feat: add the-workshop plugin — multi-agent coordination with persistent desks by jennyf19 · Pull Request #2343 · github/awesome-copilot

jennyf19 · 2026-07-17T18:16:08Z

What

Adds the-workshop — a multi-agent coordination framework where long-running AI agents (desks) work in the same room, on the same work, each with its own memory and history.

Install

copilot plugin install the-workshop@awesome-copilot

Why it belongs here

The Workshop complements Ember (already on awesome-copilot):

Ember = partnership framework for ONE agent (how an AI shows up)
The Workshop = coordination framework for MANY agents (how a room works together)

Install both for the full stack.

Components

Type	Name	Description
Agent	Workshop TA	Room coordinator — sees all desks, routes work, tracks state
Skill	desk-open	Create a new desk with journal and folder structure
Skill	desk-journal	Read/write persistent memory across sessions
Skill	signal-write	Emit structured signals: hands-up, blocked, done, checkpoint
Skill	bench-read	Read shared artifacts from the workspace

Key concepts

Desks — long-running agents with persistent journals. Each has its own frame and equal standing to disagree with other desks.
The Bench — shared workspace where desks leave artifacts for each other.
Signals — structured state changes (hands-up, blocked, done, checkpoint).
The Cairn — operating disposition: stop is a valid finish, never bluff, equal standing. Read it →

Source

jennyf19/the-workshop — includes a canvas extension (signals dashboard) for the GHCP app.

Files

plugins/the-workshop/ — plugin entry (plugin.json + README)
agents/workshop-ta.agent.md — TA coordinator agent
skills/{desk-open,desk-journal,signal-write,bench-read}/ — skills
.github/plugin/marketplace.json — marketplace entry added

…ent desks The Workshop puts long-running AI agents (desks) in the same room, on the same work, each with its own memory and history, sharing one workspace so you direct the work instead of relaying it. Components: - Workshop TA agent (room coordinator) - Skills: desk-open, desk-journal, signal-write, bench-read - Marketplace entry for one-command install Install: copilot plugin install the-workshop@awesome-copilot Complements Ember (partnership for one agent) with coordination for many agents. Install both for the full stack. Source: https://github.com/jennyf19/the-workshop Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Copilot-Session: 26faf13e-639c-4a21-ac05-c0dc2bff7c62

github-actions · 2026-07-17T18:16:29Z

🟡 Contributor Reputation Check: MEDIUM risk

Check	Risk
Profile	MEDIUM
Credential audit	NONE

Maintainers: please review this contributor before merging.
See the workflow run for full details.
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github-actions · 2026-07-17T18:16:35Z

🔒 PR Risk Scan Results

Scanned 11 changed file(s).

Severity	Count
🔴 High	0
🟠 Medium	1
ℹ️ Info	0

Severity	Rule	File	Line	Match
🟠	`package-exec-command`	`docs/README.skills.md`	31	\| [acreadiness-assess](../skills/acreadiness-assess/SKILL.md)<br />`gh skills install github/awesome-copilot acreadiness-assess` \| Run the AgentRC readiness assessment on the curre

This is an automated soft-gate report. Findings indicate review targets and do not block merge by themselves.

github-actions · 2026-07-17T18:18:17Z

🔍 Vally Lint Results

⚠️ Warnings or advisories found

Scope	Checked
Skills	4
Agents	1
Total	5

Severity	Count
❌ Errors	0
⚠️ Warnings	0
ℹ️ Advisories	1

Summary

Level	Finding
ℹ️	Vally currently lints SKILL.md content. Agent files were detected but skipped:

Full linter output

### Linting skills/bench-read
npm warn EBADENGINE Unsupported engine {
npm warn EBADENGINE   package: 'commander@15.0.0',
npm warn EBADENGINE   required: { node: '>=22.12.0' },
npm warn EBADENGINE   current: { node: 'v20.20.2', npm: '10.8.2' }
npm warn EBADENGINE }
npm warn deprecated prebuild-install@7.1.3: No longer maintained. Please contact the author of the relevant native addon; alternatives are available.
✅ bench-read (2/2 checks passed)
    ✓ [spec-compliance] All 1 skill(s) are spec-compliant.
        ✓ spec-compliance: All spec checks passed.
    ✓ [valid-refs] All file references across 1 skill(s) are valid.
        ✓ valid-refs: All file references resolve to existing files within the skill directory.

1 skill(s) linted, 1 passed

### Linting skills/desk-journal
✅ desk-journal (2/2 checks passed)
    ✓ [spec-compliance] All 1 skill(s) are spec-compliant.
        ✓ spec-compliance: All spec checks passed.
    ✓ [valid-refs] All file references across 1 skill(s) are valid.
        ✓ valid-refs: All file references resolve to existing files within the skill directory.

1 skill(s) linted, 1 passed

### Linting skills/desk-open
✅ desk-open (2/2 checks passed)
    ✓ [spec-compliance] All 1 skill(s) are spec-compliant.
        ✓ spec-compliance: All spec checks passed.
    ✓ [valid-refs] All file references across 1 skill(s) are valid.
        ✓ valid-refs: All file references resolve to existing files within the skill directory.

1 skill(s) linted, 1 passed

### Linting skills/signal-write
✅ signal-write (2/2 checks passed)
    ✓ [spec-compliance] All 1 skill(s) are spec-compliant.
        ✓ spec-compliance: All spec checks passed.
    ✓ [valid-refs] All file references across 1 skill(s) are valid.
        ✓ valid-refs: All file references resolve to existing files within the skill directory.

1 skill(s) linted, 1 passed

### Agent files detected (not linted by vally)
ℹ️ Vally currently lints SKILL.md content. Agent files were detected but skipped:
agents/workshop-ta.agent.md

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds The Workshop plugin for coordinating persistent multi-agent desks through shared journals, artifacts, and signals.

Changes:

Adds the Workshop TA coordinator agent.
Adds four desk-management and signaling skills.
Adds plugin metadata, documentation, and marketplace registration.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 8 out of 8 changed files in this pull request and generated 8 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
`agents/workshop-ta.agent.md`	Defines the coordinator agent.
`skills/desk-open/SKILL.md`	Creates persistent desks.
`skills/desk-journal/SKILL.md`	Manages desk journals.
`skills/signal-write/SKILL.md`	Defines structured signals.
`skills/bench-read/SKILL.md`	Reads shared artifacts.
`plugins/the-workshop/README.md`	Documents installation and concepts.
`plugins/the-workshop/.github/plugin/plugin.json`	Declares plugin components.
`.github/plugin/marketplace.json`	Registers the plugin.

- Add YAML front matter to workshop-ta agent (name + description) - Fix agent path: use 'workshop-ta' not './agents/workshop-ta.agent.md' - Sort skills alphabetically in plugin.json - Make Cairn dashboard reference conditional (full plugin from source repo) - Update signal-write: write JSON to .signals/ AND note in journal - Add partnership signal type to signal-write skill - Inline CAIRN disposition in agent (treat external CAIRN.md as optional) - Run npm run build to regenerate marketplace.json and docs Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Copilot-Session: 26faf13e-639c-4a21-ac05-c0dc2bff7c62

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

- plugin.json: use ./agents/workshop-ta.md path format (matches all other plugins) - workshop-ta front matter: name 'Workshop TA' preserves acronym (was 'workshop-ta') - signal-write: add subtype field (hands-up/blocked/done/checkpoint/partnership) so dashboard consumers can distinguish specific signal states - npm run build: regenerated docs/README.agents.md Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Copilot-Session: 26faf13e-639c-4a21-ac05-c0dc2bff7c62

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

… contract - desk-open: standard desk structure now creates .signals/ directory (prevents first signal-write from failing on missing parent dir) - signal-write: note that dashboard reads subtype field, falls back to signal_type for backward compat Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Copilot-Session: 26faf13e-639c-4a21-ac05-c0dc2bff7c62

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

- desk-open: add 'Session orientation' section explaining the session→journal→signals lifecycle. Desks are long-running in state (journal), not runtime (each session is independent). - workshop-ta: partnership signals write to desks/_ta/.signals/ so they appear on the dashboard without replacing any desk's latest signal. TA uses the _ta prefix to indicate coordinator. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Copilot-Session: 26faf13e-639c-4a21-ac05-c0dc2bff7c62

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Never initialize over existing journal.md — if the desk directory already exists, resume it instead. Operator must explicitly rename or archive before reusing a desk name. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Copilot-Session: 26faf13e-639c-4a21-ac05-c0dc2bff7c62

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Copilot-Session: 26faf13e-639c-4a21-ac05-c0dc2bff7c62

…overlap Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Copilot-Session: 26faf13e-639c-4a21-ac05-c0dc2bff7c62

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

The .agent.md suffix leaked into the component ID registered with the marketplace. Renaming gives a clean 'workshop-ta' identifier while the frontmatter display name stays unchanged. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Copilot-Session: 26faf13e-639c-4a21-ac05-c0dc2bff7c62

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 10 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

The awesome-copilot validator (eng/validate-plugins.mjs:107-148) strips .md from the plugin.json path and appends .agent.md to find the source file. The rename to workshop-ta.md broke this convention. Reverting to workshop-ta.agent.md so validation, materialization, and README generation all work correctly. Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Copilot-Session: 26faf13e-639c-4a21-ac05-c0dc2bff7c62

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 11 out of 11 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

jennyf19 requested a review from aaronpowell as a code owner July 17, 2026 18:16

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings July 17, 2026 18:16

github-actions Bot added agent PR touches agents new-submission PR adds at least one new contribution plugin PR touches plugins skills PR touches skills labels Jul 17, 2026

github-actions Bot added the needs-review:MEDIUM Contributor reputation check flagged MEDIUM risk label Jul 17, 2026

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of jennyf19 July 17, 2026 18:16 View session