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root-heavy-command

Off by default: once a workspace turns it on, it reports a main thread running delegable commands one after another without spawning.

What it catches

A main thread running delegable commands one after another without spawning.

Why

A recursive search, a whole-file read of source, a full diff, a target run or a web fetch is work a subagent does from a small context, returning only what matters. Each delegable call since the main thread last spawned or continued a subagent counts; at standard it advises once at the eighth, and at strict at the fifth. It never refuses, and it judges only a session with no record of handing work out: it is the nudge to start, and a session already orchestrating is judged by orchestrator-groundwork. Spawning, the final gate, loading a skill, reading Markdown and editing never count, and neither does a command whose output is a ref or one line: the bootstrap build command, magus run or magus affected with -s or --silent, magus run go-build or go::go-build, magus job fork, exit, apply and wait, magus query output --identity, any magus command asked for -o name or -o template=, git commit, cherry-pick and branch, git status -s, and git log --oneline with a count (-n, --max-count or -N). Reading a run's whole output with magus query output does count. A calls parameter replaces the level's count.

Default and override

By default this rule takes the decision off. A workspace sets it by name, in its root magusfile, to advise or off:

magus\guard.builtins({"root-heavy-command": "advise"})

A loosening takes effect once it is committed; a tightening applies at once.

Seeing it

A verdict names its rule in brackets, which is how you got here:

advise [root-heavy-command]: ...

magus describe rule root-heavy-command prints the same entry at a terminal, and magus describe rules lists every rule this workspace enforces.

See also

ReferencePages in this section. orchestrator-groundwork: a session that hands out work doing its own groundwork: reads, searches, edits, runsA deny rule by default: it refuses a session that hands out work doing its own groundwork: reads, searches, edits, runs, and names what to run instead. magus moduleMagus core primitives. magus affectedRun a target for every project affected by a VCS diff, with forensic modes for explain, graph, CI shard plan, and regression bisect.
guardrulesroot-heavy-commandoff
Last updated (29d8b3de)
Glossary

Workspace

The magus root directory that owns a set of projects and shared config; the unit magus operates over. Workspace in full.

Magusfile

The magusfile.buzz that declares a project's targets (as export funs) and binds its spells. Magusfile in full.

Target

A named operation (build, test, ...) you invoke with magus run <target>; it may compose a spell's tool-native operations and depend on other targets. Target in full.

Buzz

The language magusfiles are written in (the .buzz engine). Buzz in full.

Affected

The set of projects touched by a change; magus affected <target> runs a target only over them. Affected in full.

CI

An ordinary target you compose yourself with ctx.needs; magus does not hardcode its stages. It is the anchor magus affected ci keys off, and ci strips the rw charm. CI in full.

Agent

A model working through an agent host such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or OpenCode. magus treats an agent as one more caller of its CLI, MCP tools and console, held to the same checks as a person. Agent in full.

Skill

A packaged set of instructions an agent host loads when a task matches its description: a directory holding a SKILL.md. magus ships its magus-* skills in the binary and writes them with magus agent install. Skill in full.

Session

An agent host's conversation, by the id the host delivers to its hooks. magus never mints one: a record with no session is unattributed, and the OS user it carries says whose account ran it. Session in full.

Job

The unit of delegated work, and one row of the job store: what an orchestrating agent handed out, with its goal, the checkpoint it was cut against, the paths it may write or must not touch, and the one check it runs. A job's holder is either a session, for work an orchestrator handed out, or the daemon, for its own maintenance. The store records; the agent guard is what reads those facts back when grading a write. Job in full.

Run

One target executing under one magus invocation, such as magus run test web or magus affected ci. A run keeps its captured output behind an output reference. Every magus run is a run whether or not any job asked for it; see Job for how the two relate. Run in full.

Conventions

This page uses none of the site's convention markers. The full set is on the conventions page.