subagent-delegation git:20260908.3d78212A

Immutable. This exact content is served forever at /api/v1/blob/70016e3f47701b14.

---
name: subagent-delegation
description: "Sets delegation scope, child-initiated consultation, and completion waiting. Use when spawning, waiting for, or steering any subagent, including a single ad hoc agent or a custom workflow agent."
---

# Subagent Delegation

Apply this skill before delegating work or managing a running subagent. It covers both custom agents and agents created for the current task.

## Assignment

Give the child its expected outcome, scope, governing inputs, and the result needed by the next consumer. Follow a custom agent's input contract and pass artifact paths instead of repeating their contents. Leave in-scope methods and reversible choices to the child.

Accept semantically equivalent wording in natural-language inputs while preserving exact contracts where software parses them.

Choose the delegation level before spawning, based on which decisions the child owns:

| Task type | Default delegation |
|---|---|
| Implementation or fixes within confirmed scope; review or verification against supplied criteria; research with a defined question | Delegate through completion, including the required verification. Receive the completed result or an escalation for a blocker requiring help beyond the child's assigned scope. |
| Exploration or design that needs the parent to settle the objective, selection criteria, or a major decision during the work | Name the decision retained by the parent in the assignment. Have the child request that decision when it becomes necessary, with the evidence needed to answer. |

Research and design also use completion delegation when the child can make the required decisions from its assigned scope and evidence. Use these defaults directly; only a retained parent decision needs additional consultation instructions.

## Waiting and Intervention

Minimize total parent-and-child token cost while meeting required quality and user time constraints. While the child works, perform only necessary work outside its delegated responsibility, or wait for its notification. For notification-driven waits, use the longest timeout allowed by instructions and tools to reduce repeated parent context processing; notifications wake the parent early. Shorten it only for a concrete earlier parent action whose expected benefit outweighs the extra coordination cost. A wait timeout or routine progress notification leaves the assignment pending; continue waiting.

The child initiates consultation. Inspect its deliverable after receiving the completed result and apply the required verification and review. Intervene during execution for a child decision request, a user change or cancellation, or a material assignment error learned through other necessary work. Base intervention on these notifications and independently acquired evidence.

Preserve the running assignment until completion or a correction or redirection makes it obsolete. Elapsed time alone leaves it pending. Receive every required child result before producing the final deliverable.