dispatching-parallel-agents

Dispatching Parallel Agents

Parallelism is useful when workstreams do not depend on the same evolving state. It is not a default response to a long plan.

Independence test

Parallel work is safe only when all are true:

• agents can complete without decisions produced by the other;
• file or component ownership does not overlap;
• each output has a clear integration contract;
• failures can be evaluated independently;
• concurrent repository operations will not corrupt branch or index state.

If two tasks share a lifecycle, state machine, public interface, migration, or frequently edited files, keep one persistent owner.

Default limit

Use a maximum of two parallel implementation agents. Read-only investigations may be batched when the harness supports it, but each still needs a bounded question and output contract.

Subagents must not spawn subagents. The root owner remains responsible for integration, verification, and completion claims.

Dispatch contract

First record whether delegation is selected and why it materially improves the task. Also record why inline execution is less appropriate. An inexpensive or available model is never evidence that delegation is useful. If delegation is not selected, stop: no model proposal or dispatch is permitted.

Every selected delegation states:

• one outcome or question;
• owned files or read-only boundary;
• binding interfaces and constraints;
• dependency cone, tool restrictions, stop condition, and owner acceptance proof;
• turn or time budget;
• exact return format;
• where detailed artifacts should be written;
• prohibition on committing outside the assigned scope.

Only then create a plan-time advisory or dispatch-time authoritative proposal using the harness-neutral economy, balanced, expert, or inherit class. Resolve optional user mappings and current capability/catalog evidence at dispatch time. Record requested and effective model/effort separately. A strict-cost request that cannot prove enforcement returns optional work to the owner or blocks required review; it never silently inherits.