Quick Reference

A handy cheat sheet for APM sessions. All the commands, file paths, and workflows in one place.

APM Commands

You run these as slash commands in your Agent conversations:

Command	What it does
/apm-1-initiate-planner	Start the Planner (you can pass project context as an argument)
/apm-2-initiate-manager	Start the Manager
/apm-3-initiate-worker <id>	Start a Worker with the given identifier (e.g. frontend-agent)
/apm-4-check-tasks	Deliver a Task Prompt to the current Worker
/apm-5-check-reports	Deliver a Task Report to the Manager (add a Worker id to target a specific one)
/apm-6-handoff-manager	Initiate Manager Handoff before context fills
/apm-7-handoff-worker	Initiate Worker Handoff before context fills
/apm-8-summarize-session	Generate a structured session summary (new conversation, or current Manager chat if context allows)
/apm-9-recover <role>	Reconstruct context after compaction (e.g. manager or frontend-agent)

CLI Commands

You run these in your terminal from the project workspace:

Command	What it does
apm init	Initialize APM with official templates
apm custom -r owner/repo	Initialize from a custom repository
apm update	Update templates to the latest compatible version
apm archive	Archive current session to .apm/archives/
apm archive --name my-feature	Archive with a custom name
apm add -a copilot	Add an assistant to an existing installation
apm remove -a copilot	Remove an assistant
apm status	Show current installation state

APM Project Structure

This is what .apm/ looks like during a session:

.apm/
├── spec.md              # What to build (design decisions, constraints, workspace)
├── plan.md              # How work is organized (Stages, Tasks, dependencies)
├── tracker.md           # Live project state (the Manager's dashboard)
├── metadata.json        # Installation metadata (source, version, assistants)
├── memory/
│   ├── index.md         # Durable observations and Stage summaries
│   ├── stage-01/        # Task Logs for Stage 1
│   │   ├── task-01-01.log.md
│   │   └── task-01-02.log.md
│   └── handoffs/        # Handoff Logs per Agent
│       ├── manager/
│       └── frontend-agent/
├── bus/                  # Message Bus (file-based Agent communication)
│   ├── manager/
│   │   └── handoff.md
│   └── frontend-agent/
│       ├── task.md       # Task Prompt (Manager to Worker)
│       ├── report.md     # Task Report (Worker to Manager)
│       └── handoff.md    # Handoff Prompt
└── archives/             # Archived sessions from previous runs

The Rules file lives outside .apm/ - it's written to your platform's rules file (e.g. CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, GEMINI.md) so your assistant reads it automatically.

Planning Phase

1. Start the Planner - Open a new Agent conversation, run /apm-1-initiate-planner
2. Answer questions - Three rounds covering vision, requirements, and implementation approach
3. Approve the Understanding Summary - Verify the Planner understands the project
4. Review planning documents - Approve the Spec, then the Plan, then the Rules
5. Done - The Planner initializes the Message Bus. Open a new conversation for the Manager.

Implementation Phase

1. Start the Manager - Run /apm-2-initiate-manager, review and approve its Understanding Summary
2. Manager dispatches - It writes a Task Prompt and tells you which Worker to go to
3. Start or switch to the Worker - Run /apm-3-initiate-worker <id> for new Workers, or /apm-4-check-tasks for existing ones
4. Worker executes - It follows the Task Prompt, validates results, and logs the outcome
5. Carry the report - Run /apm-5-check-reports in the Manager's conversation
6. Manager reviews - Proceeds, issues a follow-up, or modifies planning documents
7. Repeat - Steps 2-6 cycle until all Stages complete

Handoff

When an Agent's context fills or quality degrades:

1. Run /apm-6-handoff-manager or /apm-7-handoff-worker in the outgoing conversation
2. Open a new conversation for the same role
3. Run the same initiation command - the incoming Agent auto-detects the Handoff

Handoff produces cleaner context than recovery (/apm-9-recover), so prefer it when you can anticipate the limit.

After Completion

When the Manager finishes all Stages, you can archive the session and start fresh. Archives are preserved so future Planners can build on past work.

apm archive                        # snapshot .apm/ to archives, clean workspace
apm init                           # start a new session (the Planner detects past archives)

You can also run /apm-8-summarize-session first to generate a summary that future Planners can reference.