# Quick Start

Now that you have `@maestria/pi` or `@maestria/omp` installed, here's how to start your first session.

**Full mode has a real coordination cost:** Use [the usage decision guide](/core/when-to-use/) before activating `fein`. Direct execution or a
  single specialist is usually better for small changes, fast iteration, and expensive or slow
  models.

## Start a Session

Open a new session in any project directory:

```bash
# Pi
pi

# OMP
omp
```

Once the session starts, the extension activates automatically and your platform's resource loader injects its methodology skills into the system prompt.

## Pick a Workflow Mode

The extension provides three workflow mode commands. Use them to tell the agent how to handle your request:

- **`/fein`** - Full pipeline: reconnaissance → design → implementation → review. Use for production-grade changes.
- **`/sonar`** - Research only: reconnaissance → design → STOP. No implementation. Use for discovery and feasibility.
- **`/blitz`** - Fast implementation: skip recon and review. Use for quick fixes in known territory.

You can invoke a mode with or without a task description:

```bash
fein Add user authentication
# or
/fein
Mode set to fein. Describe what you'd like to work on.
```

> **Auto-detect mode keywords:** Slash commands (`/fein`, `/sonar`, `/blitz`) set the workflow mode and show a notification. Bare keywords (`fein`, `sonar`, `blitz`) typed at the start of a message set the mode and inject the mode prompt inline with your task description.

> **Note:** Without a mode keyword, the agent operates with the orchestrator prompt as guidance but without tool-level enforcement. The dispatcher restriction activates only when you type `fein`, `sonar`, or `blitz`.

## How Dispatch Works

**Note:** **Pi** dispatches specialists via `maestria_subagent(agent, task)` through the
  `@gotgenes/pi-subagents` extension. **OMP** dispatches specialists directly via its built-in
  `task(agent: "...", task: "...")` tool - no external dependency needed.

Dispatch behavior is platform-specific. Pi uses `maestria_subagent` through `@gotgenes/pi-subagents`; OMP also exposes its native `task()` tool. Their limits, context inheritance, and enforcement behavior are not interchangeable. See the [Pi and OMP reference](/pi-omp/reference/) before designing a workflow around parallel or chained dispatch.

When a workflow mode activates enforcement, the current platform can restrict the main session to delegation tools. This is not a universal property of every session: mode-free sessions and specialist sessions have different tool access.

## Your First Task

Try it with a simple request:

1. Start a session (`pi` or `omp`).
2. Type `fein` followed by your task (e.g. `fein Add user authentication`).
3. The extension activates the spec-driven orchestration pipeline:
   - The orchestrator receives your request and breaks it into phases.
   - Specialists (`adventurer`, `architect`, `builder`, `reviewer`) execute each phase via subagent dispatch.
   - Phase gates validate completion before the next stage begins.
4. Review the session tree output to see how each specialist contributed.

## About Agent Switching

Unlike OpenCode (where the orchestrator is a separate agent you switch to via `@orchestrator`), **Pi and OMP are single-agent platforms** - the orchestrator IS the session. The mode keyword (`fein`/`sonar`/`blitz`) is the equivalent of switching to the orchestrator agent. There is no separate "switch to orchestrator" step.

## What's Next?

- Read the [Installation Guide](/pi-omp/getting-started/installation/) for setup options.
- Learn about the [specialist subagents](/core/agents/) and their roles.