What Flock is / is not
Flock is
- A coordination runtime — pressure-field scheduler, typed blackboard, episode logs
- A plugin harness boundary —
FlockPlugin::verify_goaldrives the defaultflock runloop - An in-tree multiplexer — HerdR-shaped NDJSON socket API + PTY panes
- A topology evolution loop —
flock evolvemutates wake maps from episodes - Governance-aware —
flock.tomlhooks, tool pipeline, drift-check manifest
Default flock run uses deterministic plugins (gridworld, shell). The scheduler wakes agents from substrate signals — not a manager LLM.
Flock is not
- An OpenCode / Claude Code clone — no drop-in coding agent with 75 providers on the hot path
- A meta-harness wrapper — Flock does not wrap external harnesses; it is the runtime
- A workflow DSL — coordination is the pressure field, not hand-drawn graphs
- A chat router — agent-to-agent NL handoffs are intentionally forbidden
Honest adoption path
| Need | Use |
|---|---|
| Prove coordination thesis | flock run, swarm-demo, Govcraft bench in verify.sh |
| Editor integration | flock acp (stdio + prompt → engine) |
| External tool bridge | flock mcp or flock run --mcp |
| Remote pane farm | flock remote --plugin <name> with governance |
Flock deliberately does not chase OpenCode/Claude Code feature parity — coordination runtime and honest scope are the product.