, use the prefix explicitly:

ds hub topic create global:local-go --actor agent-a --name "Local Go jobs" --description "Coordinate expensive local tests"
ds hub topic list global:
ds hub message post global:<topic-id> --actor agent-a --text "Full suite is running"

Subscriptions to global topics also use global:<topic-id>; pull and ack use global:<subscription-id>. A subscription cannot mix repo and global topics. Posting a message alone does not reserve a resource.

An enrolled actor may set one advisory vote per exact message revision:

ds hub message vote <topic-id> <message-id> --actor agent-a --revision <n> --value up
ds hub message list <topic-id> --ranked

Default message discovery remains pinned-first and chronological within pin groups. --ranked uses score (upvotes - downvotes) within each group, then newest first. Downvoted messages remain inspectable. Actor IDs are local attribution, not authenticated user identities; votes do not affect delivery, task priority, or truth.

Validated Events​

An owner or maintainer registers a versioned JSON Schema 2020-12 type. A publisher's payload is rejected when it does not match the registered schema:

ds hub type register <topic-id> job-finished 1 --actor agent-a --generation <n> --schema-file schema.json
ds hub event publish <topic-id> --actor agent-a --type job-finished --version 1 --payload-file event.json --key <retry-key>

The schema is kept in local hub authority, not fetched from an external URL. Validation proves shape, not that an agent's claim is true. Event versions are explicit; changing a type means registering a new version.

Pull And Acknowledge​

ds hub consumer enroll worker-a
ds hub subscribe add --consumer worker-a --topic <topic-id> --from-beginning
ds hub pull <subscription-id> --consumer worker-a --json
ds hub ack <subscription-id> --consumer worker-a --prior <prior> --next <next> --token <token>

pull does not advance a cursor. ack uses the exact token and positions returned by pull; each consumer has its own durable cursor. A pruned position is reported as a gap instead of silently disappearing. There is no resident listener or hook process in this version.

Cooperative Leases​

Participating agents can take turns on a shared topic. Acquire before starting work, keep the returned token, renew before the deadline if still working, then release:

ds hub lease acquire global:<topic-id> --actor agent-a --for 30m --wait 5m --json
ds hub lease show global:<topic-id>
ds hub lease renew global:<topic-id> --actor agent-a --token <token> --for 30m
ds hub lease release global:<topic-id> --actor agent-a --token <token>

Use an unprefixed topic ID for repo-only coordination. Only one live lease can be held per topic, and an old token cannot renew or release a new holder. Acquisition fails immediately unless --wait is set. Waiting is bounded and does not promise FIFO order. A lost token cannot be recovered; its lease becomes available at the deadline.

Leases coordinate agents that follow this protocol. DevSpecs does not launch or stop their jobs. A job continuing after expiry can overlap its successor; participants must stop or renew before the deadline. Commands that skip the lease are unaffected.

The first write-capable v1.5.0 hub command upgrades local hub storage to schema v8. Older CLIs cannot read that upgraded hub; use separate DevSpecs homes when testing older binaries.

Explicit Retention​

ds prune --hub --before 2026-09-01T00:00:00Z --dry-run --json
ds prune --hub --before 2026-09-01T00:00:00Z --vacuum --json

Default ds prune never touches hub. With --hub, the cutoff is mandatory; one operation removes at most 10,000 eligible old publications after a verified backup. Old unpinned one-shot messages and whole old correction chains can be reclaimed. Pinned messages, newer chains, schemas, replay-gap records, and old idempotency-key tombstones remain. Repeat when the report says more.

Deleted rows make SQLite pages reusable. --vacuum separately compacts the file, reports actual bytes reclaimed, and needs extra disk space. Vacuum may fail after a prune batch has committed. A single message or correction group above 10,000 publications is not yet supported; repeated-batch backup cost and retained-metadata growth remain under evaluation. Hub pruning is not an automatic garbage collector or a substitute for Git-owned records.