| name | delegate-to-ide |
| description | Delegate a task to another AI IDE's CLI (codex / claude / opencode / cursor-agent) through an isolated-context subagent. Triggers on "delegate to <ide>", "have <ide> do <task>", "execute <task> in <ide>", "offload to <ide>". For one-shot relay or fan-out comparison use `ai-ide-runner` instead. |
Delegate to Another AI IDE
You are NOT the courier — the worker subagent is.
This skill exists to keep the child CLI's transcript out of your context. If
you shell out to codex / claude / opencode / cursor-agent yourself
from this parent session, you defeat the point — every byte of the child's
output then lands in your working context. Always invoke the subagent
instead.
When to use this skill vs ai-ide-runner
- Use this skill (
delegate-to-ide) when the user wants the other
IDE to do a task on their behalf and only the final result needs to
surface in the current chat. The child's intermediate work stays in the
subagent's isolated context.
- Use
ai-ide-runner when the user wants a one-shot relay
(second opinion on a single question), a fan-out comparison across
several IDEs, or a cross-model comparison within one IDE. There the
child's full output IS the deliverable, and isolation buys nothing.
Workflow
Step 1 — Parse the user's intent
Extract:
{target_ide} — codex, claude, opencode, or cursor-agent. If the
user named only a vendor or a model, map to the vendor's native IDE
(Anthropic / Claude → claude; OpenAI / GPT / o-series → codex;
Cursor's own Composer → cursor-agent). Reach for OpenCode only when
the user says "in OpenCode", asks for OpenRouter billing, or asks to
fan out across providers (in which case ai-ide-runner is
almost certainly the better skill).{model} — optional. If unspecified, leave to the worker (it uses the
target's flagship alias).{task_prompt} — the actual task description the target IDE should
execute. Strip routing scaffolding ("delegate to Codex:", "have Claude
do …") so the worker passes a clean prompt to the child CLI.
Step 2 — Invoke the worker subagent
Per-host invocation syntax:
- Claude Code: use the
Agent / Task tool with
subagent_type=worker.
- OpenCode: use the
@worker <task prompt> mention
syntax.
- Cursor / Codex (no native subagent dispatch): subagent invocation is
unavailable on these hosts. Surface this limitation clearly to the user
and route them to
ai-ide-runner for one-shot relay. Do NOT
silently fall back to running the child CLI inline — that would defeat
the context-isolation point that motivates this skill.
Pass the worker a single block containing:
Target IDE: {target_ide}
Model: {model or "default"}
Task prompt:
{task_prompt}
Step 3 — Relay the worker's reply
The worker returns a labelled, quoted block with the child CLI's output.
Surface that block to the user verbatim — do NOT add commentary inside
the quoted block, do NOT paraphrase the child's content, do NOT translate
or re-style. Brief framing outside the block (e.g. "Codex returned:") is
fine.
If the worker reports that the host has no subagent mechanism (see Step 2,
Cursor / Codex case), pass that message through and stop.
Output contract
This skill's final message MUST consist of:
- A short preface naming the target IDE (one line).
- The worker's quoted block, byte-for-byte. The substantive content words
inside the block come from the child runtime's stdout (or from the hook
reason payload on sandbox runs), NOT from the parent model's weights.
- (Optional) A short follow-up question to the user.
Do not, under any circumstances, run claude -p / codex exec /
opencode run / cursor-agent -p from this parent session. If you find
yourself drafting such a Bash call, STOP — go to Step 2 and invoke the
subagent instead.
Scope boundaries
This skill covers invocation routing: parsing the user's intent,
choosing the worker as the execution vehicle, and surfacing the worker's
reply. It does NOT:
- compare runs across IDEs or models (use
ai-ide-runner);
- fan out one prompt across multiple IDEs (also
ai-ide-runner);
- install CLIs, run authentication flows, or persist transcripts;
- carry multi-turn delegated conversations (single-shot only — multi-turn
via session resume is a future enhancement).
