polywave

Free

Parallel agent coordination with structural merge safety. Scout decomposes, Wave agents implement in isolated worktrees with disjoint file ownership. Same protocol on Claude Code and Codex.

FreeFree tier

Inputs: code, textOutputs: code

Type

Open Source

Company

blackwell-systems (GitHub organization)

Visit Website GitHub (40 stars)

About polywave

Polywave for Codex CLI is an open-source implementation of the Polywave protocol that enables parallel AI agent coordination with structural merge safety. It provides a Codex skill, custom agent definitions, and enforcement hooks allowing agents to work concurrently on the same codebase without conflicts via disjoint file ownership and worktree isolation. The current blessed workflow uses a Scout agent to decompose tasks into implementation plans, followed by Wave agents that execute each plan in isolated worktrees. While designed for Codex CLI, the same protocol also runs on Claude Code. Status is usable alpha, with single-session wave execution not yet viable in the tested runtime.

Key Features

Parallel agent coordination with structural merge safety

Disjoint file ownership prevents conflicting edits across agents

Worktree isolation for each wave agent's implementation

Scout agent decomposes tasks into validated IMPL manifests

Wave agents execute plans in isolated worktrees via shell scripts

Same protocol works on both Claude Code and Codex CLI

Enforcement hooks integrate into Codex CLI configuration

Uses polywave-tools CLI for plan validation and initialization

Pros & Cons

Pros

Prevents code conflicts inherent in parallel AI development
Open-source and free to use under MIT license
Extensible protocol with separate implementations for Claude Code and Codex
Uses existing CLI tools (polywave-tools) for validation and initialization
Active development with clear roadmap and documentation

Cons

Currently in alpha status and not production-ready
Single-session wave execution not yet viable in Codex CLI runtime
Setup requires manual configuration of Codex hooks and config file
Workflow is sequential (scout then wave) rather than fully parallel in-session
Requires external dependencies: Git 2.20+, jq 1.6+, polywave-tools CLI

Best For

Adding caching layers to API clients with parallel agent coordinationImplementing multiple independent features concurrently without merge conflictsRefactoring large codebases by delegating sub-tasks to isolated AI agentsPrototyping multi-agent code generation workflows on open-source projects

FAQ

What is Polywave?

Polywave is a protocol for coordinating parallel AI agents with structural merge safety. It ensures agents working on the same codebase do not override each other's changes by enforcing disjoint file ownership and worktree isolation.

How does Polywave prevent agent conflicts?

Each wave agent is assigned exclusive ownership over specific files (disjoint file ownership). Agents operate in isolated Git worktrees, so their changes never directly collide. A structural merge step then safely integrates the results.

Is Polywave production-ready?

No. The current status is 'usable alpha'. The blessed flow uses scout in-session and wave execution via shell scripts. Single-session wave execution is not yet viable in the tested Codex runtime.

What tools does Polywave require?

You need Codex CLI, Git 2.20+, jq 1.6+, and the polywave-tools CLI (available via Homebrew or Go install).