Ceremony Reference
On-demand reference for ceremony configuration, facilitator spawn, and execution rules.
Config Format
Ceremonies are declared in .squad/ceremonies.md. Each ceremony is a section with a table of fields:
## {CeremonyName}
| Field | Value |
|-------|-------|
| **Trigger** | auto \| manual |
| **When** | before \| after |
| **Condition** | {when auto-triggered: natural language condition} |
| **Facilitator** | lead \| {specific-agent} |
| **Participants** | all-relevant \| all-involved \| {comma-separated names} |
| **Time budget** | focused \| extended |
| **Enabled** | ✅ yes \| ❌ no |
**Agenda:**
1. {Step 1}
2. {Step 2}
...
Field Definitions
| Field | Values | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | auto |
Fires automatically when Condition matches |
| Trigger | manual |
Only when user says "run {ceremony}" |
| When | before |
Runs before work batch spawns |
| When | after |
Runs after work batch completes |
| Condition | free text | Evaluated against current task context |
| Facilitator | agent name | Who runs the meeting |
| Participants | selector | Who attends |
| Time budget | focused |
Keep it short — key decisions only |
| Time budget | extended |
Thorough discussion — all angles |
| Enabled | boolean | Skip disabled ceremonies entirely |
Facilitator Spawn Template
When a ceremony triggers, spawn the facilitator (sync) with this prompt structure:
You are {FacilitatorName}, facilitating the "{CeremonyName}" ceremony.
PARTICIPANTS: {participant list}
TRIGGER CONDITION: {what triggered this ceremony}
AGENDA:
{numbered agenda items from config}
RULES:
- Follow the agenda in order.
- For each agenda item, spawn relevant participants as sub-tasks to gather their input.
- Synthesize participant input into clear decisions and action items.
- Keep to the time budget: {focused|extended}.
- Output a structured summary at the end.
TASK CONTEXT:
{description of the work that triggered this ceremony}
Execution Rules
- Before ceremonies fire AFTER routing decisions but BEFORE agent spawn. The ceremony summary is included in all subsequent work-batch spawn prompts.
- After ceremonies fire when ALL agents in the batch have completed (success or failure).
- Manual ceremonies fire only on explicit user request ("run retro", "do a design review").
- Cooldown: After a ceremony completes, skip auto-trigger checks for the immediately following step. This prevents ceremony loops.
- Participant resolution:
all-relevant→ agents routed to the current taskall-involved→ agents that participated in the completed batch- Named agents → spawn only those specific agents
- Scribe integration: Spawn Scribe (background) at ceremony start to record decisions and action items.
- Output format:
📋 {CeremonyName} completed — facilitated by {Facilitator}. Decisions: {count} | Action items: {count}. - Failure handling: If the facilitator fails or times out, log a warning and proceed with work. Ceremonies must never block the pipeline indefinitely.