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feat(watch): discoverable local service — Aspire AppHost pattern for squad watch #811
Description
Squad Watch as Discoverable Local Service
Inspiration
Microsoft Aspire's MCP server treats running AppHost instances as discoverable services — you can list all running AppHosts on the machine, select one, query resources/logs/traces, and execute commands (start/stop/restart). This is the pattern squad watch should evolve toward.
Aspire's Pattern
| Aspire Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| \list_apphosts\ | Discover all running AppHost instances on machine |
| \select_apphost\ | Switch between multiple AppHosts |
| \list_resources\ | Show resource state, health, endpoints |
| \�xecute_resource_command\ | Start/stop/restart resources |
| \doctor\ | Diagnose environment issues |
Squad Watch Equivalent (Future)
| Squad Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| \squad watch --list\ | Discover all running watch instances on machine |
| \squad watch --select \ | Switch context to a specific watch |
| \squad watch --health\ | ✅ Already done (PR #809) — PID, uptime, auth, capabilities |
| \squad watch --stop\ | Stop a running watch instance |
| \squad watch --restart\ | Restart with updated config |
| \squad doctor\ | Diagnose auth, rate limits, connectivity |
Implementation Ideas
- Watch process writes PID + metadata to \os.tmpdir()/squad-watch-{hash}.json\ (PR feat(watch): health check — show running watch instance status (#808) #809 does this)
- --list\ scans temp dir for all \squad-watch-*.json\ files, verifies PIDs alive
- Future: squad-watch MCP server that exposes these as MCP tools (like Aspire does)
- Scope awareness: which watches are for repos in CWD vs elsewhere
References
- Aspire MCP server docs: https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspire/mcp-server
- PR feat(watch): health check — show running watch instance status (#808) #809: watch health check (PID file foundation)
- Blog Part 8: cross-squad communication (fleet of watches)
Activity
github-actions commentedon Apr 4, 2026
🏗️ Squad Triage — Flight (Lead)
Issue: #811 — feat(watch): discoverable local service — Aspire AppHost pattern for squad watch
Assigned to: DSKY (TUI Engineer)
Reason: Issue relates to frontend/UI work
@copilot evaluation: 🔴 Not suitable — issue involves work outside the coding agent's capability profile.
Team roster:
squad:flightsquad:proceduressquad:eecomsquad:fidosquad:paosquad:capcomsquad:controlsquad:surgeonsquad:boostersquad:gncsquad:networksquad:retrosquad:incosquad:guidosquad:telemetrysquad:voxsquad:dskysquad:simssquad:handbooksquad:ralphsquad:copilotbradygaster commentedon Apr 18, 2026
@tamirdresher still relevant? if so, re-open but it seems like we've move past this one. keen to re-open if you think we need more on this.