Chief

With many Claude Code sessions open it gets hard to know which one should take a new task, which ones are about to lose their prompt cache, and which ones are editing the same files. Chief is one chat that handles that. You tell it what you want; it sends the work to the right session, starts a new one, or answers you itself.

Set it up

Open a computer in Melta and tap Set up Chief at the top of its screen. That installs the melta-chief command on the computer, makes a ~/Melta Chief folder with Chief's instructions, opens a Chief workspace in Herdr and starts Claude Code in it. The same line works in a terminal on the computer:

curl -fsSL https://getmelta.app/chief/install.sh | sh

Chief is an ordinary Claude Code session on your own computer, using your own Claude plan. Nothing runs anywhere else.

What it does

• Routes a task. Chief reads its session board first: every session's title, status, context size, whether its prompt cache is still warm, its git branch and uncommitted files, and its last prompt. A task on the same topic goes to that session, cheapest when its cache is warm. A new topic gets a new session; if it will edit code, Chief gives it its own git worktree and branch so it can't trip over the others.
• Cares for caches. Continuing a warm session costs about a tenth of its context; rereading a cold one costs it all, or twice that with a one-hour cache. Chief suggests a handoff file while a big session is still warm, a /compact for one that will keep going, and a warm-up only when you'll be back soon.
• Remembers. With Melta Notes connected, Chief keeps your goals per project, your shorthand and its decisions in notes you can read and fix on your phone. Without Notes it keeps them as Markdown files in ~/Melta Chief/notes.

On the host screen

Every Claude Code session row shows its context size and cache countdown, such as 191k · warm 42m. Long-press a session for Warm cache, Compact and Hand off; a handoff asks that session to write a file with its goal, state, next steps and decisions, which a fresh session can pick up.

Chief's tools

Chief sees and steers the other sessions through melta-chief, which it has as MCP tools: session_board, session_detail, send_to_session, new_session, warm_session, compact_session and handoff_session. Its standard rules are in ~/Melta Chief/CHIEF.md, which updates refresh; put your own rules in ~/Melta Chief/CLAUDE.md, which is yours and never overwritten. Running the setup line again is safe: it keeps the Chief session you have. Herdr's own agents can't be driven by Chief while they are blocked on a question: answer it in Melta first.