Team config

A team is the declarative source of truth for who works on a run. It compiles to a frozen config plus a subagent registry, so the Engineering Manager can only dispatch to roles that were declared. By default voss team check reads .voss/team.voss.

Grammar

team "default" {
  ceiling {
    budget: 120000 tokens
    scope: ["src/**", "tests/**", "docs/**"]
    latency: 30m
  }

  principles {
    diff: "Smallest diff that solves it"
    evidence: "No claim without evidence"
  }

  role architect {
    model: "strong"
    mode:  "plan"
    scope: ["src/**", "docs/**"]
    tools: ["fs", "code", "git"]
    budget: 12000 tokens
  }

  role backend {
    model: "cheap"
    mode:  "edit"
    scope: ["src/server/**", "tests/server/**"]
    tools: ["fs", "code", "test", "git"]
    budget: 24000 tokens
  }

  role reviewer {
    model: "strong"
    mode:  "plan"
    scope: ["src/**", "tests/**"]
    tools: ["fs", "code", "test", "git"]
    budget: 16000 tokens
  }
}

What a role carries

Each role compiles to a spec with its own:

model tier — strong / cheap (mapped to concrete providers)
mode — plan (read-only) or edit (scoped writes)
scope — glob set, compile-time contained inside the ceiling
tools — capability groups: fs, git, test, shell, net, code, memory, review, mcp
budget — token allowance drawn from the ceiling

The default roster

The shipped roster includes architect, backend, frontend, tester, reviewer, skeptic, and docs.

Validation

voss team check runs the compile_team validator. It fails the build — not the run — when something is wrong.

voss team check                 # validates .voss/team.voss
voss team check path/to.voss    # validate a specific file
voss team check --json          # machine-readable result

Compile-time failures include:

Failure	Why it fails
Role scope widens past the ceiling	Scope must be contained in the global ceiling
Role budget exceeds the ceiling	Budget is a hard boundary, not a hint
Unknown capability group in `tools`	Tools are filtered through the capability registry
Unknown model tier	Emits an actionable diagnostic
Dispatch to an undeclared role	The EM cage rejects it at runtime

The legacy explorer / worker / reviewer subagent path remains backward-compatible.

Scope and budget containment are checked at compile time so an invalid team can never start a run. See the Engineering Manager loop for how the roster is enforced during dispatch.

Get Started

Harness

Orchestration

Language

Guides

Reference

Trust

Changelog

Grammar

What a role carries

The default roster

Validation

​Grammar

​What a role carries

​The default roster

​Validation

Grammar

What a role carries

The default roster

Validation