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Use when a task will be executed or reviewed through dispatched workers โ before the first codex dispatch, subagent spawn, or workflow run of any implementation or review task.
Install with Codex or Claude Copy this prompt, paste it into Codex, Claude, or another assistant, and let it review the skill page and install it for you.
Use when a dependency update needs assessing before adoption. Covers a user asking whether to upgrade a package to a new version, a manual version bump, a lockfile change under review, or a bot-opened update PR (Renovate, Dependabot, or similar). Also fires on "is version X worth adopting", "what does this update change for us", or "review this dependency bump". Do NOT use to apply the update, fix a broken build, or replace an abandoned dependency.
This skill should be used when the user asks to 'read this page', 'what does this URL say', 'fetch this article', 'summarize this PDF', or 'get the transcript of this video', or when web content is needed as context for another task. Fetches web pages, PDF/Word/PowerPoint/Excel/EPUB documents, and YouTube videos as clean Markdown via PullMD. Also a fallback when the host's native web research returns poor or noisy results. Do NOT use for GitHub URLs (use gh), Reddit URLs, or JSON API endpoints.
Use when the user explicitly asks to set up, install, configure, wire up, or create the code-comment-writer plugin's extension for the current project. Do not activate as a side effect of a code-comment-writing task.
Use when the user explicitly asks to set up, install, configure, wire up, or create the commit-message-writer plugin's extension for the current project. Do not activate as a side effect of a commit-message-writing task.
Use when the user explicitly asks to set up, install, configure, wire up, or re-sync the subagent-orchestrator plugin's extension for the current project. Do not activate as a side effect of an orchestration task.
Use when writing or editing implementation code โ any change that adds, modifies, or removes logic, signatures, or comments on the lines being written. Do NOT activate for retrospective cleanup or audits of existing comments (the code-comment-writer plugin owns those) or for test files and their fixtures (the writing-tests skill owns those).
Based on SOC occupation classification
| name | orchestrating-subagent-work |
| version | 2.1.0 |
| description | Use when a task will be executed or reviewed through dispatched workers โ before the first codex dispatch, subagent spawn, or workflow run of any implementation or review task. |
The session is the orchestrator: it owns specs, triage, adjudication, git, and write authority โ and it conserves its own context by not re-doing worker verification. Workers never write by default; a worker writes only inside a write scope its checkpoint explicitly fences, and every worker-written change is diff-reviewed by an independent worker before it stands. Dispatched workers (codex, sonnet/haiku subagents) are stateless specialists that receive self-contained prompts; their results are confirmed by a second, independent worker, not by the orchestrator. A result confirmed by two workers (codex counts as a worker) is final โ the orchestrator verifies something itself only when a deviation routes it there. No worker is dispatched before the workflow below reaches "Execute next strategy step".
The workflow below can be extended by content earlier in context. Two shapes are recognized:
## Pre-<position>. If it does, execute its content as additional instructions, then continue with the node. After the node, do the same check for ## Post-<position>. On a looping node, both checks run on every pass.`project.gates`). When such a name appears, check whether earlier context assigns a value to it. If yes, use the assigned value; otherwise use the inline default.| Position name | Node |
|---|---|
Preflight | Run codex pre-flight |
Strategy | Build task strategy in conversation |
Dispatch | Execute next strategy step |
Adapt | Adapt strategy and announce the delta |
Report | Verify and report |
Every other node takes no position, and no named value exists for the verification shape, the consent gate, or dual-confirmation closure. Every list-shaped named value appends to its universal list and never shortens it.
Both checks default to no-op. When earlier context contains no matching section or assignment, the workflow runs entirely on the defaults documented inline. Extension content may cite project files by path; hand a cited path to a worker as required reading rather than reading it into the session, unless a node the session executes itself needs its content.
digraph orchestrating_subagent_work {
"Task needs dispatched workers" [shape=doublecircle];
"Run codex pre-flight" [shape=box];
"codex available?" [shape=diamond];
"Codex-less consent on record in this conversation?" [shape=diamond];
"Ask user: proceed without codex, or halt?" [shape=box];
"User consents to codex-less run?" [shape=diamond];
"HALT: blocked on codex" [shape=octagon, style=filled, fillcolor=red];
"Build task strategy in conversation" [shape=box];
"Execute next strategy step" [shape=box];
"Deviation or unforeseen problem?" [shape=diamond];
"Adapt strategy and announce the delta" [shape=box];
"Adaptation drops codex from a checkpoint?" [shape=diamond];
"Adaptation restores codex to a checkpoint?" [shape=diamond];
"All checkpoints closed?" [shape=diamond];
"Verify and report" [shape=box];
"Task complete" [shape=doublecircle];
"Task needs dispatched workers" -> "Run codex pre-flight";
"Run codex pre-flight" -> "codex available?";
"codex available?" -> "Build task strategy in conversation" [label="yes"];
"codex available?" -> "Codex-less consent on record in this conversation?" [label="no"];
"Codex-less consent on record in this conversation?" -> "Build task strategy in conversation" [label="yes"];
"Codex-less consent on record in this conversation?" -> "Ask user: proceed without codex, or halt?" [label="no"];
"Ask user: proceed without codex, or halt?" -> "User consents to codex-less run?";
"User consents to codex-less run?" -> "Build task strategy in conversation" [label="yes"];
"User consents to codex-less run?" -> "HALT: blocked on codex" [label="no"];
"Build task strategy in conversation" -> "Execute next strategy step";
"Execute next strategy step" -> "Deviation or unforeseen problem?";
"Deviation or unforeseen problem?" -> "All checkpoints closed?" [label="no"];
"Deviation or unforeseen problem?" -> "Adapt strategy and announce the delta" [label="yes"];
"Adapt strategy and announce the delta" -> "Adaptation drops codex from a checkpoint?";
"Adaptation drops codex from a checkpoint?" -> "Codex-less consent on record in this conversation?" [label="yes"];
"Adaptation drops codex from a checkpoint?" -> "Adaptation restores codex to a checkpoint?" [label="no"];
"Adaptation restores codex to a checkpoint?" -> "Run codex pre-flight" [label="yes"];
"Adaptation restores codex to a checkpoint?" -> "Execute next strategy step" [label="no"];
"All checkpoints closed?" -> "Execute next strategy step" [label="no"];
"All checkpoints closed?" -> "Verify and report" [label="yes"];
"Verify and report" -> "Task complete";
}
Run this node at task entry before any planning or dispatch, and again whenever an adaptation proposes restoring codex to a checkpoint. Run codex --version and codex login status via Bash. Codex is available only when both exit zero and the login status reports an authenticated account. A missing binary, non-zero exit, auth error, or known-exhausted quota means unavailable. Quota exhaustion is known only through a failed dispatch or an explicit user statement โ suspicion alone does not make codex unavailable. Do not probe with a model request; the pre-flight must not consume quota. Report the pre-flight result in one line before continuing.
Search the current conversation for an explicit user statement authorizing work without codex. It counts only when it names this task or is an unqualified general authorization; when it is unclear whether an earlier, narrower statement covers the current task, the answer is no. Only statements in this conversation count โ memory files, prior sessions, and inferred preferences never do.
Use AskUserQuestion. Present exactly two options: proceed without codex (name the substitutions from the routing table that will apply), or halt so the user can restore codex (codex login, quota reset). Dispatch nothing โ including claude-only workers for "independent" parts of the task โ while this question is open. Partial dispatch before consent is a violation.
Report the pre-flight evidence verbatim (command, exit code, error line) and stop the task. Do not start reduced-scope work as a substitute.
Read references/model-routing.md and apply it. State the strategy as a compact chat message โ never write it to a file. One line per checkpoint; no explanations, no justifications. It covers:
Dispatch immediately after stating the strategy; do not wait for approval or acknowledgement. The first arrival at this node always produces the full strategy message โ including when it was reached through the consent gate. Only on re-entry after a mid-task adaptation does the announced delta serve as the strategy amendment; update the affected checkpoints and do not restate the rest.
Dispatch the current checkpoint's worker per the strategy.
Read references/worker-prompts.md before the first dispatch of any checkpoint and build the prompt from it. It governs every worker โ codex and subagent alike โ and a codex-less run keeps every block; skipping it dispatches implementers with no fence and no gates.
references/codex-dispatch.md for invocation hygiene and the re-validation loop. Codex runs through the CLI only (codex exec); never through an MCP transport.Check after every dispatch returns and whenever new information arrives between dispatches. Deviation triggers: dispatch failure or timeout; codex auth/quota loss; results contradicting a named strategy assumption; scope larger than decomposed; gate failure; a worker returning empty, off-profile, or out-of-scope output; a worker having written files it was not fenced to write; the user's time or budget constraint no longer fitting the remaining strategy; codex availability regained (a user statement or a restored login) during a codex-less run; producer and confirmer disagreeing about a result; a result unable to obtain its second confirmation; orchestrator-observed evidence of a defect in a result already marked final.
deviation.additional_triggers adds project triggers to this list; default if not otherwise stated: the triggers above only. Assignments append โ no assignment removes a listed trigger.
Revise the affected checkpoint assignments (actor, model, effort, order, scope) against the routing table. Announce the delta in the conversation โ what changed, why, and what stays โ before the next dispatch. Never continue silently on a changed plan. For a disputed or unconfirmable result, the escalation ladder is: a third worker, then direct orchestrator verification of that item โ the only route by which the orchestrator verifies anything itself. Time pressure adapts scope, never verification: shrinking a checkpoint is announced like any other delta; skipping verification is not an available adaptation. Adaptation may also restore codex to remaining checkpoints; announce a proposed restoration as conditional on its pre-flight, which runs next. If results contradict the task's own premise, stop and surface to the user instead of adapting around it.
A result confirmed by two workers โ producer plus an independent confirmer (codex counts as a worker) โ is final; the orchestrator must not verify it again. Before closing, check the confirmation ledger: every load-bearing result is dual-confirmed or was resolved through the deviation path โ labeling never substitutes for either; only non-load-bearing results may close as labeled single-source or unverified. Finding verdicts use the vocabulary confirmed / mechanism confirmed / adjudicated / not verified / disputed. The orchestrator's own closing work is adjudication and reporting: merge confirmed results, resolve accepted-decision triage, close checkpoints. Reporting to the user counts as acting: every reported item carries its confirmation status. Report the outcome, per-checkpoint results, and any consent decisions taken.