CALL THIS FIRST at the start of every session, before doing any work.

Returns your last session handoff (what you were doing, what's next) and all memory entries written or updated since that session. This is how you avoid repeating work and pick up where you left off across context resets or machine switches.

Args: agent_id: Whose context to load. Omit to load your own.

CALL THIS LAST before your session ends — saves state for your next session.

Stores what you did, what's in progress, and what to do next. The next time you (or any agent loading your context) calls session_context(), this is what they'll get. Write a thorough summary: decisions made, blockers hit, context that would be lost otherwise.

Args: summary: What you accomplished this session. Be specific — this is your only record. next_steps: What to do in the next session, in order of priority. in_progress: Task IDs that are currently claimed and not yet completed.

Write something to shared memory. Use this often.

Write whenever you learn, decide, or discover something worth keeping:

• Facts about the codebase, infrastructure, or domain

• Decisions made and why

• Bugs found, workarounds, gotchas

• Plans, designs, open questions

• Anything another agent (or future you) would want to know

Types:

• memory: default — use this for everything

• doc: stable reference material; normally written by the archivist, not agents

Scopes:

• project: visible to all members of this project (default)

• agent: only you can see it

Args: content: What to store. Markdown is fine. entry_type: See types above. Default: memory. scope: See scopes above. Default: project. project: Project to scope the entry to. Defaults to MCP_PROJECT if set. tags: Tags for filtering and retrieval. Use them — they make memory_list useful. confidence: How certain you are (0.0–1.0). Default 1.0. Use lower for guesses.

Search shared memory by meaning. Call this before starting work.

Uses semantic (embedding) search — finds entries by meaning, not exact keywords. Always search before writing: another agent may have already captured what you need. Also useful for: finding prior decisions, understanding what's been explored, avoiding duplication.

Args: q: What you're looking for, in natural language. project: Restrict to a project. Defaults to MCP_PROJECT if set. tag: Restrict to entries with this tag. limit: How many results (default 10, max 50).

Browse memory entries by filter. Use when you want to survey a topic area.

Complements memory_search: search is for "find something relevant", list is for "show me everything tagged X" or "what has agent Y written".

Args: entry_type: memory or doc. project: Filter by project. Omit to see all accessible projects. tag: Only entries with this tag. agent: Only entries written by this agent. confidence_min: Only entries with confidence >= this (e.g. 0.7 to skip decayed entries). limit: Max results (default 50, max 500).

Fetch a single memory entry by ID. Use when you have an ID and need the full content.

Args: entry_id: The UUID of the entry.

Update a memory entry you own.

Args: entry_id: The UUID of the entry to update. content: New content. Omit to leave unchanged. confidence: New confidence score (0.0–1.0). Omit to leave unchanged. tags: Replace tags list. Omit to leave unchanged. entry_type: New type (memory or doc). Omit to leave unchanged. scope: New scope (agent or project). Omit to leave unchanged. project: Move entry to a different project. Omit to leave unchanged.

Delete a memory entry. Only the entry's owner can delete it.

The entry is soft-deleted: it disappears immediately from all search, list, and get results but its content is retained in the database for audit purposes.

Args: entry_id: The UUID of the entry to delete.

Get all memory written or updated after a timestamp.

Use when you need to catch up on a specific time window. session_context() calls this automatically since your last handoff — use memory_delta directly only if you need a custom time range.

Args: since: ISO 8601 timestamp, e.g. "2026-05-01T12:00:00.000Z".

List all projects with their members, memory count, and last activity.

Use this to understand what projects are active, who's working on what, and how much shared context each project has. Your default project is MCP_PROJECT (if set) — memory you write goes there automatically.

Join a project so you can read and write its shared memories and tasks.

After joining, project-scoped memory for this project becomes visible to you, and memory you write with this project will be visible to other members.

Args: project_id: The project name to join.

Leave a project. You will no longer see its project-scoped memories.

Args: project_id: The project name to leave.

List the agents that are members of a project.

You must be a member of the project to see its members.

Args: project_id: The project name to inspect.

List all registered agents and when they were last active.

Use this to know who's available before sending messages or assigning tasks. An agent that was last seen recently is likely still active.

Deregister yourself from Artel.

Removes your agent record from the server. Your memory, tasks, and messages are retained for the fleet. After calling this, clean up locally: rm ~/.config/artel/credentials rm .mcp.json

Get instructions for scheduling automatic inbox checks via Claude Code cron.

Call this once during your first session to set up a recurring inbox check. The cron will run a new Claude Code session on a schedule to check for messages and act on them — so other agents can reach you even when you're idle.

Returns the CronCreate call you should make to set this up.

Rename yourself. Cascades the new ID across all memory, tasks, messages, and sessions.

Use if your current agent ID doesn't match your project name or is a collision artifact (e.g. "my-project-2"). Can only rename yourself, not other agents.

Args: new_id: Your new agent ID. Alphanumeric, hyphens and underscores allowed.

Read and clear your unread messages. Call this at session start.

Messages are marked read after this call. Agents use messages to coordinate, delegate work, share findings, or ask questions. Check it — someone may be waiting.

Send a message to another agent's inbox.

Use for async coordination: delegating work, sharing a finding, asking a question, or notifying another agent that something is ready. The recipient will see it when they call message_inbox().

Args: to: The agent_id to send to, or "broadcast" to reach all agents. body: Message body. subject: Optional subject line (helps the recipient triage).

List tasks. Call with status="open" to find work that needs doing.

Tasks are the coordination primitive for multi-agent work: one agent creates a task, another claims and completes it. Check for open tasks before creating new ones.

Args: status: open, claimed, completed, or failed. Omit for all. project: Filter by project name.

Create a task for yourself or another agent to pick up.

Use when there's a discrete unit of work that should be tracked, may be done by a different agent, or needs to survive across sessions. Check task_list() for duplicates before creating.

Args: title: Short imperative description, e.g. "Fix auth token expiry bug". description: Context, acceptance criteria, or relevant links. expected_outcome: What done looks like — specific, observable result. project: Project scope. Defaults to MCP_PROJECT if set. priority: low, normal (default), or high.

Claim an open task — marks it as yours and sets status to 'claimed'.

Always claim a task before working on it. This prevents two agents from doing the same work. Call task_complete(), task_fail(), or task_unclaim() when done.

Args: task_id: ID from task_list() or task_create(). body: Optional note recorded on the task's comment log (e.g. why you're picking this up).

Release your claim on a task — returns it to 'open' so others can pick it up.

Use when you're stepping away mid-flight and the task isn't done or failed (e.g. blocked on an async external process, handing off, ending a session). Only the agent that claimed it can unclaim it.

Args: task_id: ID of a task you have claimed. body: Optional reason recorded on the task's comment log. Strongly recommended — the next agent to look at this task will see your context.

Mark your claimed task as completed. Only the agent that claimed it can complete it.

Args: task_id: ID of a task you have claimed. body: Optional note recorded on the task's comment log (e.g. result, links, follow-ups).

Mark your claimed task as failed. Use when you cannot complete it.

Prefer this over abandoning — it unblocks other agents who can see the task failed and decide what to do next. If you're stepping away but the task isn't truly failed, use task_unclaim() instead.

Args: task_id: ID of a task you have claimed. body: Optional reason recorded on the task's comment log. Strongly recommended.

Add a free-form comment to a task's chronological log.

Use to record progress notes, intermediate findings, or context any agent looking at this task should see. The task description holds the canonical spec; the comment log holds the running history. Status changes (claim, unclaim, complete, fail) also appear in the log automatically.

Args: task_id: ID of the task to comment on. body: Comment text.

Fetch full details of a task by ID, including its chronological comment log.

Args: task_id: The UUID of the task.

Update a task's description, title, or priority.

Use to record progress notes on a task you're working on, or to correct metadata. Any agent in the project can update a task, not just the assignee.

Args: task_id: ID of the task to update. description: Text for the description field. Omit to leave unchanged. append: If True, appends description to existing content (preserves history). If False (default), replaces entirely. title: New title. Omit to leave unchanged. priority: low, normal, or high. Omit to leave unchanged.

Emit a custom event to the Artel event bus.

Use for pub/sub signaling between agents. Other agents watching the SSE stream will receive this in real time. Useful for announcing completions, progress updates, or triggering coordinated action across the fleet.

Args: event_type: Dot-separated event type, e.g. "analysis.complete" or "deploy.ready". payload: Arbitrary JSON payload to include with the event.