FORGE-subagent-lifecycle — Unified Sub-Agent Lifecycle Manager
Forged: 2026-08-07 by 333-AGI Δ MIND under F13 SOVEREIGN directive Status: ACTIVE (Phase 1 — pattern codification; promotion to permanent after 5+ missions) DITEMPA BUKAN DIBERI — Forged, Not Given
WHAT THIS IS
The unified composition layer for sub-agent orchestration. The federation has 15+ discrete primitives (spawn, bind, execute, verify, cool, scar, ingest, seal, retire) — this skill is the lifecycle that wires them into one coherent pattern. A parent agent should never manually compose these primitives. Load this skill, follow the lifecycle, and every sub-agent run produces: validated output + metabolic receipt + scars (if failure) + cooling record + sealed audit trail.
THE 9-STAGE LIFECYCLE (Spawn → Retire)
┌─────────────────────┐
│ 0. DECOMPOSE │ Break intent into atomic sub-tasks
└────────┬────────────┘
▼
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│ 1. PRE-SPAWN GATE │ FQ check · scar consult · budget cap
│ ┌─ FQ ≥ 0.5? │
│ ├─ Scar conflict? │
│ └─ Budget available? │
└───────────────┬───────────────┘
▼
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│ 2. SPAWN │ task() subagent with bounded scope
│ ┌─ Select agent type │
│ ├─ Set contract (scope, │
│ │ budget, timeout) │
│ └─ Parent session ID bound │
└───────────────┬───────────────┘
▼
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│ 3. EXECUTE │ Sub-agent runs autonomously
│ └─ Monitor (poll with │
│ timeout + backoff) │
└───────────────┬───────────────┘
▼
┌───────────────────────────────┐
│ 4. VERIFY │ Validate output against contract
│ ┌─ Schema compliance │
│ ├─ Evidence labels present │
│ ├─ No self-certification │
│ └─ Cross-verify if SEAL-grade │
└───────────────┬───────────────┘
▼
┌────────┴────────┐
▼ ▼
┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
│ PASS │ │ FAIL │
└────┬─────┘ └──────┬───────┘
▼ ▼
┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐
│ 5a. COOL │ │ 5b. SCAR + RETRY │
│ (drift log) │ │ (seal failure) │
└──────┬───────┘ └────────┬─────────┘
│ │
▼ ▼
┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────────┐
│ 6. INGEST │ │ 5c. ESCALATE │
│ (arifFlow) │ │ (3+ failures → │
└──────┬───────┘ │ 888_HOLD) │
│ └──────────────────┘
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ 7. SEAL │ Lane B: forge_vault(receipt)
│ │ Lane A: arif_seal (if DEPLOY)
└──────┬───────┘
▼
┌──────────────┐
│ 8. RETIRE │ Sub-agent output stored.
│ │ Context freed. Pattern
│ │ recorded for RSI.
└──────────────┘
CONSTITUTIONAL GATES (per stage)
| Stage | Gate | Tool | Violation → |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. PRE-SPAWN | FQ ≥ 0.5 | arifflow_flow_health |
HOLD all spawns |
| 1. PRE-SPAWN | Scar conflict | aforge_forge_scar(mode=consult) |
Modify task or skip |
| 1. PRE-SPAWN | Budget ≤ daily cap | Session budget tracker | Throttle or escalate |
| 4. VERIFY | Output schema valid | Parent checks | REJECT → Stage 5b |
| 4. VERIFY | Evidence labels present (OBS/DER/INT/SPEC) | Parent checks | REJECT → Stage 5b |
| 4. VERIFY | No SELF_CERTIFIED | forge_ephemeral(verify) pattern |
REJECT → Stage 5b |
| 5b. SCAR | Failure recurrence ≥ 3 | aforge_forge_scar(mode=seal) |
Auto-seal scar |
| 5c. ESCALATE | 3+ failures same task | Escalate to 888-APEX | 888_HOLD |
| 7. SEAL | Lane B receipt | aforge_forge_vault(mode=receipt) |
Unsealed work |
PRE-SPAWN GATE — DETAILED
Before spawning ANY sub-agent, the parent MUST execute this gate:
1. FQ CHECK: arifflow_flow_health → if quotient < 0.5 → HOLD, do not spawn
2. SCAR CONSULT: aforge_forge_scar(mode=consult, fingerprint=<task_hash>)
→ if scar_pressure > 0.7 for similar task fingerprint → MODIFY task or SKIP
3. BUDGET CHECK: track cumulative sub-agent cost. If > $1.50/session → throttle
4. CONCURRENCY CAP: max 3 concurrent sub-agents. Use forge_parallel_status to check.
VERIFICATION — DETAILED
Every sub-agent output must pass ALL of:
SCHEMA: output matches declared schema
EVIDENCE: every claim carries OBS/DER/INT/SPEC label
NO_GHOSTS: no fabricated data, no hallucinations
NO_SELF: no SELF_CERTIFIED verification claims
UNCERTAINTY: confidence caps honored (max 0.90)
If any check fails:
- First failure: return output + correction notes to sub-agent (retry once)
- Second failure: REJECT. Route to Stage 5b (SCAR + RETRY or 5c ESCALATE)
SCAR LIFECYCLE (3-Tier)
| Tier | Trigger | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Active (Constraint) | Sub-agent fails same task 3+ times | Hard firewall: block identical task fingerprint until modified |
| Generalized (Pattern) | Scar passes N=5 successful runs without recurrence | Promote to general pattern; merge into operational routing |
| Retired (Pruned) | Underlying model/engine natively resolves the failure mode | Archive scar; drop from active constraints |
ENTROPY GATE (ΔS < 0)
After every sub-agent execution cycle:
ΔS = entropy_after - entropy_before
If ΔS > 0:
→ Sub-agent output INCREASED systemic confusion
→ KILL the sub-agent pattern (LOOP_CAP)
→ Log as wasted compute (scar candidate)
If ΔS < 0:
→ Sub-agent output REDUCED systemic confusion
→ PROCEED to ingest → seal → retire
→ Record as validated pattern for RSI
OPERATIONAL CONTRACT
The parent agent (you, 333-AGI) follows this contract when orchestrating sub-agents:
NEVER:
- Spawn a sub-agent without first checking FQ
- Accept sub-agent output without verification
- Skip the ingest step after sub-agent completion
- Spawn > 3 concurrent sub-agents without explicit justification
- Let a sub-agent write directly to VAULT999
ALWAYS:
- Decompose complex tasks into atomic, non-overlapping sub-tasks
- Bound every sub-agent with scope, budget, timeout, and output schema
- Verify sub-agent output against F2 (TRUTH) before integration
- Ingest verified work into arifFlow for metabolic tracking
- Seal sub-agent receipts to VAULT999 (Lane B) or via arif_seal (Lane A)
- Escalate 3+ repeated failures to 888-APEX
REFERENCE: TOOL MAPPING
| Lifecycle Stage | Tool(s) | OpenCode Prefix |
|---|---|---|
| 1. PRE-SPAWN | arifflow_flow_health, aforge_forge_scar(mode=consult) |
same |
| 2. SPAWN | task(subagent_type=..., prompt=...) |
same |
| 3. EXECUTE | Sub-agent tools (read-only, then mutation if gated) | — |
| 4. VERIFY | Parent reads output, checks schema, F2 labels | — |
| 5a. COOL | aforge_forge_cool_drift or aforge_forge_cool_pattern |
same |
| 5b. SCAR | aforge_forge_scar(mode=seal) |
same |
| 6. INGEST | arifflow_flow_ingest |
same |
| 7. SEAL | aforge_forge_vault(mode=receipt) (Lane B) or arifos_arif_seal (Lane A) |
same |
| 8. RETIRE | Parent records pattern, frees context | — |
ANTI-PATTERNS
- ❌ Spawning a sub-agent and trusting its output without verification
- ❌ Spawning sub-agents for tasks the parent can do directly (sub-agent overhead > task cost)
- ❌ Letting sub-agent failures accumulate without scar sealing
- ❌ Skipping FQ check before spawn (the mother of all run-away agent cascades)
- ❌ Sub-agent writing to VAULT999 directly (always route through parent → seal)
Forged: 2026-08-07 by 333-AGI Δ MIND under F13 SOVEREIGN directive Phase 1: Pattern codification. Promotion to permanent tool after 5+ successful missions. DITEMPA BUKAN DIBERI — The lifecycle is forged, not given.