subagent-context-delegation

Subagents do not inherit parent context, so include a context capsule at the start of the prompt. Cover what the parent already knows, decisions already made, and exact file paths involved, keeping the capsule under 400 words.

Launch 2-4 explore agents concurrently, each with a self-contained prompt and a distinct, non-overlapping scope. Set a 3-5 word description for log readability and use run_in_background only for truly independent tasks.

Resume a subagent when the new task is a natural continuation of its previous work, preserving accumulated context. If the topic has shifted significantly or its context has grown too large, extract findings and spawn a fresh agent with a new capsule.

Explore handles read-only research with short focused scopes, coder handles implementation with full capsules and acceptance criteria, and plan handles architecture proposals with broader context. The default is coder when subagent_type is omitted.

The capsule was incomplete because subagents never see your previous tool calls. Add prior findings, decisions already made, and exact file paths or module names to the prompt before delegating.

Skip delegation for single file reads or one-line fixes where overhead exceeds benefit, and when working entirely within the parent session. Delegation pays off once the parent accumulates more than about 10 tool-use blocks.