Quick Start

Now that you have @maestria/pi or @maestria/omp installed, here’s how to start your first session.

Full mode has a real coordination cost

Use the usage decision guide before activating fein. Direct execution or a single specialist is usually better for small changes, fast iteration, and expensive or slow models.

Start a Session

Open a new session in any project directory:

# Pi
pi

# OMP
omp

Once the session starts, the extension activates automatically and your platform’s resource loader injects its methodology skills into the system prompt.

Pick a Workflow Mode

The extension provides three workflow mode commands. Use them to tell the agent how to handle your request:

• /fein - Full pipeline: reconnaissance → design → implementation → review. Use for production-grade changes.
• /sonar - Research only: reconnaissance → design → STOP. No implementation. Use for discovery and feasibility.
• /blitz - Fast implementation: skip recon and review. Use for quick fixes in known territory.

You can invoke a mode with or without a task description:

fein Add user authentication
# or
/fein
Mode set to fein. Describe what you'd like to work on.

Auto-detect mode keywords: Slash commands (/fein, /sonar, /blitz) set the workflow mode and show a notification. Bare keywords (fein, sonar, blitz) typed at the start of a message set the mode and inject the mode prompt inline with your task description.

Note: Without a mode keyword, the agent operates with the orchestrator prompt as guidance but without tool-level enforcement. The dispatcher restriction activates only when you type fein, sonar, or blitz.

How Dispatch Works

Note

Pi dispatches specialists via maestria_subagent(agent, task) through the @gotgenes/pi-subagents extension. OMP dispatches specialists directly via its built-in task(agent: "...", task: "...") tool - no external dependency needed.

Dispatch behavior is platform-specific. Pi uses maestria_subagent through @gotgenes/pi-subagents; OMP also exposes its native task() tool. Their limits, context inheritance, and enforcement behavior are not interchangeable. See the Pi and OMP reference before designing a workflow around parallel or chained dispatch.

When a workflow mode activates enforcement, the current platform can restrict the main session to delegation tools. This is not a universal property of every session: mode-free sessions and specialist sessions have different tool access.

Your First Task

Try it with a simple request:

1. Start a session (pi or omp).
2. Type fein followed by your task (e.g. fein Add user authentication).
3. The extension activates the spec-driven orchestration pipeline:
   • The orchestrator receives your request and breaks it into phases.
   • Specialists (adventurer, architect, builder, reviewer) execute each phase via subagent dispatch.
   • Phase gates validate completion before the next stage begins.
4. Review the session tree output to see how each specialist contributed.

About Agent Switching

Unlike OpenCode (where the orchestrator is a separate agent you switch to via @orchestrator), Pi and OMP are single-agent platforms - the orchestrator IS the session. The mode keyword (fein/sonar/blitz) is the equivalent of switching to the orchestrator agent. There is no separate “switch to orchestrator” step.

What’s Next?

• Read the Installation Guide for setup options.
• Learn about the specialist subagents and their roles.