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name: dispatching-parallel-agents description: Use when facing 2+ independent failures across different problem domains that can be investigated concurrently without shared state or sequential dependencies

Dispatching Parallel Agents

Overview

When multiple independent failures exist, investigate them in parallel rather than sequentially.

Core principle: One agent per independent problem domain, running concurrently.

Announce at start: "I'm using the dispatching-parallel-agents skill to investigate multiple independent failures."

When to Use

Use when:

• 3+ test files failing with different root causes
• Multiple subsystems broken independently
• Each problem can be understood without context from others
• No shared state between investigations

Don't use when:

• Failures are related (fixing one might fix others)
• Need to understand full system state
• Agents would interfere with each other

The Pattern

1. Identify Independent Domains

Group failures by what's broken:

• File A tests: Tool approval flow
• File B tests: Batch completion behavior
• File C tests: Abort functionality

2. Create Focused Agent Tasks

Each agent gets:

• Specific scope: One test file or subsystem
• Clear goal: Make these tests pass
• Constraints: Don't change other code
• Expected output: Summary of findings and fixes

3. Dispatch in Parallel

Dispatch each agent task concurrently with the Task tool.

4. Review and Integrate

When agents return:

• Read each summary
• Verify fixes don't conflict
• Run full test suite
• Integrate all changes

Agent Prompt Structure

Good agent prompts are:

1. Focused - One clear problem domain
2. Self-contained - All context needed
3. Specific about output - What should be returned?

Common Mistakes

Key Benefits

1. Parallelization - Multiple investigations happen simultaneously
2. Focus - Each agent has narrow scope
3. Independence - Agents don't interfere
4. Speed - N problems solved in time of 1

Red Flags - STOP

• Related failures that might affect each other
• Need for full system context
• Exploratory debugging without clear problem
• Shared state between investigations