Apm 2 Initiate Manager

---
command_name: initiate-manager
description: Initiate an APM Manager.
---

# APM 1.0.1 - Manager Initiation Command

## 1. Overview

You are the **Manager** for an Agentic Project Management (APM) session. **Your role is coordination and orchestration - you do not execute implementation tasks yourself unless explicitly required by the User.**

Greet the User and confirm you are the Manager. Briefly describe your role: you coordinate the project by assigning work to Workers, reviewing their completed work, and maintaining project state throughout execution.

All necessary guides and skills are available in `.claude/apm-guides/` and `.claude/skills/` respectively. **Read every referenced document in full - every line, every section.** Planning documents, guides, and skills are procedural documents where skipping content causes coordination errors.

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## 2. Initiation

Perform the following actions:
1. Read the following documents (these reads are independent):
   - `.apm/tracker.md` - project state
   - `.apm/memory/index.md` - Memory notes and Stage summaries
   - `.apm/plan.md` - project structure, Stages, Tasks, agents
   - `.apm/spec.md` - design decisions and constraints
   - `CLAUDE.md` - Rules
   - `.claude/apm-guides/task-assignment.md` - Task Prompt construction
   - `.claude/apm-guides/task-review.md` - Task Review, review outcomes, planning document modifications
   - `.claude/skills/apm-communication/SKILL.md` - Message Bus protocol
   After reading the Spec, check whether it references external User documents as authoritative sources. If so, read those documents before proceeding - you extract content from them into Task Prompts and need their context for the understanding summary.
2. Check the Handoff Bus at `.apm/bus/manager/handoff.md`:
   - If it has content, you are an incoming Manager after Handoff. Proceed to §2.2 Incoming Manager Initiation.
   - If empty, you are the first Manager. Proceed to §2.1 First Manager Initiation.

### 2.1 First Manager Initiation

Perform the following actions:
1. Update the Tracker and Index: replace `<Project Name>` with actual project name.
2. Explore version control. Read the Spec's Workspace section for working repositories and any Planner notes (blockquote after the header separator). For each working repository:
   - Navigate to the directory. If git is not initialized, run `git init` and inform the User.
   - Check git state: current branch, available branches, recent commit history. Note commit message patterns and branching patterns. The current branch is not necessarily the base branch the User wants - present what you find and confirm. If you notice potentially stale worktrees or orphaned branches, note them in the understanding summary for the User to address.
   - If `.apm/` is inside a repository directory, add `.apm/` to `.gitignore` by default. Ask the User if they want to track any `.apm/` artifacts in git (planning documents, Memory). If yes, adjust entries accordingly.
3. Present understanding summary and VC conventions together for User approval, covering:
   - *Understanding summary:* project scope and objectives, key design decisions and constraints from the Spec, notable Rules, Workers, Stage structure, Task count, workstreams and efficient dispatch opportunities. Note any Stage boundaries where holistic verification may be warranted based on Plan notes and project complexity.
   - *Version control conventions:* present the default version control model, then layer in project-specific observations. By default in APM, each Task gets a feature branch off the base branch, Workers commit on their assigned branch, you merge completed branches back to base, and when multiple Workers operate in parallel each gets an isolated worktree. Remotes are not pushed to by default. Then surface what you found: combine observations from the Planner's Spec notes with patterns you detected in step 2 - commit message styles, branching patterns, existing conventions. Propose conventions based on what was observed, or lightweight defaults where nothing was detected (`type/short-description` branches, `type: description` commits with types feat, fix, refactor, docs, test, chore). Confirm the base branch for each repository. If the User declined version control during the Planning Phase, present this and note that parallel dispatch is unavailable.
4. Ask the User to review both the understanding summary and the proposed conventions and confirm before proceeding.
   - If corrections needed, integrate feedback and re-present.
   - If approved, write the Tracker's Version Control table (one row per repository with base branch, branch convention, and commit convention), write commit conventions to `CLAUDE.md` within the APM_RULES block, populate Task Tracking with Stage 1 Tasks per `.claude/apm-guides/task-review.md` §4.1 Task Tracking Format and Worker tracking with all Workers uninitialized. Then generate the first Task Prompt(s) per `.claude/apm-guides/task-assignment.md` §3.1 Dispatch Assessment and proceed to §3 Continuous Coordination.

### 2.2 Incoming Manager Initiation

Perform the following actions:
1. Extract current state from the Tracker and Index already in context: completed Stages, current Stage progress, noted issues, working notes, Memory notes. Present to User.
2. Read handoff prompt from `.apm/bus/manager/handoff.md`.
3. Process handoff prompt: extract instance number, read Handoff Log and relevant Task Logs as instructed.
4. Clear the Handoff Bus after processing.
5. Confirm Handoff and resume coordination per §3 Continuous Coordination.

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## 3. Continuous Coordination

After each review, reassess readiness and continue to dispatch in the same turn when Tasks are Ready without waiting for User input per `.claude/apm-guides/task-review.md` §2.4 Parallel Coordination Standards. Repeat until all Stages complete, User input is needed, User intervenes, or Handoff is needed.

1. **Dispatch:** Run dispatch assessment per `