Minimal Mode (No Tmux)

Minimal Mode lets you use Gas Town's persistence and tracking features without requiring Tmux or the full agent hierarchy. You manually spawn agents and manage work, while Gas Town provides hooks, beads, and convoy tracking. This is ideal for getting started, running on limited resources, or when you prefer hands-on control.

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When to Use This Workflow

• You do not have Tmux installed
• You are running on a machine with limited resources
• You want to learn Gas Town concepts incrementally
• You prefer direct control over each agent

Prerequisites

• Gas Town installed (gt CLI available)
• Beads installed (bd CLI available)
• At least one rig configured
• Claude Code (or compatible runtime) available

Overview

In Minimal Mode, you replace the automated agent hierarchy with manual commands. The key difference from the full Mayor Workflow is that you are the coordinator:

Step-by-Step

Step 1: Create Issues

Use the bd CLI to create beads for your work:

bd create --title "Fix login bug" --type bug --priority 1
# Created: gt-a1b2c

bd create --title "Add email validation" --type feature
# Created: gt-d3e4f

Step 2: Create a Convoy

Bundle the issues for tracking:

gt convoy create "Auth Fixes" gt-a1b2c gt-d3e4f
# Created: hq-cv-001

Step 3: Sling Work to a Hook

Attach the first issue to an agent's hook:

gt sling gt-a1b2c myproject

This does two things:

1. Updates the bead status to hooked
2. Attaches the bead ID to the target location's hook

Without Tmux

In Minimal Mode, gt sling may not auto-spawn a polecat if Tmux is unavailable. You will need to start the agent session manually in the next step.

Step 4: Start the Agent Manually

Open a terminal in the rig's working directory and start Claude Code:

cd ~/gt/myproject/polecats/toast  # Or crew/yourname for persistent workspace
claude

When Claude starts, it should run gt prime (via the SessionStart hook) and discover the work on its hook. If it does not auto-prime, tell it:

Run gt prime and check your hook for assigned work.

The agent will:

1. Run gt prime to load context
2. Run gt hook to find the assigned bead
3. Read the bead with bd show gt-a1b2c
4. Begin working on the task

Step 5: Monitor Progress

In a separate terminal:

# Check convoy progress
gt convoy show hq-cv-001

# Check bead status
bd show gt-a1b2c

# Check what's in the merge queue
gt mq list

Step 6: Handle Completion

When the agent finishes, it runs gt done which:

1. Pushes the branch
2. Submits to the merge queue
3. Cleans up the sandbox

If you are not running the Refinery, you may need to merge manually:

cd ~/gt/myproject/refinery/rig
git fetch origin
git merge --ff-only origin/polecat/toast
git push origin main

Step 7: Move to Next Issue

Repeat steps 3-6 for the next issue:

gt sling gt-d3e4f myproject
# Start a new agent session manually

Step 8: Check Convoy Completion

gt convoy show hq-cv-001
# If all issues done, convoy shows COMPLETED

Example Session

# 1. Create work items
$ bd create --title "Fix auth timeout" --type bug --priority 1
Created: gt-x1y2z

$ bd create --title "Add rate limiting" --type feature
Created: gt-a3b4c

# 2. Bundle into convoy
$ gt convoy create "Security Sprint" gt-x1y2z gt-a3b4c
Created: hq-cv-005

# 3. Sling first item
$ gt sling gt-x1y2z myproject

# 4. Start agent in another terminal
$ cd ~/gt/myproject/crew/dave
$ claude
# Agent reads hook, works on gt-x1y2z, runs gt done

# 5. Check progress
$ gt convoy show hq-cv-005
# gt-x1y2z: done
# gt-a3b4c: pending

# 6. Sling next item
$ gt sling gt-a3b4c myproject

# 7. Start agent again
$ cd ~/gt/myproject/crew/dave
$ claude
# Agent reads hook, works on gt-a3b4c, runs gt done

# 8. Convoy completes
$ gt convoy show hq-cv-005
# COMPLETED: 2/2 done

Scaling Up from Minimal Mode

Once you are comfortable with Minimal Mode, you can incrementally add automation:

Add Tmux

Install Tmux and let Gas Town manage sessions:

# Now gt sling will auto-spawn polecats
gt sling gt-a1b2c myproject
# Polecat spawns in a tmux pane automatically

Start the Witness

Let the Witness monitor your polecats:

gt witness start myproject

Start the Refinery

Let the Refinery handle merges:

gt refinery start myproject

Start the Full Stack

When ready, start everything:

gt start --all
gt mayor attach

You are now running the full Mayor Workflow.

Tips for Minimal Mode

Use Crew Workspaces

For persistent work, use crew workspaces (gt crew add myproject yourname) instead of polecat directories. Crew workspaces persist between sessions while polecat directories are ephemeral.

Always Push

Since you do not have the automated Refinery, always push your changes and sync beads before ending a session:

git push origin HEAD
bd sync

No Automatic Recovery

Without Witness and Deacon monitoring, stuck or crashed sessions will not be automatically detected. Check on your agents periodically.

Comparison with Full Workflow

Feature	Minimal Mode	Full Workflow
Bead tracking	Yes	Yes
Convoy tracking	Yes	Yes
Hook persistence	Yes	Yes
Auto-spawn polecats	No	Yes
Auto-merge (Refinery)	No	Yes
Health monitoring (Witness)	No	Yes
Coordination (Mayor)	No	Yes
Requires Tmux	No	Yes
Resource usage	Low	Higher