The latest articles on DEV Community by Karloos (@karloos). https://dev.to/karloos https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4139014%2Fec23a00c-5fe3-4411-a9fb-1e08233e2cac.png https://dev.to/karloos en Karloos Wed, 23 Sep 2026 08:33:56 +0000 https://dev.to/karloos/no-one-else-to-hand-the-busywork-to-so-i-built-my-own-crew-for-it-1ff3 https://dev.to/karloos/no-one-else-to-hand-the-busywork-to-so-i-built-my-own-crew-for-it-1ff3 <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fbbu3f2vn11sgyxcmkska.gif" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fbbu3f2vn11sgyxcmkska.gif" alt="orc-intro" width="800" height="267"></a></p> <p>The fifth time in a week I typed a branch name like <code>fix-2</code> and immediately regretted it, I stopped and counted: naming the branch, writing the commit, drafting the PR body, remembering what a review still owed me — the same chores, every single change, with nobody else on the project to catch any of it for me.</p> <h3> Where it started </h3> <p>Nine days ago I stopped tolerating it. I took the policy docs I already had — branch naming, commit format, PR templates — and turned them into something an agent could actually run:</p> <ul> <li> <strong><code>ship</code></strong> reads the real diff and opens a policy-compliant PR.</li> <li> <strong><code>roast</code></strong> reviews it against the repo's own rules, the way a strict human reviewer would.</li> <li> <strong><code>land</code></strong> checks mergeability and CI, merges, and cleans up after itself.</li> </ul> <h3> It didn't stop at three </h3> <ul> <li> <strong><code>warplan</code></strong> drafts a plan grounded in the repo's own precedent before I write anything.</li> <li> <strong><code>quest</code></strong> triages the issue first.</li> <li> <strong><code>reckoning</code></strong> logs why a review finding got declined instead of fixed, so it doesn't quietly vanish into scrollback.</li> <li> <strong><code>plunder</code></strong> reports real time-to-land and fix-vs-decline rates across every merged PR.</li> <li> <strong><code>muster</code></strong> flags stuck checks and merge conflicts across every repo I own, not just one.</li> <li> <strong><code>herald</code></strong> drafts release notes from what actually merged — no invented numbers, no guessed scope, every line cited from a real diff, commit, or PR.</li> </ul> <h3> It's also failed, honestly </h3> <p>A branch rename through GitHub's API once silently closed a PR instead of retargeting it, mid-session. It said so plainly, opened a fresh PR carrying the same commits, and moved on — no minimizing it, no quietly patching over it. That's closer to what I actually wanted than a tool that never admits a mistake.</p> <h3> The one rule that never moved </h3> <p>Nothing touches git or GitHub without me saying so, in that turn, every time. Default, not a suggestion — a repo owner can opt specific routine steps into a scoped <code>Autonomous Mode</code> if they want less friction, but merge, force-push, and delete stay gated no matter what.</p> <p>206 commits in, and every README change behind this very story went through that same <code>ship</code> → <code>roast</code> → <code>land</code> cycle before it landed. Same workflow, running identically in Claude Code, Codex, and Grok Build.</p> <p>If you're the solo dev with no one else to hand the busywork to, it's here: <strong><a href="https://github.com/karloows/orchraft" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/karloows/orchraft</a></strong></p> agentskills agents devtool productivity