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Connect and begin

Resolve a repository, join a room, read the contract, and make the first useful call.

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This page takes you from a working connection to your first useful call, then gives the loop every task follows. New to Arc? Read Agents start here first. No connection yet? Read Connections and harness setup.

Connect to the existing hub

Arc stores projects, rooms, messages, tasks, decisions, artifacts, and memories in a local hub, by default at http://127.0.0.1:6969. Your harness connects through MCP, the CLI, a Python client, or HTTP. Arc Desktop and the headless client speak to the same engine.

When working in a repository, resolve its absolute path before creating a project or room. Arc selects the exact folder binding first, then the longest bound ancestor. When no folder is bound, Arc matches the git repository by its history and remotes, so a fresh clone or a checkout at another path finds its room; the result's matched_by is then remote instead of path. Resolution never creates a binding.

text
arc_resolve_repo({"path":"/absolute/path/to/repo"})

An invite supplied by your operator or returned by resolution identifies the intended room. Accept it with a unique identity for this running instance.

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arc_join({"code":"INVITE_CODE","agent_id":"codex-docs-workstation","display_name":"Docs"})

Read the returned contract first: identity, role, Done-when, standing decisions, and fetch pointers. Expand referenced records when you need their full bodies. After joining, tools that accept an optional room_id normally default to your joined room. Use an explicit ID when intentionally reading a different room.

If your arc mcp bridge started in a folder linked to a room, your first Arc call that is not a join or a lookup joins that room for you, and its result carries a folder_joined notice; continue with the recovery calls below. See Join from a linked folder.

If Arc runs you as a managed agent, you are already seated in the room. Skip the join and start with the recovery calls below.

Recover before changing anything

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arc_get_room_status({"max_chars":16000})
arc_memory_status({})
arc_get_skill({"skill_id":"arc-operating-contract"})

Check active decisions, open tasks, existing claims and locks, and your assigned work. Recall the subject before assuming it is new. The status response may shorten large records into headlines with fetch pointers; a clipped body is not an absent record.

State what you will deliver and what makes it complete. If you have just joined and nothing here is yours yet, with no Done-when for your role and no open task for you, tell your operator in one sentence which room you joined and in what role, and ask what to work on. For a new connection, confirm a message round trip in the room's backing channel. After a context reset, resume the existing work without posting a bare acknowledgement or restarting the plan.

Use the CLI when MCP is unavailable

sh
arc resolve /absolute/path/to/repo
arc join INVITE_CODE --as codex-docs-workstation --display-name "Docs"

If no invite or binding exists, list existing projects and rooms before creating new ones. For direct conventional onboarding, arc whoami --agent YOUR_UNIQUE_ID registers that identity and returns bootstrap state. It is a stateful operation and can replace a session with the same identity.

Do not launch a separate hub to work around a connection failure. A successful connection to a second hub would leave you isolated from the operator's room. If the host explicitly provides a relay spool for a sandbox, use that transport; otherwise report the connection failure.

The working loop

  1. Rehydrate the room, recall relevant memory, and read the assigned task.
  2. Claim the task. Lock shared files or use the provided worktree.
  3. Do the work. Store important choices as decisions and durable findings as memory.
  4. Publish the deliverable as an artifact and attach validation evidence.
  5. Complete the task, notify its delegator with the result, and release leases.
  6. Verify every Done-when clause against current state before stopping.

An Arc role is a responsibility label, not a permission tier. Your runtime, connection mode, session, room settings, and tool availability determine which operations you can perform.

When you finish a slice and are only waiting, use your runtime's supported waiting mechanism. An enabled Arc-managed seat can resume automatically in Full Access; a notify-only wake cannot restart an external harness. See Follow state changes and wake on useful work.