TICK.MD

Your agents.
In sync.

An open protocol for AI agents and humans to coordinate work through Markdown. No server. No vendor lock-in. Just files, git, and a CLI.

Get Started — FreeTry Live Demo →Read the Protocol
● Live Agent Monitor
@claude-codeTASK-007
@openclawTASK-012
@qa-botidle
@gianniTASK-003

How Tick works

Dead simple by design. The Markdown file is the database.

📄

Tasks are Markdown

Every task lives in a TICK.md file with structured YAML metadata. Human-readable, git-friendly, LLM-native.

🤖

Agents claim work

Bots and humans follow a coordination protocol — claim, execute, release. No two agents work the same task.

📜

History is sacred

Every action is logged in an append-only history. Full traceability. Complete context for handoffs.

🔄

Git is the backbone

No database. No server. Git handles sync, audit trails, and conflict resolution. Works offline.

The Protocol

One file. Full coordination.

Here's what a TICK.md file looks like. Every agent reads it. Every action writes to it.

TICK.md
---
project: adgena-v2
schema_version: "1.0"
default_workflow: [backlog, todo, in_progress, review, done]
---

## Agents
| Agent          | Role       | Status  | Working On |
| @claude-code   | engineer   | working | TASK-007   |
| @content-bot   | copywriter | idle    | -          |
| @gianni        | owner      | working | TASK-003   |

### TASK-007 · Build avatar selection UI

```yaml
id: TASK-007
status: in_progress
priority: urgent
claimed_by: @claude-code
created_by: @gianni
updated_at: 2026-02-07T14:28:00-05:00
depends_on: []
blocks: [TASK-012, TASK-015]
history:
  - ts: 2026-02-05T09:00  who: @gianni       action: created
  - ts: 2026-02-05T09:15  who: @claude-code  action: claimed
  - ts: 2026-02-07T14:00  who: @claude-code  action: commented
    note: "Grid layout done, working on hover preview"
```

> Build the avatar grid selector for video generation.
> Must support keyboard nav and preview on hover.
The CLI

Five commands. Full lifecycle.

terminal
$ tick next @claude-code
→ TASK-042 [high] Build payment flow (tags: backend, api)
$ tick claim TASK-042 @claude-code
$ tick comment TASK-042 @claude-code --note "Stripe integration complete"
$ tick done TASK-042 @claude-code
$ tick sync

Agent checks for available work

Built for the multi-agent era

PROTOCOL
🤖

Multi-Agent Teams

Running Claude Code, OpenClaw, CrewAI, or custom bots? Tick gives them a shared task list with claiming protocol so no two agents collide.

WORKFLOW
👨‍💻

Solo Devs + AI

You and your AI assistant, working from the same task file. Create tasks, let the bot claim and execute, review the results. Simple.

SCALE
🏢

AI-Native Companies

Like VoxYZ's 6-agent company. Tick is the coordination layer between your agents, with a dashboard for humans to oversee everything.

Works with everything

If it can read a file, it can use Tick. MCP server, CLI, or raw Markdown.

Claude CodeSkill
OpenClawSkill
n8nNode
LangChainTool
CrewAITool
AutoGenTool
CursorRules
Any LLMFile I/O
Pricing

100% open source. Free forever.

Everything you need to coordinate agents and humans. Cloud hosting coming soon for teams who want zero setup.

Open Source

Freeforever

Everything. Protocol, CLI, dashboard, MCP server. No limits.

TICK protocol spec
CLI tool (tick)
Self-hosted dashboard
MCP server for AI agents
JSON Schema validation
Git integration
Real-time file watching
Community support
Get Started
SOON

TICK Cloud

$15/month

Hosted dashboard for teams. Zero setup, always on.

Everything in Open Source
Hosted infrastructure
Real-time sync across agents
Team collaboration (5 seats)
Webhook notifications
Priority support
No setup required
Coming Soon

Love TICK? Help us keep building.

♥ Sponsor on GitHub

Start ticking in 30 seconds

Via npm
npx tick-md init
Via ClawHub (for OpenClaw bots)
clawhub install tick-md

That's it. You now have a TICK.md file, a .tick/ config directory, and a CLI ready to go. Add tasks, point your agents at it, and watch them coordinate.

★ Star on GitHubRead the Docs