delegate

name

delegate

description

Delegate self-contained tasks to Claude or Codex subagents run as fresh CLI processes. Use proactively, without being asked, whenever work can be handed off — parallel research or code searches, bounded implementation chunks, independent reviews, second implementations for comparison. Pick the provider (Claude, Codex, or both) and tier that best fit each task. Not for consultations the user explicitly routed to a specific peer (use peer-consult for that).

Delegate

Hand a self-contained task to a fresh Claude or Codex subagent and get back a structured report. Each invocation is one subagent; run several in parallel for independent tasks.

When to delegate

• Research or code searches whose details you don't need in your own context.
• Bounded implementation chunks that can be specified up front and verified.
• Independent review passes over a diff, file, or subsystem.
• Getting two independent takes by sending the same task to both providers.

Do not delegate work that needs mid-task input from you or the user, or tasks so small that writing the brief costs more than doing the work.

Route the task

Classify the smallest adequate tier:

Tier	Signals	Codex	Claude
quick	Narrow, bounded, one component	gpt-5.6-terra, medium	claude-sonnet-4-6, medium
quick-context	Still bounded; more context or nuance	gpt-5.6-terra, high	claude-sonnet-5, high
standard	Multi-file feature, ordinary design/debugging, meaningful trade-offs	gpt-5.6-sol, medium	claude-opus-4-8, medium
deep	Architecture, concurrency, security, broad ambiguity, high-impact choice	gpt-5.6-sol, high	claude-opus-4-8, high

Pick the provider by judgment:

• Either provider handles general coding, research, and review well; when the task has no special pull, prefer the provider you are NOT running as, so the subagent brings an independent perspective.
• Use both (two invocations, same task) when you want independent perspectives on a risky or ambiguous problem, or when splitting parallel work across providers to avoid rate-limit contention.
• Honor an explicit user model preference only if it is in the allowed list: Codex gpt-5.6-terra/gpt-5.6-sol; Claude claude-sonnet-4-6/claude-sonnet-5/claude-opus-4-8. Never silently substitute another model.

Pick the mode:

• read (default): research, searches, reviews, second opinions. Subagent cannot modify files.
• write: implementation and refactors. Subagent may edit files and run commands inside the repo; it will not commit or push unless the task says to.

Write the brief

The subagent starts with zero context. Write a self-contained task containing:

• The goal and definition of done.
• Relevant paths, symbols, error messages, or raw diff/plan text.
• Constraints (style, APIs to use or avoid, files off-limits).
• For write mode: how to verify (build/test commands).

Pass raw evidence; do not tell the subagent the answer you expect.

Run it

Resolve <skill-dir> to the directory containing this SKILL.md. Send the task on stdin; do not interpolate it into the shell command.

python3 <skill-dir>/scripts/delegate.py \
  --provider codex \
  --tier standard \
  --mode read \
  --repo "$PWD" <<'TASK'
<self-contained task brief>
TASK

Flags:

• --provider claude|codex (required)
• --tier quick|quick-context|standard|deep (default standard)
• --mode read|write (default read)
• --model <approved-model> for an explicit allowed override
• --repo <dir> (default cwd)
• --timeout <seconds> (default 1800)
• --dry-run to inspect routing and command construction without running

Parallel delegation: launch each invocation as a separate background shell command, then collect the outputs. Never point two write-mode subagents at overlapping files; split by file/directory or run them sequentially.

Handle the result

The report ends with Summary / Details / Files changed / Verification / Open questions sections. Then:

• Treat it as a subagent's claim, not ground truth: spot-check load-bearing findings, and for write mode review the diff (git diff) and re-run verification before building on it.
• Relay the outcome to the user in your own words; credit which provider/model produced it when it matters.
• On failure, report the provider, model, and exact error. Retry once with the same route if transient; escalate tier or switch provider only deliberately, and say you did.