Dispatching Parallel Agents

Dispatching Parallel Agents

When to Use

Use when you have 2+ tasks that are truly independent:

• Different codebases or subsystems
• No shared file modifications
• No shared database migrations
• No dependency between tasks
• Can be tested independently

When NOT to Use

• Tasks share the same files
• One task depends on another's output
• Schema changes that affect multiple components
• Sequential deployment steps

Process

Step 1: Identify Independent Tasks

Verify independence:

• Different directories or repos?
• No shared schema changes?
• No API contract dependencies?
• Can be tested independently?

Step 2: Spawn Subagents in Parallel

# Subagent 1
PARALLEL TASK [1 of 2]: [description]
[Full context, files, code, test commands]
Note: Another agent is working on [other task] in parallel.
No coordination needed.

# Subagent 2
PARALLEL TASK [2 of 2]: [description]
[Full context, files, code, test commands]
Note: Another agent is working on [other task] in parallel.
No coordination needed.

Step 3: Review Each Independently

As each subagent completes, review their output independently using craftwork:requesting-code-review.

Step 4: Merge in Dependency Order

Even if both tasks are independent, merge in logical order:

1. Schema/backend changes first
2. Frontend changes second
3. Infrastructure/deployment last

Key Principle

When in doubt, run sequentially. Parallel execution saves time but wrong parallelization causes merge conflicts and broken state.