/massgen-develops-massgen

name: massgen-develops-massgen
description: Guide for using MassGen to develop and improve itself. This skill should be used when agents need to run MassGen experiments programmatically (using automation mode) OR analyze terminal UI/UX quality (using visual evaluation tools). These are mutually exclusive workflows for different improvement goals.

MassGen Develops MassGen

This skill provides guidance for using MassGen to develop and improve itself. Choose the appropriate workflow based on what you're testing.

Two Workflows

1. **Automation Mode** - Test backend functionality, coordination logic, agent responses 2. **Visual Evaluation** - Test terminal display, colors, layout, UX

---

Workflow 1: Automation Mode

Use this to test functionality without visual inspection. Ideal for programmatic testing.

Running MassGen with Automation

Run MassGen in the background (exact mechanism depends on your tooling):

uv run massgen --automation --config massgen/configs/basic/multi/two_agents_gemini.yaml "What is 2+2?"

**For MassGen agents**: Use `custom_tool__start_background_tool` targeting `mcp__command_line__execute_command`, then poll with `custom_tool__get_background_tool_status` / `custom_tool__get_background_tool_result`. **For Claude Code**: Use Bash tool's `run_in_background` parameter.

Why Automation Mode

| Feature | Benefit | |---------|---------| | Clean output | ~10 parseable lines vs 3,000+ ANSI codes | | LOG_DIR printed | First line shows log directory path | | status.json | Real-time monitoring file | | Exit codes | 0=success, 1=config, 2=execution, 3=timeout, 4=interrupted | | Workspace isolation | Safe parallel execution |

Expected Output

LOG_DIR: .massgen/massgen_logs/log_20251120_143022_123456
STATUS: .massgen/massgen_logs/log_20251120_143022_123456/status.json

🤖 Multi-Agent Mode
Agents: gemini-2.5-pro1, gemini-2.5-pro2
Question: What is 2+2?

============================================================
QUESTION: What is 2+2?
[Coordination in progress - monitor status.json for real-time updates]

WINNER: gemini-2.5-pro1
DURATION: 33.4s
ANSWER_PREVIEW: The answer is 4.

COMPLETED: 2 agents, 35.2s total

Parse `LOG_DIR` from the first line to find the log directory.

Monitoring Progress

Read the status.json file (updated every 2 seconds):

cat .massgen/massgen_logs/log_20251120_143022_123456/status.json

**Key fields:**

{
  "coordination": {
    "completion_percentage": 65,
    "phase": "enforcement"
  },
  "results": {
    "winner": null  // null = running, "agent_id" = done
  },
  "agents": {
    "agent_a": {
      "status": "streaming",
      "error": null
    }
  }
}

**Agent status values:** `waiting`, `streaming`, `answered`, `voted`, `completed`, `error`

Reading Results

After completion (exit code 0):

# Read final answer
cat [log_dir]/final/[winner]/answer.txt

Timing Expectations

• **Standard tasks**: 2-10 minutes
• **Complex/meta tasks**: 10-30 minutes
• **Check if stuck**: Read status.json - if `completion_percentage` increases, it's working

Advanced: Multiple Background Monitors

You can create multiple background monitoring tasks that run independently alongside the main MassGen process. Each monitor can track different aspects and write to separate log files for later inspection.

Approach

Create small Python scripts that run in background shells. Each script:

• Monitors a specific aspect (tokens, errors, progress, coordination, etc.)
• Writes timestamped data to its own log file
• Runs in a loop with `sleep()` intervals
• Can be checked anytime without blocking the main task

Example Monitor Scripts

**Token Usage Monitor** (`token_monitor.py`):

import json, time, sys
from pathlib import Path

log_dir = Path(sys.argv[1])  # Pass LOG_DIR as argument
while True:
    if (log_dir / "status.json").exists():
        with open(log_dir / "status.json") as f:
            data = json.load(f)
        with open("token_monitor.log", "a") as log:
            log.write(f"=== {time.strftime('%H:%M:%S')} ===\n")
            log.write(f"Tokens: {data.get('total_tokens_used', 0)}\n")
            log.write(f"Cost: ${data.get('total_cost', 0):.4f}\n\n")
    time.sleep(5)

**Error Monitor** (`error_monitor.py`):

import time, sys
from pathlib import Path

log_dir = Path(sys.argv[1])
while True:
    if log_dir.exists():
        with open("error_monitor.log", "a") as log:
            log.write(f"=== {time.strftime('%H:%M:%S')} ===\n")
            errors = []
            for logfile in log_dir.glob("*.log"):
                with open(logfile) as f:
                    for line in f:
                        if any(x in line.lower() for x in ['error', 'warning', 'failed']):
                            errors.append(line.strip())
            log.write('\n'.join(errors[-5:]) if errors else "No errors\n")
            log.write("\n")
    time.sleep(5)

**Progress Monitor** (`progress_monitor.py`):

import json, time, sys
from pathlib import Path

log_dir = Path(sys.argv[1])
while True:
    if (log_dir / "status.json").exists():
        with open(log_dir / "status.json") as f:
            data = json.load(f)
        with open("progress_monitor.log", "a") as log:
            log.write(f"=== {time.strftime('%H:%M:%S')} ===\n")
            progress = data.get('completion_percentage', 0)
            active = sum(1 for a in data.get('agents', {}).values()
                        if a.get('status') == 'active')
            log.write(f"Progress: {progress}% Active agents: {active}\n\n")
    time.sleep(5)

**Coordination Monitor** (`coordination_monitor.py`):

import json, time, sys
from pathlib import Path

log_dir = Path(sys.argv[1])
while True:
    if (log_dir / "status.json").exists():
        with open(log_dir / "status.json") as f:
            data = json.load(f)
        coord = data.get('coordination', {})
        with open("