Atlas: Orchestrator

Atlas is the orchestration agent. It reads the plan that Prometheus created and coordinates execution across Sisyphus category agents. Atlas verifies every step before moving to the next.

What Atlas Does

1. Reads the plan from .sisyphus/plans/*.md
2. Delegates each task to the appropriate Sisyphus category agent
3. Verifies each step: runs build, tests, lint, and diagnostics
4. Manages dependencies: won't start Task 3 until Task 2 passes verification
5. Runs independent tasks in parallel where the plan allows

How It Coordinates

Atlas follows the dependency graph from the plan. Here's what that looks like in practice:

Plan: Bookmark API
│
├── Task 1: Project scaffold
│   └── Atlas delegates to Sisyphus (quick category)
│   └── Verify: go build ./... ✓
│
├── Task 2: SQLite models (depends on Task 1)
│   └── Atlas delegates to Sisyphus (deep category)
│   └── Verify: go test ./models/... ✓
│
├── Task 3: Auth middleware (depends on Task 2)
│   └── Atlas delegates to Sisyphus (deep category)
│   └── Verify: go test ./middleware/... ✓
│
├── Task 4: CRUD handlers (depends on Task 2, Task 3)
│   └── Atlas delegates to Sisyphus (deep category)
│   └── Verify: go test ./handlers/... ✓
│
└── Task 5: Integration tests (depends on Task 4)
    └── Atlas delegates to Sisyphus (deep category)
    └── Verify: go test ./... ✓

Parallel Execution

When the plan marks tasks as independent, Atlas runs them concurrently:

Task 2a: SQLite models ──┐
                         ├──► Both complete, then Task 3 starts
Task 2b: Config loading ──┘

Atlas waits for all parallel tasks to pass verification before proceeding to dependent tasks.

Verification at Every Step

After each task, Atlas runs verification:

1. Build: Does the project compile?
2. Tests: Do existing tests still pass?
3. Lint: Does the code pass linting?
4. Diagnostics: Are there type errors or warnings?

If verification fails, Atlas:

• Reports the failure
• Asks the category agent to fix the issue
• Re-verifies before proceeding

When Atlas Runs

Atlas runs automatically after Prometheus creates a plan. You don't invoke Atlas directly — it's part of the /start-work pipeline.

/start-work "Build a bookmark API"
  → Prometheus creates plan
  → Atlas orchestrates execution
  → Sisyphus agents implement

Interacting with Atlas

You can intervene during orchestration:

• Pause: Ask a question or request clarification at any point
• Edit the plan: Modify .sisyphus/plans/*.md and Atlas will pick up changes
• Skip a task: Tell Atlas to skip a task and move to the next
• Retry: Ask Atlas to retry a failed task with different parameters

See Also

• Prometheus: Planner — Creates the plans Atlas executes
• Sisyphus: Executor — The agents Atlas delegates to
• Category Agents — What each category agent is optimized for
• Start a New Project — Full walkthrough showing Atlas in action