tell-q-agent-router

name	tell-q-agent-router
description	Intelligently route tasks to the most appropriate Amazon Q CLI agent based on task type, with support for explicit agent selection and special workflow patterns. Use when delegating tasks to Q agents or triggering the quip-upload workflow for file uploads to Quip.
author	Claude Code
version	1.0.0
date	"2026-06-25T00:00:00.000Z"

Tell Q Agent Router Skill

Objective

Intelligently route tasks to the most appropriate Amazon Q CLI agent based on task type, with support for explicit agent selection and special workflow patterns.

Trigger Phrases

• "tell q to ..." - Delegate a task to Amazon Q agent
• "tell q <file> to quip" - Activate quip-upload workflow (uploads file to Quip)

Prerequisites

1. Amazon Q CLI installed:

   # Check if Q CLI is available
   q --version
   

2. Q agents configured:

   • See config/agents.json for available agents and their capabilities

Agent Selection Logic

When an agent is NOT explicitly specified, analyze the task and select the most appropriate agent:

Task Type	Agent	Reason
Quip Upload/Edit	default	Has QuipEditor tool
AWS/CDK/Infrastructure	aws-expert	AWS docs, CDK, API, diagram MCP servers
Documentation/Writing	amzn-docs	Doc generation, natural writing
Architecture/Design	amzn-architecture	Internal tools, GitLab access
Code Quality/Linting	amzn-quality	Standards enforcement
Code Development	amzn-code-dev	Development specialist
General/Project-specific	omega	Project context
Default/Uncertain	omega	Safe fallback

Agent Selection Algorithm

1. Check for explicit agent mention:

   • If task mentions "tell q aws-expert to..." → use aws-expert
   • If task mentions "tell q omega to..." → use omega
   • etc.

2. Check for Quip workflow pattern:

   • Pattern: "tell q <file> to quip" → use default agent
   • Pattern: "upload <file> to quip" → use default agent

3. Analyze task keywords:

   • Extract keywords from the task description
   • Match against agent keyword lists in config/agents.json
   • Score each agent based on keyword matches
   • Select agent with highest score

4. Default fallback:

   • If no clear match → use omega agent

Command Building

Standard Q Agent Command

q chat --agent <agent-name> --no-interactive --trust-all-tools "<task-prompt>"

Parameters

Parameter	Purpose	Required
--agent <name>	Select specific Q agent	Yes
--no-interactive	Non-blocking execution	Yes
--trust-all-tools	Full tool permissions	Yes
task-prompt	Task description	Yes

Execution Mode

• Use bash tool with mode="async" to run Q agent in background
• This allows monitoring progress while Q agent works
• Returns a sessionId for checking progress

Workflow Steps

Step 1: Parse User Input

Extract components from user request:

1. Identify trigger phrase:

   • "tell q to..."
   • "tell q <file> to quip"

2. Extract task description:

   • Everything after "tell q to"
   • For Quip workflow: file path and "to quip"

3. Check for explicit agent:

   • Look for agent name in the request
   • Examples: "tell q aws-expert to...", "tell q omega to..."

Step 2: Select Agent

Apply the agent selection logic:

1. If explicit agent mentioned:

   • Validate agent exists in config/agents.json
   • Use specified agent

2. If Quip workflow detected:

   • Use default agent (has QuipEditor tool)

3. If no explicit agent:

   • Analyze task keywords
   • Match against agent capabilities
   • Select best-fit agent
   • Default to omega if uncertain

Step 3: Build Command

Construct the Q CLI command:

q chat --agent <selected-agent> --no-interactive --trust-all-tools "<task-description>"

Task Description Formatting:

• For standard tasks: Use task as-is
• For Quip workflow: Transform to "Upload <file> to Quip"
• Escape special characters in task description
• Preserve quotes properly

Step 4: Execute in Background

Use bash with async mode:

# Start Q agent in background
bash command: "q chat --agent <agent-name> --no-interactive --trust-all-tools \"<task>\""
mode: "async"
initial_wait: 10

This returns a sessionId for monitoring.

Step 5: Report to User

Provide immediate feedback:

Starting Q agent '<agent-name>' in background to: <brief-task-summary>

Command: q chat --agent <agent-name> --no-interactive --trust-all-tools "<task>"
Background process ID: <bash_sessionId>

You can check progress with: read_bash sessionId: <bash_sessionId>
Or stop the agent with: stop_bash sessionId: <bash_sessionId>

Special Workflows

Quip Upload Pattern

Pattern Recognition:

• Input: "tell q <file> to quip"
• Input: "upload <file> to quip"

Workflow:

1. Detect pattern:

   • Match regex: tell q (.+?) to quip
   • Extract file path from match group

2. Validate file:

   • Check if file exists
   • Confirm file is readable

3. Select agent:

   • Use default agent (has QuipEditor tool)

4. Transform task:

   • Original: "tell q report.md to quip"
   • Transformed: "Upload report.md to Quip using the QuipEditor tool"
   • See prompts/quip-upload-prompt.md for detailed template

5. Execute:

   • Run Q agent with transformed task
   • Monitor progress

Response Format

Success Response

Starting Q agent '<agent-name>' in background to: <brief-task-summary>

Command: q chat --agent <agent-name> --no-interactive --trust-all-tools "<task>"
Background process ID: <sessionId>

You can check progress with: read_bash sessionId: <sessionId>
Or stop the agent with: stop_bash sessionId: <sessionId>

Error Responses

Agent Not Found:

Error: Agent '<agent-name>' not found.

Available agents:
- aws-expert: AWS architecture, CDK, API, diagrams
- amzn-docs: Documentation, Natural writing
- amzn-architecture: Design, Security, Internal systems
- amzn-quality: Code quality, Standards
- amzn-code-dev: Code development
- default: QuipEditor, General
- omega: Project context

Q CLI Not Available:

Error: Amazon Q CLI (q) is not installed or not in PATH.

To install Q CLI, follow instructions at: <installation-url>

File Not Found (Quip workflow):

Error: File '<file-path>' not found for Quip upload.

Please verify the file path and try again.

Examples

Example 1: Explicit Agent Selection

User Input:

tell q aws-expert to create a CDK stack for a Lambda function with S3 trigger

Agent Selection:

• Explicit agent: aws-expert
• Task: "create a CDK stack for a Lambda function with S3 trigger"

Command:

q chat --agent aws-expert --no-interactive --trust-all-tools "create a CDK stack for a Lambda function with S3 trigger"

Example 2: Automatic Agent Selection (AWS)

User Input:

tell q to deploy a serverless API with Lambda and API Gateway

Agent Selection:

• No explicit agent
• Keywords detected: "serverless", "Lambda", "API Gateway"
• Best match: aws-expert (AWS-related keywords)

Command:

q chat --agent aws-expert --no-interactive --trust-all-tools "deploy a serverless API with Lambda and API Gateway"

Example 3: Documentation Task

User Input:

tell q to write comprehensive API documentation for our REST endpoints

Agent Selection:

• No explicit agent
• Keywords detected: "write", "documentation", "API"
• Best match: amzn-docs (documentation specialist)

Command:

q chat --agent amzn-docs --no-interactive --trust-all-tools "write comprehensive API documentation for our REST endpoints"

Example 4: Quip Upload Workflow

User Input:

tell q report.md to quip

Workflow Detection:

• Pattern matched: "tell q <file> to quip"
• File: report.md
• Special workflow: Quip upload

Agent Selection:

• Workflow-specific: default agent (has QuipEditor)

Command:

q chat --agent default --no-interactive --trust-all-tools "Upload report.md to Quip using the QuipEditor tool"

Example 5: Code Development

User Input:

tell q to implement a new authentication middleware in Express

Agent Selection:

• No explicit agent
• Keywords detected: "implement", "code", "middleware"
• Best match: amzn-code-dev (development specialist)

Command:

q chat --agent amzn-code-dev --no-interactive --trust-all-tools "implement a new authentication middleware in Express"

Example 6: Code Quality Review

User Input:

tell q to review and lint all TypeScript files for standards compliance

Agent Selection:

• No explicit agent
• Keywords detected: "review", "lint", "standards"
• Best match: amzn-quality (quality specialist)

Command:

q chat --agent amzn-quality --no-interactive --trust-all-tools "review and lint all TypeScript files for standards compliance"

Monitoring Progress

After starting a Q agent, you can:

Check Progress

read_bash sessionId: <sessionId> delay: 5

This reads the latest output from the Q agent.

Stop Agent

stop_bash sessionId: <sessionId>

This terminates the running Q agent.

Error Handling

Handle Q CLI Errors

1. Check if Q CLI is available:

   which q || echo "Q CLI not found"
   

2. Validate agent exists:

   • Load config/agents.json
   • Check if selected agent is in the list

3. Handle execution errors:

   • Monitor bash output for errors
   • Report errors to user
   • Provide troubleshooting guidance

Common Issues

Issue	Solution
Q CLI not found	Install Q CLI or add to PATH
Agent not found	Check agent name spelling, list available agents
Permission denied	Run with appropriate permissions
Task timeout	Increase wait time or check Q agent logs

Best Practices

1. Agent Selection:

   • Use explicit agent for specialized tasks
   • Let automatic selection handle general tasks
   • Default to omega when uncertain

2. Task Description:

   • Be specific and clear
   • Include relevant context
   • Avoid ambiguous instructions

3. Monitoring:

   • Check progress periodically for long-running tasks
   • Review output for errors
   • Stop agent if task is taking too long

4. Quip Workflow:

   • Verify file exists before uploading
   • Use descriptive file names
   • Ensure file format is supported by Quip

Limitations

• Requires Amazon Q CLI to be installed and configured
• Agent selection is keyword-based and may not always be perfect
• Background execution requires monitoring for completion
• Quip workflow requires QuipEditor tool to be configured in Q agent
• Some agents may not have access to certain tools or resources

Related Tools

• Amazon Q CLI (q)
• Background process management (bash async mode)
• File system operations for Quip workflow

Success Metrics

After implementing this skill, you should be able to:

✓ Delegate tasks to Q agents with simple "tell q to..." commands ✓ Automatically select the most appropriate agent based on task type ✓ Run Q agents in background with progress monitoring ✓ Upload files to Quip with a simple workflow pattern ✓ Override automatic selection with explicit agent names ✓ Get immediate feedback about running agents ✓ Monitor and control background Q agent processes