# MeshSeeks Real-Time Status Board
The MeshSeeks Status Board provides live visual feedback during multi-agent operations, preventing the appearance of hanging or frozen processes.
## 🎯 Problem Solved
Without a status board, users experience:
- ❌ **Black screen syndrome** - No indication of progress during long operations
- ❌ **Uncertainty** - Not knowing if the system is working or hung
- ❌ **No visibility** - Can't see which agents are active or what they're doing
- ❌ **Poor debugging** - No insight into bottlenecks or failures
## ✅ Status Board Solution
The MeshSeeks Status Board provides:
- ✅ **Live updates** - Real-time progress display updating every second
- ✅ **Agent tracking** - See which agents are active, idle, or completed
- ✅ **Task visibility** - Track task progress and dependencies
- ✅ **Performance metrics** - Throughput, success rates, and timing
- ✅ **Recent activity** - Log of recent events and status changes
## 📊 Status Board Display
```
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 🟦 MeshSeeks Multi-Agent Network Status │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ⏱️ Uptime: 2m15s │ 🤖 Agents: 3 │ 📊 Tasks: 8/12 │ ⚡ 4.2/min │
│ Overall Progress: ████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 67% │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 🤖 ACTIVE AGENTS │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ ⚡ agent123 analysis Analyzing code structure... 1m23s │
│ ⚡ agent456 implementation Implementing JWT auth... 45s │
│ ⚡ agent789 testing Creating unit tests... 28s │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 📋 TASK QUEUE │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 🔄 Analyze authentication system agent123 ████████░░ │
│ 🔄 Implement JWT middleware agent456 ██████░░░░ │
│ 🔄 Create comprehensive tests agent789 ███░░░░░░░ │
│ ⏳ Generate API documentation unassigned │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 📝 RECENT ACTIVITY │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 14:32:15 ✅ Task completed: Database schema analysis │
│ 14:31:58 🔄 Agent agent456: working - Implementing JWT auth... │
│ 14:31:42 📈 Generated 5 specialized tasks │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 💡 Press Ctrl+C to stop │ Updates every 1s │ 🔄 Live Status │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```
## 🚀 Usage
### 1. Automatic Integration
The status board automatically starts when using MeshSeeks tools:
```bash
# Status board shows automatically during mesh operations
npm run dev:mesh
```
### 2. Demo Mode
See the status board in action with a full simulation:
```bash
# Run interactive demo showing all status board features
npm run demo:status
```
### 3. Manual Integration
Use the status board in your own code:
```typescript
import { getStatusBoard, stopStatusBoard } from './status-board.js';
const statusBoard = getStatusBoard();
// Register agents
statusBoard.registerAgent('agent-001', 'analysis');
statusBoard.updateAgentStatus('agent-001', 'working', 'Analyzing code', 0);
// Track tasks
statusBoard.addTask('task-1', 'Implement feature', []);
statusBoard.updateTaskStatus('task-1', 'running', 50, 'agent-001');
// Add events
statusBoard.addProgressUpdate('Starting analysis phase...');
statusBoard.showSuccess('Analysis completed successfully!');
// Cleanup when done
stopStatusBoard();
```
## 📈 Status Board Features
### Agent Tracking
- **Registration** - Agents are registered when spawned
- **Status Updates** - Track idle, working, completed, failed states
- **Progress Monitoring** - See task progress with percentage completion
- **Automatic Cleanup** - Agents removed when tasks complete
### Task Management
- **Task Queue** - Visual queue showing pending and active tasks
- **Dependency Tracking** - Shows task dependencies and blocking relationships
- **Progress Bars** - Visual progress indicators for running tasks
- **Status Icons** - Clear visual indicators for task states
### Real-Time Metrics
- **Uptime** - How long the mesh network has been running
- **Active Agents** - Number of agents currently working
- **Task Progress** - Completed vs total tasks
- **Throughput** - Tasks completed per minute
- **Memory Usage** - Current memory consumption
### Activity Logging
- **Recent Events** - Last few status updates and changes
- **Timestamped** - All events include precise timestamps
- **Error Tracking** - Failures and warnings prominently displayed
- **Success Notifications** - Completed tasks and milestones
## 🔧 Configuration
### Environment Variables
```bash
# Enable MeshSeeks personality catchphrases in status updates
MESHSEEKS_CATCHPHRASE=true
# Adjust status board update frequency (milliseconds)
STATUS_BOARD_UPDATE_INTERVAL=1000
# Hide status board (for automated/headless use)
NO_STATUS_BOARD=true
```
### Status Board API
```typescript
interface StatusBoard {
// Agent management
registerAgent(id: string, role: AgentRole): void;
updateAgentStatus(id: string, status: AgentStatus, task?: string, progress?: number): void;
removeAgent(id: string): void;
// Task management
addTask(id: string, name: string, dependencies: string[]): void;
updateTaskStatus(id: string, status: TaskStatus, progress: number, agent?: string): void;
setTaskProgress(id: string, progress: number): void;
// Event logging
addProgressUpdate(message: string): void;
showSuccess(message: string): void;
showError(message: string): void;
showWarning(message: string): void;
// Batch updates for efficiency
batchUpdate(updates: BatchUpdate): void;
// Status and cleanup
getStatus(): StatusSnapshot;
stop(): void;
}
```
## 🎭 Demo Scenarios
### 1. E-commerce Project Enhancement
```bash
npm run demo:status
```
Shows a realistic scenario with:
- Analysis agents examining authentication, API, database, security
- Implementation agents building features in parallel
- Testing agents validating functionality
- Documentation agent generating final docs
### 2. Test Suite Execution
```bash
npm run test:all
```
Status board shows:
- Unit test agents validating coordinator functionality
- Integration test agents testing MCP server tools
- Performance test agents measuring scalability
- Error handling agents testing failure scenarios
### 3. Custom Workflow
Create your own status board demo:
```typescript
const statusBoard = getStatusBoard();
// Add your custom workflow here
statusBoard.addProgressUpdate('Starting custom workflow...');
// Register agents for your specific use case
statusBoard.registerAgent('custom-agent-1', 'analysis');
// Track your tasks and progress
statusBoard.addTask('custom-task', 'Custom task description', []);
```
## 🔍 Troubleshooting
### Status Board Not Showing
```bash
# Check if NO_STATUS_BOARD is set
echo $NO_STATUS_BOARD
# Verify terminal supports ANSI escape codes
echo -e "\x1b[32mColor test\x1b[0m"
# Run demo to test status board
npm run demo:status
```
### Display Issues
- **Flickering**: Terminal may not support cursor positioning
- **Overlapping text**: Terminal width too narrow (need 70+ columns)
- **No colors**: Terminal doesn't support ANSI colors
- **Performance**: Reduce update frequency in high-load scenarios
### Performance Impact
The status board is designed to be lightweight:
- **CPU**: <1% overhead for display updates
- **Memory**: ~5MB for tracking data structures
- **Network**: No network calls (local display only)
- **Updates**: Throttled to prevent excessive rendering
## 📱 Terminal Compatibility
### ✅ Fully Supported
- **macOS Terminal** - Full support with colors and positioning
- **iTerm2** - Excellent support with all features
- **Windows Terminal** - Good support on Windows 11
- **VS Code Terminal** - Full support in integrated terminal
- **Linux terminals** - Most modern terminals (xterm, gnome-terminal)
### ⚠️ Limited Support
- **Windows Command Prompt** - Basic support, limited colors
- **SSH sessions** - May have reduced functionality
- **CI/CD environments** - Automatic disable in headless mode
### ❌ Not Supported
- **Very old terminals** - No ANSI escape code support
- **Width < 70 columns** - Display will be corrupted
- **Headless environments** - Auto-disabled when NO_STATUS_BOARD=true
## 🎪 Live Demo Preview
Here's what you'll see in the demo:
```
Phase 1: Analysis (0-30s)
🤖 Spawning 4 analysis agents
📊 Analyzing auth, API, database, security in parallel
📈 Real-time progress bars for each task
Phase 2: Implementation (30s-90s)
🤖 Spawning 4 implementation agents
🔧 Building JWT auth, REST API, DB models, security
⏳ Realistic delays and debugging pauses
Phase 3: Testing (90s-150s)
🤖 Spawning 3 testing agents
🧪 Unit tests, integration tests, E2E tests
⚠️ Simulated test failures and retries
Phase 4: Documentation (150s-180s)
🤖 Documentation agent generates API docs
📚 Final documentation and cleanup
Phase 5: Completion (180s+)
✅ Success summary with final metrics
🎉 Ready for deployment message
```
The status board provides complete visibility into this complex multi-agent workflow, ensuring users never wonder if the system is working or hung.
## 🔮 Future Enhancements
- **Web Dashboard** - Browser-based status board for remote monitoring
- **Metrics Export** - Export performance data to monitoring systems
- **Custom Themes** - Configurable colors and layouts
- **Agent Debugging** - Detailed agent logs and performance profiling
- **Resource Monitoring** - CPU, memory, and disk usage tracking
- **Alerting** - Notifications for failures or performance issues
The MeshSeeks Status Board transforms the user experience from uncertainty to confidence, providing clear visual feedback that sophisticated multi-agent operations are proceeding as expected.
