agent-coordination-discipline

Agent Coordination Discipline

Iron Law: "NO AGENT LAUNCH WITHOUT CLEAR DELEGATION CRITERIA"

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• Considering launching an agent with the Task tool
• Evaluating whether a task requires agent delegation
• Selecting between different agent types or external models
• Coordinating multiple agents in a workflow
• Implementing external-model for external model delegation
• Debugging agent coordination failures

This skill prevents premature agent launches, redundant agent usage, and poor task isolation that wastes thinking budget and causes coordination failures.

Red Flags (Violation Indicators)

• Agent for single grep - Launching agent to run one grep/glob command (trivial-task anti-pattern)
• Missing external-model model - Using external-model without explicit model name specification
• No task isolation - Agent task description lacks independent context or success criteria
• No success criteria - Task description doesn't define what "done" looks like
• Default thinking pattern - Not considering whether task needs deep thinking vs. fast execution
• Multiple agents without coordination - Launching 2+ agents without clear result routing plan
• Result not used - Launching agent but not routing/validating its output
• Agent for trivial decision - Using agent to make decision you could make directly
• No tool exhaustion check - Launching agent before trying native tools first
• Missing timeout consideration - Not evaluating if task needs extended thinking time
• No error handling plan - Not defining what happens if agent fails or returns partial results
• Skill gap unclear - Not identifying what specific expertise the agent provides

Key Concepts

1. Agent vs. Native Tools Decision Tree

Does the task require:
├─ Single tool call (grep, read, edit)?
│  └─ ✗ NO AGENT - Use native tool directly
├─ 2-3 sequential tool calls?
│  └─ ✗ NO AGENT - Use tools directly in sequence
├─ Multi-step investigation with branching logic?
│  └─ ✓ AGENT - Task tool with developer/architect agent
├─ External model expertise (Grok, DeepSeek, etc.)?
│  └─ ✓ AGENT - external-model pattern with model specification
├─ Parallel exploration of multiple code paths?
│  └─ ✓ AGENT - Multiple Task calls with coordination
└─ High-risk change needing isolation?
   └─ ✓ AGENT - Task tool with sandbox/review focus