The Jenkins for your AI coding workflow.

“Red Queen is to Claude Code what Jenkins is to bash.”

A deterministic state machine shuttles tickets through spec → plan review → code → review → test → human review. You configure the phases, skills, and gates in YAML. The orchestrator itself spends zero AI tokens — it just shuttles work between workers and stops at the gates you set. Deterministic, like a build server.

Get Started Star on GitHub
npm install -g redqueen

Why Red Queen

You already have a coding agent. What you don't have is a deterministic pipeline to shuttle tickets through it — spec, plan review, code, review, test, human gates — while you're not looking. Red Queen is that pipeline. Configurable in YAML, auditable, and built on a state machine that spends zero tokens on routing.

You pay for code, not coordination

The state machine is pure deterministic logic — no LLM in the routing layer. Every token you spend goes to actual code work, not deciding what to do next.

Isolated skill workers

Each phase — spec writer, coder, reviewer, tester, comment-handler — runs a purpose-built prompt in isolation. Focused beats kitchen-sink.

Human-in-the-loop gates

Review checkpoints are first-class workflow configuration, not an afterthought. Add them, remove them, reorder them in redqueen.yaml.

Issue tracker native

Bidirectional sync with Jira and GitHub Issues. Work flows from your tracker through the pipeline and back. Linear on the roadmap.

Retry with escalation

Failed phases retry up to three times, then escalate to a human gate. No infinite loops. No runaway token bills.

Webhook + polling

Optional webhook server for instant response, with a polling reconciler that works out of the box. No external queue required.

User-overridable skills

Skills are markdown prompt templates. Drop SKILL.md into .redqueen/skills/<name>/ and your version wins over the built-in.

Adapter pattern

Every integration implements the IssueTracker or SourceControl interface. New trackers = new adapter, never a core change.

Works while you sleep

Background orchestrator keeps tickets moving through automated phases and parks work at human gates for when you're back at the keyboard.

How it works

You file a ticket. Claude writes a spec. An automated plan review scores it for blockers and ambiguity. You approve at the human gate. Claude writes the code and opens a PR. Another Claude reviews it. Another tests it. You review the final PR and merge. Jump in at any gate, or rip the gates out entirely.

Automated (AI worker) Human gate Terminal

Phases are dynamic — defined in redqueen.yaml, not baked into the code. Add a security-review gate. Remove the human spec-review and let plan-review auto-promote clean specs with skipSpecReviewIfReady. The graph is yours to shape.

What Red Queen is not

Red Queen sits above your coding agent — it doesn't replace it, host it, or manage its skills. If you've seen one of these, Red Queen is a different category of thing.

Not an agent host vs. opencode

Red Queen spawns claude CLI subprocesses and drives them through phases. It's the dispatcher, not the agent runtime.

Not a skill manager vs. agentskills.io

Our “skills” are phase prompt templates for the pipeline. They follow the agentskills.io format so they're portable, but Red Queen isn't a registry or loader for generic user skills.

Not a spec framework vs. OpenSpec

No persistent PRDs, no cross-session planning layer. Red Queen executes a ticket through a pipeline — complementary to spec frameworks, not a replacement.

Not an interactive coding tool vs. Claude Code, Aider

Red Queen runs in the background and moves tickets through phases while you're not looking. Use Claude Code or Aider for pair-programming at the keyboard.

Quickstart

From zero to your first AI-driven ticket in about 15 minutes.

  1. Install Claude Code and run claude --version. Red Queen dispatches Claude Code workers, so the CLI must be logged in.
  2. Install Red Queen: 
    npm install -g redqueen
  3. Generate a GitHub PAT at github.com/settings/personal-access-tokens/new with Contents, Issues, Pull requests, Workflows, Metadata permissions on your target repo.
  4. Initialize inside your repo: 
    redqueen init -y
  5. Add your token to .env: 
    GITHUB_PAT=ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  6. Start the orchestrator: 
    redqueen start
    Open http://127.0.0.1:4400 — the live dashboard.
  7. Open a test issue in GitHub and apply the rq:phase:spec-writing label. Watch the phases move.

Full docs, adapter guides, and configuration reference live in the GitHub README.

How Red Queen compares

Red Queen isn't a replacement for the tools below — it's the manager that delegates to them. It dispatches Claude Code today; the adapter pattern means swapping in other coding CLIs is a config change, not a rewrite.

Red Queen Claude Code (solo) Aider Cline / Roo Devin / OpenHands
Form factor Background orchestrator Interactive CLI Interactive pair IDE agent Autonomous agent
Orchestration Deterministic state machine You are the orchestrator You are the orchestrator IDE-driven loop LLM-driven loop
Human gates First-class, configurable Ad-hoc Ad-hoc Ad-hoc Minimal
Token cost for routing Zero N/A (you route) N/A (you route) Per decision Per decision
Works while you sleep Yes No No No Yes
Debuggable flow Read the state machine N/A N/A Hope the LLM explains Hope the LLM explains

FAQ

The questions you'd ask before adopting.

What is Red Queen?

A deterministic orchestrator for AI coding agents. It's a state machine that dispatches isolated AI workers through a complete software development lifecycle: spec writing, coding, review, testing, and human review. The orchestrator spends zero AI tokens on routing — all decisions are made by pure deterministic logic, not an LLM.

How is it different from Devin, Cline, or Aider?

Red Queen is to Claude Code what Jenkins is to bash — it sits above the coding agent and shuttles tickets through phases on a deterministic state machine. Devin, Cline, and Aider are coding agents you interact with directly. Red Queen is the pipeline that dispatches them in the background, with configurable human gates between phases. No LLM in the routing layer, so routing costs zero tokens and is fully debuggable.

Is this an agent host or skill manager like opencode / agentskills.io?

No. Red Queen spawns claude CLI subprocesses and drives them through a phase graph — it's a dispatcher, not an agent runtime or a generic skill registry. Our “skills” are phase prompt templates for the pipeline; they follow the agentskills.io frontmatter format so they're portable to any compatible client, but Red Queen itself does not load or manage user-installed skills.

How does this relate to OpenSpec?

OpenSpec is a spec / PRD framework — persistent planning artifacts across sessions. Red Queen is an execution pipeline — one ticket in, PR out. They're complementary, not competitive. You can absolutely feed OpenSpec-authored tickets into a Red Queen pipeline.

Do I need Claude Code?

Today, yes. Red Queen dispatches Claude Code workers. The adapter pattern makes adding support for other coding CLIs straightforward, and that's on the roadmap.

How much does it cost to run?

The orchestration itself is free — zero tokens spent on routing. Tokens are what your Claude subscription or API already charges for the actual code work.

Can I self-host?

Yes. Red Queen runs as a local Node.js 24+ process on your laptop or any server you own. No hosted service is required. Your code is only sent to the AI CLI you configure; Red Queen itself talks to GitHub or Jira over HTTPS.

Does it work with monorepos?

Yes — project.buildCommand and testCommand scope per-run, and per-module commands are configurable.

What happens if an AI worker gets stuck?

Phases retry up to three times and then escalate to a human gate. No infinite loops, no runaway bills.

Can I remove the human gates?

Yes — edit redqueen.yaml. Gates are configuration, not hardcoded.

Can I add my own skills?

Yes. Drop a SKILL.md at .redqueen/skills/<name>/ and it wins over the built-in. See the skills contract in the GitHub repository.

Which trackers are supported?

GitHub Issues, Jira, and GitHub (source control) ship today. Linear is on the roadmap.

Is this production-ready?

It's a v0.1 preview. Use it, file bugs, expect rough edges — the API surface is stable enough to build on.

Is Red Queen open source?

Yes — MIT-licensed, developed in the open at github.com/odyth/red-queen.

Stop orchestrating with LLMs.
Start commanding them.

Open source. Self-hosted. Deterministic. Star the repo, kick the tires, file bugs.

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