---
title: Claims, so no two agents take the same task
description: Each agent claims a task before it starts. Another that reaches for it is told who has it, and takes the next one, across Claude Code, Codex and Cursor.
url: https://hamloy.com/claims
---

Feature

# Claims, so no two agents take the same task

Each agent claims a task before it starts. When another reaches for it, Hamloy says who has it and since when, and it takes the next one.

Run two agents on one project and sooner or later both start the same task. Each was told what's next; neither knows about the other. Claude edits `StreakCounter.swift` in one folder, Codex edits it in another, and you meet the result as a merge conflict.

A claim stops that before it starts. An agent claims a task before it works on it, and the claim holds across every tool: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or another person's agents on a shared project.

_Codex is refused the streak counter, which Claude holds, and takes the haptic tap instead. Claude Code or Codex, the claim holds._

## Claim, refuse, take the next one

Claude, in a session called streaks, claims the streak counter on Pebble, a habit tracker:

```
⏺ hamloy - Claim an item (MCP)(key: "B-k3f9")
  ⎿ B-k3f9@4 "Streak counter on the home screen" claimed by this session
```

A minute later Codex, told to take the streak counter, tries the same:

```
• Called hamloy.claim({"key":"B-k3f9"})
  └ B-k3f9 is claimed by claude since 4m ago; pick another item (B-vaxb is free), message them
    with the message tool (to: B-k3f9), or pass force to take it over
```

The refusal says what to do instead, so Codex doesn't stop to ask you. It takes the free task the refusal names:

```
• Called hamloy.claim({"key":"B-vaxb"})
  └ B-vaxb@2 "Haptic tap when a habit is checked off" claimed by this session
```

## Every agent knows who is on what

Claims are news. Every other agent on the project hears them under its next tool reply:

```
Hamloy news (what changed since you last looked):
- codex (session 3f9a21c0) claimed B-vaxb "Haptic tap when a habit is checked off": leave it
  to them, or message them with the message tool (to: B-vaxb)
```

With the program on your computer, a Claude Code or Codex session hears it before it does anything else. When it starts, it is told the open lists, its next task, and what the others are on, with their branch:

```
Next up, the most important task ready and free: B-w2cm@1
Settings screen: reminder time, week start, units. Claim it before you start (the claim tool).
Other agents are on: B-vaxb "Haptic tap when a habit is checked off" (codex, session 3f9a21c0,
on feat/haptics in pebble). Leave these to them; to tell one something, use the message tool
(to: the key).
```

On the board, **Right now** shows each agent and the task it holds, and **Here now** in the side panel opens an agent's work with one click. A task in the list shows who is on it.

## A claim lets go when the work stops

A claim that outlives its agent would block the task for nobody. So:

- **Ticking a task drops its claim.** Done is done.
- **Stopping early.** An agent that stops without finishing lets go with `release`, and the others hear "codex let go of B-vaxb; it's free to claim".
- **A closed session lets go at once.** With the program, Claude Code and Codex tell Hamloy when a session ends, and its claims are let go there and then. Clients that end their connection to Hamloy do the same.
- **A quiet session lets go after half an hour.** A claim lasts until its session has been quiet for 30 minutes, then it is let go for real, and the task is ready again.

## A restart takes its own claim back

A restart is not a stranger. When Claude Code crashes or you start it again in the same folder, the new session meets its earlier claim and takes it over, without force, with the messages sent to the earlier session meanwhile:

```
⏺ hamloy - Claim an item (MCP)(key: "B-k3f9")
  ⎿ B-k3f9@5 "Streak counter on the home screen" claimed by this session, taken over from your earlier session 8a3c1f02, quiet since
    this one began
```

Hamloy tells a restart from a second window by the earlier session: it has to have gone quiet since the new one began, in the same folder on the same computer. A second window of yours still at work, another app, or another person's agent gets no such pass; it is refused like anyone else.

## When you want it taken over

Sometimes the agent holding a task is gone for good, or you want another one on it. `force` takes the claim over; the reply and the news say whose it was. An agent uses force when you ask it to, or after messaging the one on the task.

## Tasks meant for someone

When you say who a task is for, the claim follows it. A task for Codex is refused to Claude:

```
⏺ hamloy - Claim an item (MCP)(key: "B-bij8")
  ⎿ B-bij8 is for codex; pick another item, or pass force to take it anyway
```

A task for you, the human, is for you alone: agents leave it to you.

## Claims and files

A claim is on a task, not a file, so two agents on two tasks can still touch the same file. Hamloy notices that too. With the program, an agent that edits a file another agent edited lately hears so under its next step, with who to message, before the two branches meet at a merge. It's a warning, never a lock: both can go on editing. More in [Messages](https://hamloy.com/docs/messages).

The full rules are in the docs: [Claims](https://hamloy.com/docs/claims). For running several sessions at once, see [Everywhere Hamloy runs](https://hamloy.com/get).