cursor-delegation

# Cursor Delegation This skill is the policy and the loop for delegating work to Cursor without a `/cursor:*` command. Presenting output stays governed by the `cursor-result-handling` skill; prompt shape and model notes stay governed by the `cursor-prompting` skill. Do not duplicate either — defer to them. ## When to delegate — and when not - Delegate when parallel speed adds real value: an implementation or scaffolding job that can run while the session continues on something else, or an everyday review of a substantive diff. - Evidence note (portfolio retro, 2026-08-07): across the first 8 ledger dispositions Cursor was never exercised as a delegate, so its routing guidance rests on less evidence than Codex's — when an increment genuinely fits the profile above, prefer delegating it here over defaulting to local work, so the ledger accumulates the comparison the routing policy needs. - Keep trivial work local. A rename, a one-file edit, a question Claude can answer directly — spawning a background agent there is overhead, not help. - Non-transferable context, 2026-08-08 (docs/bench-pilot-2026-08-08.md): a bench pilot measured the CODEX arm matching solo Claude's fix rate on one well-localized single-file bugfix cell while costing ~30% more wall time. No Cursor arm has been benched, so that result transfers no verdict here — the evidence note above stands, and bugfix-shaped increments are among the shapes a future Cursor arm should measure. - Never delegate when the user explicitly asked Claude to do the work personally. - Run one delegated job of a class at a time (one task, one review). Before firing a new one, run `status --json` and confirm nothing of the same class is still active. ## Disclosure - Announce every delegation in one short line when starting it — what is being delegated and that it is going to Cursor. Never silently spawn CLI work. ## The loop: fire, await, collect Fire — start the job in the background: ```bash node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/cursor-companion.mjs" task --background [--write] [--profile deep|fast] [--model <model>] "<prompt>" ``` - The output line `started in the background as <jobId>` carries the job id. Record it. - Add `--write` only when Cursor is supposed to edit files; it removes the per-command confirmation, so add it deliberately. - This fire → await → collect loop is for `task` only. Reviews detach differently — see below. Await — issue the wait as a background Bash task so the harness notifies on completion instead of blocking the session: ```typescript Bash({ command: `node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/cursor-companion.mjs" status <jobId> --wait --timeout-ms 1800000 --json`, description: "Await Cursor job", run_in_background: true }) ``` - On wake, parse the JSON. If `waitTimedOut` is true and the job is still active, re-issue the same wait instead of assuming failure — a timeout is not a verdict. Collect — fetch the stored output once the job is terminal: ```bash node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/cursor-companion.mjs" result <jobId> --json ``` - Present it per the `cursor-result-handling` skill — including its rule that review findings are never auto-applied: present them, stop, and ask which ones to fix. ## Reviews: one background step `review` and `adversarial-review` have no companion-side enqueue: the companion parses `--background` but always runs the review in the foreground, and no `started in the background as <jobId>` line is printed. Delegate a review by running the whole command as a background Bash task — the wake IS the collect step, carrying the rendered review on stdout: ```typescript Bash({ command: `node "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/cursor-companion.mjs" review [--base <ref>]`, description: "Cursor review in background", run_in_background: true }) ``` - `adversarial-review [--base <ref>] [focus text]` detaches the same way. - The run still records a tracked job, so `status` and `result` work on it afterwards. ## Routing - Fast implementation, scaffolding, everyday review → `task` or `review`. - Leave the model unset by default — Cursor routes `auto` server-side. There is no `--effort` flag; depth is a model choice, and `--profile deep|fast` is a named shortcut for it on `task` only (`review`/`adversarial-review` reject `--profile`). ## Failure honesty - If the companion errors, or Cursor was never actually invoked, report that plainly and stop. Never substitute Claude-authored output as the delegate's.