generic-subagent

Subagents offload context-expensive work. The caller receives a digest, not the full trace. Default subagents are read-only (research, analyze, summarize). READ-WRITE subagents may modify state within declared scope.

When to Delegate

See the contract's Subagent Delegation Protocol for authoritative triggers.

Summary:

Trigger	Threshold
Uncertain scope	Assess with cheap ops first → convert to defined
Content to read	>250KB of files to READ (not search scope)
Processing depth	>2 intermediate tool calls whose outputs aren't needed in final delivery

Clarification on 250KB:

• Applies to Read operations (full content enters context)
• Does NOT apply to Grep (only matches enter context)
• Typical sequence: search (cheap) → identify matches → measure size of files to read → apply threshold

Keep Inline When

• Task requires user interaction mid-execution
• Result interpretation needs full conversation history
• Content to read ≤250KB and processing depth ≤2 steps

Delegation Protocol

1. Assess Scope (if uncertain)

# Check total size of files to READ (not search)
stat --printf="%s\n" src/api/*.py | awk '{sum+=$1} END {print sum}'

2. Generate Brief

MODE: SUBAGENT
MODE: SUBAGENT READ-WRITE    ← only when objective requires state changes
GOAL: {{objective}}
CONTEXT: {{what caller already knows — no pre-analysis required}}
SCOPE: {{files, directories, or boundaries}}

Brief principles:

• Write from existing knowledge only — if investigation is needed to specify the goal, that IS the delegated work
• Vague goals are valid when they reflect genuine uncertainty
• Subagent has the contract — don't repeat rules in the brief

3. Dispatch

Use Task tool. Subagent inherits contract but operates in Subagent Mode (no external gates, compressed output). Default is read-only; READ-WRITE permits state modification with mandatory Intent Gate per action.

3b. Model Selection