Channel CLI

rimz channel manages durable named cooperation lanes — a #design, #ops, or #release a room needs without creating a Git worktree. A channel is a lightweight record in the room store plus a best-effort #NAME tab; it checks out no branch and touches no files, so channel new and channel rm are cheap and reversible. Use it when you want a lane for addressing and grouping, not an isolated working tree. How channels render on screen and scope addresses is the messaging guide.

rimz channel new <NAME>
rimz channel list [--json]
rimz channel rm <NAME>

rimz channel new design
rimz channel list
rimz channel rm design
rimz agents claude --channel design "Draft the API shape."
rimz message @planner#design --create "Plan the rollout."
rimz message @codex --channel design "Review after your current turn."

Names are bare ASCII letters, numbers, _, or -. They render and address as #name; do not include # in the command argument.

Commands

new <NAME> validates and records the channel in the current room store, then best-effort opens a #NAME tab with RIMZ_CHANNEL stamped into the shell. The command works in repo, marker, and directory rooms.

list reads only and prints named channels, RimZ-owned worktree channels, and live derived channels in one table. The BACKING column is named, worktree, or directory; explicitly stamped named lanes stay named, and in-place team lanes appear as live directory lanes such as #project/forge. The AGENTS column lists live handles. --json emits the same entries as objects with channel, backing, and agents.

rm <NAME> (alias remove) removes a named-channel record and nothing else. If the same name is backed by a worktree, use rimz worktree remove <NAME> instead, so Git cleanup and landed-work checks run.

Launching into a channel

rimz agents <SPEC> --channel <NAME> registers the named channel when missing, launches in the room root, and opens a #NAME tab. rimz message accepts --channel <NAME> as the flag form of an inline #NAME address in every send mode; --create uses it to launch a missing kind or profile into that lane.

--channel is distinct from --worktree: named channels are durable lane records, while worktrees are Git checkouts with cleanup policy. In-place team and directory lanes stay derived from live agents' stamped launch identity.