Delegating to New Relic Agent

Delegating to New Relic Agent

Core Principle

Never handle New Relic operations directly. Always delegate to a specialized sub-agent to keep your context clean and costs low.

Recognition Patterns

Delegate when user says:

• "query newrelic for..."
• "show me nrql results"
• "list drop rules"
• "any alerts firing?"
• "search newrelic logs"
• "what applications are monitored?"
• "verify this nrql query"
• Any mention of: newrelic, nrql, monitoring, alerts, apm, drop-rules, observability

How to Delegate

Use the Task tool with a specialized prompt:

Task(
  subagent_type: "general-purpose",
  description: "Query New Relic monitoring",
  prompt: "<full agent instructions from AGENT-INSTRUCTIONS.md>"
)

Agent Prompt Template

When delegating, include:

1. The complete agent instructions (see AGENT-INSTRUCTIONS.md)
2. The user's specific request
3. Clear output format requirements

Example:

You are a New Relic monitoring specialist. Your job is to query New Relic using shell wrappers and return clean results.

<AGENT INSTRUCTIONS HERE>

USER REQUEST: Show me active alerts

Return a clean summary with:
- Alert severity
- Entity names
- Alert conditions
- Status

After Agent Returns

1. Present results cleanly to user
2. Offer follow-up if relevant (e.g., "Would you like to see logs for that service?")
3. Don't expose mechanics (NerdGraph, GraphQL, auth, etc.) to user

Benefits

• ✅ Main context stays clean
• ✅ Cheaper queries (sub-agent uses less expensive model)
• ✅ Specialized knowledge isolated
• ✅ Scalable pattern for other monitoring services

Example Flow

User: "show me active alerts"

Main Assistant: [Recognizes New Relic query]
              → Invokes Task tool with agent instructions
              → Agent runs monitoring-alerts wrapper
              → Agent returns formatted results

Main Assistant: "You have 2 active alerts:

                CRITICAL: federated-graphql - High error rate
                WARNING: nginx-gateway - Response time elevated

                Would you like details on either of these?"

Common Query Types

NRQL Queries:

• "query logs for errors"
• "count transactions"
• "average response time"

Drop Rules:

• "show drop rules"
• "list log filters"
• "verify nrql before dropping"

Alerts:

• "any alerts?"
• "critical alerts"
• "what's alerting?"

Applications:

• "list monitored apps"
• "find nginx service"

Logs:

• "search logs for 502"
• "nginx error logs"

Red Flags

DON'T:

• ❌ Try to run monitoring-* scripts yourself
• ❌ Construct NerdGraph GraphQL queries in main session
• ❌ Load detailed New Relic API knowledge
• ❌ Handle authentication directly
• ❌ Parse complex monitoring data structures

DO:

• ✅ Immediately delegate on New Relic keywords
• ✅ Trust the sub-agent's results
• ✅ Present clean summaries to user
• ✅ Suggest relevant follow-up queries

Version History

• 1.0.0 (2025-10-15): Initial delegation skill created to reduce context pollution