Auto-Dispatch (Symphony Mode)

Auto-dispatch (internally called Symphony Mode) polls your task board, picks the highest-priority ready task, and dispatches it to an available agent session — fully autonomously.

Quick Start

{
  "auto_dispatch": {
    "enabled": true,
    "poll_interval_ms": 5000,
    "max_concurrent": 3,
    "provider": "kiro",
    "terminal_states": ["done", "cancelled"],
  },
}

How It Works

The dispatch loop follows four phases:

Poll — checks the task board for tasks in a ready state on each interval
Dispatch — assigns the highest-priority ready task to a free session slot
Reconcile — monitors running sessions for completion signals
Notify — fires lifecycle hooks and updates task status

Configuration Reference

Field	Type	Default	Description
`enabled`	`boolean`	`false`	Enable auto-dispatch
`poll_interval_ms`	`number`	`5000`	Milliseconds between task board polls
`max_concurrent`	`number`	`3`	Maximum simultaneous agent sessions
`provider`	`string`	—	Provider to use for dispatched sessions
`terminal_states`	`string[]`	`["done"]`	Task statuses that mean “finished”

Behavior Details

Yolo Mode

When auto-dispatch launches a session, it appends the provider’s yolo_flag so agents run without asking for confirmation. This enables fully unattended execution.

Git Worktrees

Each dispatched task gets its own git worktree, created automatically from the current main branch. Tasks run in complete isolation — no merge conflicts between parallel agents.

Concurrency

max_concurrent caps the number of simultaneously running sessions. When a slot opens (task completes or is cancelled), the next ready task is dispatched.

Blocked Tasks

Tasks with unmet dependencies (blockers) are skipped during polling. They become eligible once all blockers reach a terminal state.

Reconciliation

planeai watches each session for completion markers (exit code 0, or a configurable output pattern). On detection, it moves the task to done and fires on_complete.

No Auto-Retry

Failed tasks are not retried automatically. They move to a failed state and require manual intervention or an explicit restart.

Startup Recovery

On app launch, planeai re-attaches to any tmux sessions from a previous run and resumes reconciliation. No work is lost across restarts.

GUI Indicators

Session badge — shows “auto” for dispatched sessions
Task board — live status with elapsed time per task
Notification bell — alerts on task completion or failure

CLI Commands

Control auto-dispatch from the command menu (Cmd+K / Ctrl+K):

Command	Description
`dispatch:start`	Start the dispatch loop
`dispatch:stop`	Pause dispatching
`dispatch:status`	Show current dispatch state
`dispatch:next`	Manually dispatch next task