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What are Collectives?

Collectives are domain-specific containers that organize everything needed for specialized work: agents, spells (behavioral protocols), workflows (repeatable processes), and advisory teams. Think of a Collective as a department in your AI organization - each with its own experts, playbooks, and processes.

Code Collective

Software development, technical execution, and engineering excellence

Create Collective

Content creation, documentation, marketing, and human-world communication

Custom Collectives

Build your own: Finance, Health, Legal, Sales, or any domain you need

Collaborative Intelligence

Collectives work together seamlessly across domain boundaries

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Collective Structure

Each Collective contains four key components:

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1. Agents (Domain Specialists)

Specialized AI agents with deep expertise in the collective’s domain:
  • Code Agents
  • Create Agents
  • Custom Agents
  • implementor - Feature implementation
  • tests - Test creation and validation
  • git - Git operations, PRs, releases
  • debug - Bug investigation
  • audit - Security analysis
  • 29+ more specialists

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2. Spells (Behavioral Protocols)

Reusable behavioral instructions that shape how agents work: 
# Example Spell: commit-advisory.md

## Purpose
Guide commit message creation following Conventional Commits

## Protocol
1. Analyze staged changes
2. Categorize change type (feat, fix, refactor, etc.)
3. Write concise, meaningful message
4. Include breaking change warnings if needed

## Output Format
type(scope): description

[optional body]

[optional footer]

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3. Workflows (Repeatable Processes)

Multi-step processes that coordinate agents:
1

Wish Workflow

Define what you want to build with structured specifications
2

Forge Workflow

Execute implementation with coordinated agents
3

Review Workflow

Validate quality and ensure standards are met

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4. Teams (Advisory Councils)

Groups of agents that collaborate on complex decisions:
  • Tech Council (Code) - Architecture and technical decisions
  • Creative Council (Create) - Content strategy and messaging
  • Custom Teams - Domain-specific advisory groups

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Built-In Collectives

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Code Collective

Software Development Excellence

Purpose: Technical execution, engineering best practices, and software deliveryCapabilities:
  • 34 specialized development agents
  • Git workflow automation
  • Test-driven development
  • Security auditing
  • Publishing protocols
When to Use: Building features, fixing bugs, refactoring code, technical tasksView Code Collective Documentation →

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Create Collective

Content and Communication

Purpose: Content creation, documentation, marketing, and human-world workCapabilities:
  • Shape-shifting content creation
  • Beautiful documentation
  • Multi-platform announcements
  • Meta-creation (generate agents, spells, workflows)
When to Use: Writing docs, creating content, marketing materials, release notesView Create Collective Documentation →

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How Collectives Work Together

Collectives are designed to collaborate across domain boundaries:

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Cross-Collective Workflow Example

Scenario: Launch a new feature
1

Code Collective Builds

  • implementor writes the feature code
  • tests creates comprehensive tests
  • audit runs security analysis
2

Create Collective Documents

  • writer creates user documentation
  • editor refines and polishes
  • release-notes generates beautiful release notes
3

Create Collective Announces

  • announcements creates multi-platform messages
  • Blog post, Twitter thread, Discord announcement
  • Email newsletter content
4

Code Collective Ships

  • git agent creates release
  • publish agent deploys to production
  • Feature is live!

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When to Use Which Collective

  • Building new features
  • Fixing bugs
  • Refactoring code
  • Writing tests
  • Reviewing pull requests
  • Managing git operations
  • Security auditing
  • Performance optimization
  • Technical architecture decisions
  • Writing documentation
  • Creating release notes
  • Producing marketing content
  • Generating announcements
  • Researching information
  • Creating tutorials
  • Writing blog posts
  • Developing content strategy
  • Syncing version numbers
  • Domain-specific work outside Code/Create
  • Industry-specific requirements
  • Specialized workflows
  • Unique organizational needs
  • Custom business processes

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Creating Custom Collectives

You can create your own Collectives for any domain: 
# Create a new collective
genie collective create finance

# Add agents to the collective
genie agent create analyst --collective finance
genie agent create auditor --collective finance

# Add spells (behavioral protocols)
genie spell create risk-assessment --collective finance

# Add workflows
genie workflow create quarterly-report --collective finance
Example Custom Collectives:

Finance Collective

  • analyst - Financial analysis
  • auditor - Compliance checking
  • forecaster - Predictions
  • reporter - Report generation

Health Collective

  • diagnostician - Health analysis
  • researcher - Medical research
  • educator - Patient education
  • tracker - Health monitoring

Legal Collective

  • reviewer - Contract review
  • researcher - Legal research
  • drafter - Document drafting
  • compliance - Compliance checking

Sales Collective

  • prospector - Lead generation
  • qualifier - Lead qualification
  • closer - Deal closing
  • analyst - Sales analytics
Learn How to Create Custom Collectives →

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Collective Directory Structure

Here’s how Collectives are organized in your .genie/ directory: 
.genie/
├── collectives/
│   ├── code/
│   │   ├── agents/
│   │   │   ├── implementor.md
│   │   │   ├── tests.md
│   │   │   ├── git.md
│   │   │   └── ... (34 total)
│   │   ├── spells/
│   │   │   ├── commit-advisory.md
│   │   │   ├── pr-standards.md
│   │   │   └── ... (13 total)
│   │   ├── workflows/
│   │   │   ├── wish.md
│   │   │   ├── forge.md
│   │   │   └── review.md
│   │   └── teams/
│   │       └── tech-council.md
│   │
│   ├── create/
│   │   ├── agents/
│   │   │   ├── researcher.md
│   │   │   ├── writer.md
│   │   │   ├── editor.md
│   │   │   └── ... (9 total)
│   │   ├── spells/
│   │   │   ├── content-excellence.md
│   │   │   ├── clarity-focus.md
│   │   │   └── ... (10 total)
│   │   ├── workflows/
│   │   │   ├── agent-generation.md
│   │   │   ├── skill-generation.md
│   │   │   └── workflow-generation.md
│   │   └── teams/
│   │       └── creative-council.md
│   │
│   └── custom/
│       └── your-collective/
│           ├── agents/
│           ├── spells/
│           ├── workflows/
│           └── teams/

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Key Concepts

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Shape-Shifting

Collectives (especially Create) can become what you need: 
# Create becomes a technical writer
genie summon writer "Document the authentication API"

# Create becomes a marketer
genie summon announcements "Launch announcement for v2.0"

# Create becomes a researcher
genie summon researcher "Research best practices for JWT tokens"

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Collaborative Intelligence

Agents from different Collectives work together automatically:
  • Code agent asks Create agent for documentation
  • Create agent asks Code agent for technical details
  • Custom agent consults Code and Create for cross-functional work

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Specialization vs. Flexibility

  • Code Collective: Highly specialized, role-based agents
  • Create Collective: Flexible, shape-shifting agents
  • Custom Collectives: You decide the balance

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Best Practices

Each Collective should have a clear domain:
  • Good: Code (technical), Create (content), Finance (financial)
  • Bad: “Everything” collective (too broad)
Enable cross-Collective workflows:
  • Code agents can request documentation from Create
  • Create agents can query Code for technical details
  • Custom agents can leverage both
Create spells (behavioral protocols) for:
  • Consistent formatting
  • Decision-making rules
  • Quality standards
  • Domain-specific guidelines
Create workflows for:
  • Frequent multi-step processes
  • Cross-agent coordination
  • Quality gates
  • Publishing protocols

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Next Steps

Code Collective

Explore 34 specialized development agents

Create Collective

Discover shape-shifting content creation

Custom Collectives

Learn to build your own domain-specific collectives

Workflows

Deep dive into workflow orchestration