team-composition-patterns

name	team-composition-patterns
description	Design optimal agent team compositions with sizing heuristics, preset configurations, and agent type selection. Use this skill when deciding team size, selecting agent types, or configuring team presets for multi-agent workflows.
version	1.0.2

Team Composition Patterns

Best practices for composing multi-agent teams, selecting team sizes, choosing agent types, and configuring display modes for Claude Code's Agent Teams feature.

When to Use This Skill

• Deciding how many teammates to spawn for a task
• Choosing between preset team configurations
• Selecting the right agent type (subagent_type) for each role
• Configuring teammate display modes (tmux, iTerm2, in-process)
• Building custom team compositions for non-standard workflows

Team Sizing Heuristics

Complexity	Team Size	When to Use
Simple	1-2	Single-dimension review, isolated bug, small feature
Moderate	2-3	Multi-file changes, 2-3 concerns, medium features
Complex	3-4	Cross-cutting concerns, large features, deep debugging
Very Complex	4-5	Full-stack features, comprehensive reviews, systemic issues

Rule of thumb: Start with the smallest team that covers all required dimensions. Adding teammates increases coordination overhead.

Preset Team Compositions

Review Team

• Size: 3 reviewers
• Agents: 3x team-reviewer
• Default dimensions: security, performance, architecture
• Use when: Code changes need multi-dimensional quality assessment

Debug Team

• Size: 3 investigators
• Agents: 3x team-debugger
• Default hypotheses: 3 competing hypotheses
• Use when: Bug has multiple plausible root causes

Feature Team

• Size: 3 (1 lead + 2 implementers)
• Agents: 1x team-lead + 2x team-implementer
• Use when: Feature can be decomposed into parallel work streams

Fullstack Team

• Size: 4 (1 lead + 3 implementers)
• Agents: 1x team-lead + 1x frontend team-implementer + 1x backend team-implementer + 1x test team-implementer
• Use when: Feature spans frontend, backend, and test layers

Research Team

• Size: 3 researchers
• Agents: 3x general-purpose
• Default areas: Each assigned a different research question, module, or topic
• Capabilities: Codebase search (Grep, Glob, Read), web search (WebSearch, WebFetch)
• Use when: Need to understand a codebase, research libraries, compare approaches, or gather information from code and web sources in parallel

Security Team

• Size: 4 reviewers
• Agents: 4x team-reviewer
• Default dimensions: OWASP/vulnerabilities, auth/access control, dependencies/supply chain, secrets/configuration
• Use when: Comprehensive security audit covering multiple attack surfaces

Migration Team

• Size: 4 (1 lead + 2 implementers + 1 reviewer)
• Agents: 1x team-lead + 2x team-implementer + 1x team-reviewer
• Use when: Large codebase migration (framework upgrade, language port, API version bump) requiring parallel work with correctness verification

Agent Type Selection

When spawning teammates with the Task tool, choose subagent_type based on what tools the teammate needs:

Agent Type	Tools Available	Use For
general-purpose	All tools (Read, Write, Edit, Bash, etc.)	Implementation, debugging, any task requiring file changes
Explore	Read-only tools (Read, Grep, Glob)	Research, code exploration, analysis
Plan	Read-only tools	Architecture planning, task decomposition
agent-teams:team-reviewer	All tools	Code review with structured findings
agent-teams:team-debugger	All tools	Hypothesis-driven investigation
agent-teams:team-implementer	All tools	Building features within file ownership boundaries
agent-teams:team-lead	All tools	Team orchestration and coordination

Key distinction: Read-only agents (Explore, Plan) cannot modify files. Never assign implementation tasks to read-only agents.

Display Mode Configuration

Configure in ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "teammateMode": "tmux"
}

Mode	Behavior	Best For
"tmux"	Each teammate in a tmux pane	Development workflows, monitoring multiple agents
"iterm2"	Each teammate in an iTerm2 tab	macOS users who prefer iTerm2
"in-process"	All teammates in same process	Simple tasks, CI/CD environments

Custom Team Guidelines

When building custom teams:

1. Every team needs a coordinator — Either designate a team-lead or have the user coordinate directly
2. Match roles to agent types — Use specialized agents (reviewer, debugger, implementer) when available
3. Avoid duplicate roles — Two agents doing the same thing wastes resources
4. Define boundaries upfront — Each teammate needs clear ownership of files or responsibilities
5. Keep it small — 2-4 teammates is the sweet spot; 5+ requires significant coordination overhead