dispatching-parallel-agents

--- name: dispatching-parallel-agents description: Use when facing 2+ independent tasks that can be worked on without shared state or sequential dependencies --- # Dispatching Parallel Agents ## Overview You delegate tasks to specialized agents with isolated context. By precisely crafting their instructions and context, you ensure they stay focused and succeed at their task. They should never inherit your session's context or history — you construct exactly what they need. This also preserves your own context for coordination work. When you have multiple unrelated failures (different test files, different subsystems, different bugs), investigating them sequentially wastes time. Each investigation is independent and can happen in parallel. **Core principle:** Dispatch one agent per independent problem domain. Let them work concurrently. ## When to Use ```dot digraph when_to_use { "Multiple failures?" [shape=diamond]; "Are they independent?" [shape=diamond]; "Single agent investigates all" [shape=box]; "One agent per problem domain" [shape=box]; "Can they work in parallel?" [shape=diamond]; "Sequential agents" [shape=box]; "Parallel dispatch" [shape=box]; "Multiple failures?" -> "Are they independent?" [label="yes"]; "Are they independent?" -> "Single agent investigates all" [label="no - related"]; "Are they independent?" -> "Can they work in parallel?" [label="yes"]; "Can they work in parallel?" -> "Parallel dispatch" [label="yes"]; "Can they work in parallel?" -> "Sequential agents" [label="no - shared state"]; } ``` **Use when:** - 3+ test files failing with different root causes - Multiple subsystems broken independently - Each problem can be understood without context from others - No shared state between investigations **Don't use when:** - Failures are related (fix one might fix others) - Need to understand full system state - Agents would interfere with each other ## The Pattern ### 1. Identify Independent Domains Group failures by what's broken: - File A tests: Tool approval flow - File B tests: Batch completion behavior - File C tests: Abort functionality Each domain is independent - fixing tool approval doesn't affect abort tests. ### 2. Create Focused Agent Tasks Each agent gets: - **Specific scope:** One test file or subsystem - **Clear goal:** Make these tests pass - **Constraints:** Don't change other code - **Expected output:** Summary of what you found and fixed ### 3. Dispatch in Parallel Issue all three subagent dispatches in the same response — they run in parallel: ```text Subagent (general-purpose): "Fix agent-tool-abort.test.ts failures" Subagent (general-purpose): "Fix batch-completion-behavior.test.ts failures" Subagent (general-purpose): "Fix tool-approval-race-conditions.test.ts failures" # All three run concurrently. ``` Multiple dispatch calls in one response = parallel execution. One per response = sequential. ### 4. Review and Integrate When agents return: - Read each summary - Verify fixes don't conflict - Run full test suite - Integrate all changes ## Agent Prompt Structure Good agent prompts are: 1. **Focused** - One clear problem domain 2. **Self-contained** - All context needed to understand the problem 3. **Specific about output** - What should the agent return? ```markdown Fix the 3 failing tests in src/agents/agent-tool-abort.test.ts: 1. "should abort tool with partial output capture" - expects 'interrupted at' in message 2. "should handle mixed completed and aborted tools" - fast tool aborted instead of completed 3. "should properly track pendingToolCount" - expects 3 results but gets 0 These are timing/race condition issues. Your task: 1. Read the test file and understand what each test verifies 2. Identify root cause - timing issues or actual bugs? 3. Fix by: - Replacing arbitrary timeouts with event-based waiting - Fixing bugs in abort implementation if found - Adjusting test expectations if testing changed behavior Do NOT just increase timeouts - find the real issue. Return: Summary of what you found and what you fixed. ``` ## Common Mistakes **❌ Too broad:** "Fix all the tests" - agent gets lost **✅ Specific:** "Fix agent-tool-abort.test.ts" - focused scope **❌ No context:** "Fix the race condition" - agent doesn't know where **✅ Context:** Paste the error messages and test names **❌ No constraints:** Agent might refactor everything **✅ Constraints:** "Do NOT change production code" or "Fix tests only" **❌ Vague output:** "Fix it" - you don't know what changed **✅ Specific:** "Return summary of root cause and changes" ## When NOT to Use **Related failures:** Fixing one might fix others - investigate together first **Need full context:** Understanding requires seeing entire system **Exploratory debugging:** You don't know what's broken yet **Shared state:** Agents would interfere (editing same files, using same resources) ## Real Example from Session **Scenario:** 6 test failures across 3 files after major refactoring **Failures:** - agent-tool-abort.test.ts: 3 failures (timing issues) - batch-completion-behavior.test.ts: 2 failures (tools not executing) - tool-approval-race-conditions.test.ts: 1 failure (execution count = 0) **Decision:** Independent domains - abort logic separate from batch completion separate from race conditions **Dispatch:** ``` Agent 1 → Fix agent-tool-abort.test.ts Agent 2 → Fix batch-completion-behavior.test.ts Agent 3 → Fix tool-approval-race-conditions.test.ts ``` **Results:** - Agent 1: Replaced timeouts with event-based waiting - Agent 2: Fixed event structure bug (threadId in wrong place) - Agent 3: Added wait for async tool execution to complete **Integration:** All fixes independent, no conflicts, full suite green ## Verification After agents return: 1. **Review each summary** - Understand what changed 2. **Check for conflicts** - Did agents edit same code? 3. **Run full suite** - Verify all fixes work together 4. **Spot check** - Agents can make systematic errors

1. **Identify Parallel Tasks**: List all independent tasks that don't require shared data or sequential steps. Use tools like Notion or Trello to organize them. 2. **Define Clear Ownership**: For each task, specify the agent's role (e.g., researcher, writer, analyst) and success criteria (e.g., 'Deliver a 500-word report with 3 actionable recommendations'). 3. **Dispatch Agents**: Use the prompt template to assign tasks to parallel agents. Include specific deliverables (e.g., 'CSV file with customer churn metrics') and deadlines if applicable. 4. **Monitor Progress**: Check in after 15-30 minutes to ensure agents aren't stuck. Use the consolidated summary to verify outputs and identify gaps. 5. **Refine and Iterate**: If outputs are incomplete, reassign tasks with clearer instructions or additional context. For complex projects, break tasks into smaller parallel subtasks. Tip: For best results, use this skill for tasks like data collection, content creation, or research where parallel processing saves significant time. Avoid for tasks requiring real-time collaboration or shared state (e.g., live editing a document).