SDK init: Ralph (Work Monitor) missing from generated squad.config.ts

Summary

Ralph (Work Monitor) is listed in eam.md (row: Ralph | Work Monitor | — | 🔄 Monitor) and is part of the standard squad roster, but squad.config.ts has no defineAgent entry for Ralph.

This is a specific manifestation of #337 (config ↔ team.md sync), but worth tracking separately because:

Ralph is a built-in member (not user-added), so it should be present from init
Ralph's absence blocks 4 PRD features (New team members should leverage configured plugin marketplace #29–VS Code: Test and document runSubagent as Squad spawn mechanism #32: activation, work-check, idle-watch, watch mode)
squad init --sdk should include Ralph in the generated config automatically

Steps to Reproduce

Run squad init --sdk in a fresh directory
Complete team casting (any universe)
Check squad.config.ts — search for "ralph" (case-insensitive)
Check team.md — search for "Ralph"

Expected Behavior

squad.config.ts should include:
s const ralph = defineAgent({ name: 'ralph', role: 'work-monitor', description: 'Work Monitor', status: 'active', });
Ralph should appear in the defineTeam.members array

Actual Behavior

squad.config.ts has 5 agents: neo, tank, switch, dozer, scribe
Ralph is missing from config entirely
team.md correctly lists Ralph (6 members)

Impact

SDK-first squads cannot spawn Ralph
Features New team members should leverage configured plugin marketplace #29–VS Code: Test and document runSubagent as Squad spawn mechanism #32 (Ralph work monitor) blocked for SDK squads
Feature parity gap between markdown and SDK init

SDK init: Adding team members doesn't update squad.config.ts #337 — squad.config.ts doesn't update when adding/removing team members
PRD feature matrix: Features New team members should leverage configured plugin marketplace #29–VS Code: Test and document runSubagent as Squad spawn mechanism #32 (Ralph), filed from SdkSquad test bed

🏗️ Squad Triage — Flight (Lead)

Issue: #338 — SDK init: Ralph (Work Monitor) missing from generated squad.config.ts
Assigned to: FIDO (Quality Owner)
Reason: Issue relates to testing/quality work

@copilot evaluation: 🔴 Not suitable — issue involves work outside the coding agent's capability profile.

Team roster:

Flight (Lead) → label: squad:flight
Procedures (Prompt Engineer) → label: squad:procedures
EECOM (Core Dev) → label: squad:eecom
FIDO (Quality Owner) → label: squad:fido
PAO (DevRel) → label: squad:pao
CAPCOM (SDK Expert) → label: squad:capcom
CONTROL (TypeScript Engineer) → label: squad:control
Surgeon (Release Manager) → label: squad:surgeon
Booster (CI/CD Engineer) → label: squad:booster
GNC (Node.js Runtime) → label: squad:gnc
Network (Distribution) → label: squad:network
RETRO (Security) → label: squad:retro
INCO (CLI UX & Visual Design) → label: squad:inco
GUIDO (VS Code Extension) → label: squad:guido
Telemetry (Aspire & Observability) → label: squad:telemetry
VOX (REPL & Interactive Shell) → label: squad:vox
DSKY (TUI Engineer) → label: squad:dsky
Sims (E2E Test Engineer) → label: squad:sims
Handbook (SDK Usability) → label: squad:handbook
Ralph (Work Monitor) → label: squad:ralph
@copilot (Coding Agent) → label: squad:copilot

To reassign, remove the current squad:* label and add the correct one.

Update from SDK-First Parity Testing (2026-03-10)

Good news: Ralph works at the coordinator level regardless of config. The coordinator runs Ralph's work-check cycle directly — it's not a spawnable agent. We successfully executed:

Ralph activation scan on bradygaster/squad
Scan→categorize→report cycle (found 0 untriaged, 10 assigned, 3 open PRs)
PRD features New team members should leverage configured plugin marketplace #29 and npx github:bradygaster/squad appears to hang when no SSH agent is running #30 verified ✅

The gap is SDK-consumer-facing: If SDK consumers reference Ralph programmatically via squad.config.ts, he's not there. This matters for:

SDK tooling that reads config to enumerate team members
Any automation that uses defineAgent entries to discover available agents
Feature New team members should leverage configured plugin marketplace #29–VS Code: Test and document runSubagent as Squad spawn mechanism #32 at the SDK integration level (not coordinator level)

Root cause: This is a sub-case of #337 (config ↔ team.md sync). Ralph is a built-in member that squad init --sdk should always include.

Suggested fix:
s const ralph = defineAgent({ name: 'ralph', role: 'work-monitor', description: 'Work Monitor', status: 'active', });

Full test results: #341

feat: rich progress indicators for agent work (github#357)

feat: accessibility hardening and guidelines (github#359)

⚠️ No squad member found matching label squad:hockney. Check .squad/team.md (or .ai-team/team.md) for valid member names.

📋 Assigned to FIDO (Quality Owner)

Issue: #338 — SDK init: Ralph (Work Monitor) missing from generated squad.config.ts

FIDO will pick this up in the next Copilot session.

For Copilot coding agent: If enabled, this issue will be worked automatically.
Otherwise, start a Copilot session and say:
FIDO, work on issue #338

fix: SDK init trio - Ralph, @copilot routing, config sync (#337, #338, …

fix: SDK init trio — #337 config sync, #338 Ralph in init, #339 remov…

fix: SDK init trio - routing, Ralph, and config wiring (#337, #338, #339

Fixed and merged to dev in the irritating bugs sprint.

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SDK init: Ralph (Work Monitor) missing from generated squad.config.ts #338

Summary

Steps to Reproduce

Expected Behavior

Actual Behavior

Impact

Related

🏗️ Squad Triage — Flight (Lead)

@copilot evaluation: 🔴 Not suitable — issue involves work outside the coding agent's capability profile.

Update from SDK-First Parity Testing (2026-03-10)

📋 Assigned to FIDO (Quality Owner)

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SDK init: Ralph (Work Monitor) missing from generated squad.config.ts #338

Description

Summary

Steps to Reproduce

Expected Behavior

Actual Behavior

Impact

Related

Activity

github-actions commented on Mar 10, 2026

🏗️ Squad Triage — Flight (Lead)

@copilot evaluation: 🔴 Not suitable — issue involves work outside the coding agent's capability profile.

bradygaster commented on Mar 10, 2026

Update from SDK-First Parity Testing (2026-03-10)

github-actions commented on Mar 13, 2026

github-actions commented on Mar 13, 2026

📋 Assigned to FIDO (Quality Owner)

bradygaster commented on Mar 15, 2026

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