coordinate-reasoning

Coordinate Reasoning

Manage the internal coordination of reasoning processes using stigmergic principles — treating context as an environment where information signals have freshness, decay rates, and interaction rules that produce coherent behavior from simple local protocols.

When to Use

• During complex tasks where multiple sub-tasks must coordinate (multi-file edits, multi-step refactoring)
• When context has grown long and information freshness is uncertain
• After context compression when some information may have been lost
• When sub-task outputs need to feed into each other cleanly
• When earlier reasoning results need to be carried forward without degradation
• Complementing forage-solutions (exploration) and build-coherence (decision) with execution coordination

Inputs

• Required: Current task decomposition (what sub-tasks exist and how do they relate?)
• Optional: Known information freshness concerns (e.g., "I read that file 20 messages ago")
• Optional: Sub-task dependency map (which sub-tasks feed into which?)
• Optional: Available coordination tools (MEMORY.md, task list, inline notes)

Procedure

Step 1: Classify the Coordination Problem

Different coordination challenges require different signal designs.

AI Coordination Problem Types:
┌─────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Type                │ Characteristics                                  │
├─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Foraging            │ Multiple independent searches running in         │
│ (scattered search)  │ parallel or sequence. Coordination need: share   │
│                     │ findings, avoid duplicate work, converge on      │
│                     │ best trail                                       │
├─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Consensus           │ Multiple approaches evaluated, one must be       │
│ (competing paths)   │ selected. Coordination need: independent         │
│                     │ evaluation, unbiased comparison, commitment      │
├─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Construction        │ Building a complex output incrementally (multi-  │
│ (incremental build) │ file edit, long document). Coordination need:    │
│                     │ consistency across parts, progress tracking,     │
│                     │ dependency ordering                              │
├─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Defense             │ Maintaining quality under pressure (tight time,  │
│ (quality under      │ complex requirements). Coordination need:        │
│ pressure)           │ monitoring for errors, rapid correction,         │
│                     │ awareness of degradation                         │
├─────────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Division of labor   │ Task decomposed into sub-tasks with              │
│ (sub-task mgmt)     │ dependencies. Coordination need: ordering,       │
│                     │ handoff, result integration                      │
└─────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘