client-compatibility

Context

Squad runs on multiple Copilot surfaces (CLI, VS Code, JetBrains, GitHub.com). The coordinator must detect its platform and adapt spawning behavior accordingly. Different tools are available on different platforms, requiring conditional logic for agent spawning, SQL usage, and response timing.

Patterns

Platform Detection

Before spawning agents, determine the platform by checking available tools:

1. CLI mode — task tool is available → full spawning control. Use task with agent_type, mode, model, description, prompt parameters. Collect results via read_agent.

2. VS Code mode — runSubagent or agent tool is available → conditional behavior. Use runSubagent with the task prompt. Drop agent_type, mode, and model parameters. Multiple subagents in one turn run concurrently (equivalent to background mode). Results return automatically — no read_agent needed.

3. Fallback mode — neither task nor runSubagent/agent available → work inline. Do not apologize or explain the limitation. Execute the task directly.

If both task and runSubagent are available, prefer task (richer parameter surface).

VS Code Spawn Adaptations

When in VS Code mode, the coordinator changes behavior in these ways:

• Spawning tool: Use runSubagent instead of task. The prompt is the only required parameter — pass the full agent prompt (charter, identity, task, hygiene, response order) exactly as you would on CLI.
• Parallelism: Spawn ALL concurrent agents in a SINGLE turn. They run in parallel automatically. This replaces mode: "background" + read_agent polling.
• Model selection: Accept the session model. Do NOT attempt per-spawn model selection or fallback chains — they only work on CLI. In Phase 1, all subagents use whatever model the user selected in VS Code's model picker.
• Scribe: Cannot fire-and-forget. Batch Scribe as the LAST subagent in any parallel group. Scribe is light work (file ops only), so the blocking is tolerable.
• Launch table: Skip it. Results arrive with the response, not separately. By the time the coordinator speaks, the work is already done.
• read_agent: Skip entirely. Results return automatically when subagents complete.
• agent_type: Drop it. All VS Code subagents have full tool access by default. Subagents inherit the parent's tools.
• description: Drop it. The agent name is already in the prompt.
• Prompt content: Keep ALL prompt structure — charter, identity, task, hygiene, response order blocks are surface-independent.