What do Arcadia’s agent names, Roles and Behaviors mean?
In brief
Arcadia’s names are optional handles for documented identity profiles: Rowan coordinates, Mira investigates and Clara writes. Think of the persona as the human-facing purpose, the assigned Role as the responsibility and the Behavior as the working method. These profiles guide agents that read them; a name does not launch an agent, grant permission or create shared memory.
- Ask by name or describe the help you need.
- Bind responsibility to the actual assignment.
- Names and methods do not grant authority.
A helpful name still needs a clear assignment
“Act as an expert” can set a useful tone. It leaves practical questions: who owns the work, what must they return, and who checks it?
Arcadia separates the person-facing profile from the assignment. Its names describe a stable purpose; responsibility and evidence make the work accountable.
What you may have tried
Persona prompts make a conversation approachable. Detailed role prompts add expectations. Separate chats can give different perspectives. Each helps, but a convincing voice does not establish expertise, continuity or independent verification.
Keep the approachable name, then specify the task, expected result and limits. Preserve the handoff outside the conversation.
How Arcadia connects identity to responsibility
Rowan coordinates; Mira investigates; Ellis plans or implements; Nadia challenges plans; Sage reviews changes; Quinn verifies acceptance; Vida assesses health; Clara owns technical writing. You can request the function without remembering the name.
These eight profiles map to seven registered Roles: lead, planner, plan-critic, implementer, code-reviewer, qa and researcher. Ellis’s assignment chooses planning or implementation. Clara writes as implementer; Vida assesses health as researcher.
A specialization narrows the field. A Behavior supplies a reusable procedure within that Role, such as bounded recovery or supervision; a mode describes following it. Neither adds permissions or budget.
Try “Clara, explain this feature for new users and return the sources and publication status.” An agent that retrieves the guidance can apply the profile. The name itself is no CLI alias or automatic team launch. Several sessions can use one profile; provider/tier identities still identify commits and comments.
Start with one clear request to Rowan, then add help where the uncertainty requires it. Preserve session context and existing independent-review boundaries.
Sources and further reading
Current capabilities and supporting evidence
- Agent session managementWorking
Isolated worktrees per action, across Codex, Claude Code and OpenCode.
Supporting evidence - Independent pull-request reviewWorking
Independent review is required before merge.
Supporting evidence - Decisions and approval gatesWorking
Consequential calls are recorded and wait for a human answer.
Supporting evidence
Capability snapshot: . See what changed →