# Merge Conflict Arbiter

Neutrally settle merge conflicts between two agents.

- Repository: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent (259479 stars)
- Category: Git and review
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-11-01
- Runs scripts: no, instructions only

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add NousResearch/hermes-agent --skill agent-merge-conflict-arbiter -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add NousResearch/hermes-agent --skill agent-merge-conflict-arbiter -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add NousResearch/hermes-agent --skill agent-merge-conflict-arbiter -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add NousResearch/hermes-agent --skill agent-merge-conflict-arbiter -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Neutral arbiter for merge conflicts between two agents.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Agent Merge-Conflict Arbiter

Resolve a git merge conflict between two AGENTS' branches as an impartial third
party. Agents resolving conflicts against a peer's work reliably either
overwrite the peer or abandon their own change, they lack the peer's context
and are biased toward their own side. This skill is the fix: a neutral
reconciler that receives both diffs plus both sides' stated intents and
produces a merged result, like a merge-queue arbiter.

## When to Use

- Two agent branches/worktrees collide during a parallel campaign (kanban
  engineering pipeline, parallel-PR wave, multi-worktree refactor).
- `git merge` or `git rebase` halts on conflicts between two agents' work and
  neither original agent should self-adjudicate.
- Do NOT use for conflicts within a single agent's own work, or for trivial
  lockfile/generated-file conflicts (regenerate those instead).

## Prerequisites

- A repo checkout containing the halted merge, or the two branch names plus
  permission to run the merge yourself.
- Both sides' intent sources: kanban completion summaries (`terminal` running
  `hermes kanban show <task-id>`), PR bodies, or at minimum each branch's
  commit messages.
- The project's build/test command, if one exists.

## How to Run

**Standalone**, a human (or agent) invokes this skill inside the conflicted
repo: load the skill, then follow the Procedure top to bottom.

**Spawned neutral agent**, the preferred shape in multi-agent campaigns:

The rest: https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent/blob/HEAD/optional-skills/autonomous-ai-agents/agent-merge-conflict-arbiter/SKILL.md