Sof Party

SOF_PARTY Skill

Purpose: Rapid cross-domain assessment using 18-series Special Operations Forces operators Created: 2026-01-06 Trigger: /sof-party command Aliases: /sof, /sf, /18-series

When to Use

Deploy SOF_PARTY when you need rapid situational awareness across all domains:

• After USASOC activation - Immediate tactical assessment
• Before task force assembly - Determine force requirements
• Time-critical missions - Rapid assessment under pressure
• Cross-domain emergencies - When standard recon too slow
• Unknown threat environment - When you need all perspectives fast

Do NOT use for:

• Single-domain questions (use domain specialists)
• Routine reconnaissance (use /search-party)
• When you already understand the mission space

Economics: Zero Marginal Wall-Clock Cost

Critical Understanding: Parallel agents with the same timeout cost nothing extra in wall-clock time.

Sequential (BAD):        Parallel (GOOD):
7 probes × 30s each      7 probes × 30s in parallel
Total: 210s              Total: 30s (7x faster)

Implication: Always spawn all 7 operators. There is no cost savings from running fewer.

The Seven Operators (18-Series)

Each operator provides a unique cross-domain lens on the mission space:

Operator Complementarity

Key Insight: These operators see the SAME mission from different perspectives. Discrepancies = high signal.

Invocation

Standard Deployment (7 operators)

/sof-party

Deploys all 7 operators for comprehensive assessment.

Mission-Specific Deployment

/sof-party [mission description]

Example:

/sof-party Implement auto-rollback for ACGME violations within 1 minute

Targeted Assessment (subset of operators)

/sof-party --operators 18A,18B,18Z

Deploys only COMMAND, WEAPONS, OPERATIONS for quick tactical assessment.

Deployment Pattern

Via 18A_DETACHMENT_COMMANDER (CORRECT)

# USASOC or ORCHESTRATOR spawns 18A_DETACHMENT_COMMANDER who manages the 7 operators
Task(
    subagent_type="general-purpose",
    description="18A_DETACHMENT_COMMANDER: SOF_PARTY Commander",
    prompt="""
## Agent: 18A_DETACHMENT_COMMANDER

You are the Detachment Commander for SOF_PARTY deployment.

## Mission
{mission_description}

## Your Task
Deploy 7 18-series operators in parallel. Each operator assesses the mission from their domain perspective.
Collect all reports and synthesize into unified OPORD-style briefing.

## Your Operators to Deploy
1. 18A-COMMAND (Mission Planning)
2. 18B-WEAPONS (Offensive Capabilities)
3. 18C-ENGINEER (Infrastructure)
4. 18D-MEDICAL (Compliance/Safety)
5. 18E-COMMS (Integration)
6. 18F-INTEL (Threat Assessment)
7. 18Z-OPERATIONS (Execution)

## Spawn each using Task tool with subagent_type="Explore"

## After all report back:
1. Cross-reference findings
2. Flag discrepancies (high-signal)
3. Assess mission feasibility
4. Recommend task force composition
5. Generate OPORD-style briefing
6. Report to USASOC or ORCHESTRATOR
"""
)

Direct Deployment (Only if 18A unavailable)

# Deploy all 7 operators in parallel
# WARNING: Only use if spawning from within a coordinator, NOT from ORCHESTRATOR
# Total: 7 operators, wall-clock = single operator timeout

spawn_parallel([
    Task(subagent_type="Explore", description="18A-COMMAND",
         prompt=f"Assess mission planning for: {mission}\n\nProvide: scope, success criteria, force requirements, timeline."),

    Task(subagent_type="Explore", description="18B-WEAPONS",
         prompt=f"Assess offensive capabilities needed for: {mission}\n\nProvide: breaking changes, destructive ops, rollback risk."),

    Task(subagent_type="Explore", description="18C-ENGINEER",
         prompt=f"Assess infrastructure readiness for: {mission}\n\nProvide: system state, deployment readiness, build health."),

    Task(subagent_type="Explore", description="18D-MEDICAL",
         prompt=f"Assess compliance/safety for: {mission}\n\nProvide: ACGME impact, regulatory violations, patient safety."),

    Task(subagent_type="Explore", description="18E-COMMS",
         prompt=f"Assess integration requirements for: {mission}\n\nProvide: API impacts, data flow, external dependencies."),

    Task(subagent_type="Explore", description="18F-INTEL",
         prompt=f"Assess threats and unknowns for: {mission}\n\nProvide: security implications, hidden dependencies, recon needs."),

    Task(subagent_type="Explore", description="18Z-OPERATIONS",
         prompt=f"Assess execution feasibility for: {mission}\n\nProvide: timeline, resource availability, blocking dependencies."),
])

IDE Crash Prevention (CRITICAL)

DO NOT have ORCHESTRATOR spawn 7 operators directly. This can cause IDE instability.

CORRECT Pattern:

ORCHESTRATOR/USASOC → spawns 1 18A_DETACHMENT_COMMANDER
                           ↓
                      18A deploys 7 operators internally
                      (manages parallelism, synthesizes results)

WRONG Pattern:

ORCHESTRATOR → spawns 7 operators directly → IDE CRASH RISK

The 18A Detachment Commander absorbs the parallelism complexity. ORCHESTRATOR only ever spawns 1 commander.

Output Format

Per-Operator Report

## Operator: 18A-COMMAND (Mission Planning)

### Assessment Grade: [A-F]

### Mission Feasibility: [GO / NO-GO / CONDITIONAL]

### Key Findings
- [Finding 1 with severity]
- [Finding 2 with severity]

### Force Requirements
- [Required specialists/coordinators]

### Timeline Estimate
- [Estimated duration with confidence level]

### Blocking Issues
- [Critical blockers if any]

### Risk Assessment
- [Risk level: LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH / CRITICAL]

OPORD-Style Briefing (Consolidated)

## SOF_PARTY OPORD: [MISSION NAME]

### SITUATION
**Mission:** [Mission description]
**Assessment Duration:** [Time taken]
**Operators Deployed:** 7 / 7

### INTELLIGENCE (18F)
[Threat assessment, unknowns, security implications]

### MISSION FEASIBILITY: [GO / NO-GO / CONDITIONAL]

### OPERATOR ASSESSMENTS

| Operator | MOS | Feasibility | Key Finding | Risk |
|----------|-----|-------------|-------------|------|
| COMMAND | 18A | GO | 3-day mission, requires 4 specialists | LOW |
| WEAPONS | 18B | CONDITIONAL | Breaking changes to swap engine | MEDIUM |
| ENGINEER | 18C | GO | Infrastructure ready, tests passing | LOW |
| MEDICAL | 18D | GO | No ACGME violations expected | LOW |
| COMMS | 18E | GO | 2 API endpoints affected | LOW |
| INTEL | 18F | CONDITIONAL | Unknown dependency on Redis | MEDIUM |
| OPERATIONS | 18Z | NO-GO | Missing required MCP tools | HIGH |

### CROSS-OPERATOR DISCREPANCIES
[High-signal findings where operators disagreed]

Example:
- **COMMAND vs OPERATIONS**: COMMAND estimates 3 days, OPERATIONS flags 2-week dependency on MCP tool development
- **ENGINEER vs INTEL**: ENGINEER reports infrastructure ready, INTEL identifies Redis version mismatch risk

### RECOMMENDED TASK FORCE COMPOSITION

Based on assessments, recommend deploying:

**Deputy:** [ARCHITECT / SYNTHESIZER / both]

**Coordinators Needed:**
- [COORD_1]: [Why needed]
- [COORD_2]: [Why needed]

**Specialists Required:**
- [SPECIALIST_1]: [Task]
- [SPECIALIST_2]: [Task]

**Estimated Force Size:** [N] agents
**Estimated Duration:** [Timeline]

### BLOCKING ISSUES (IF ANY)

**Critical Blockers:**
1. [Issue 1]
2. [Issue 2]

**Resolution Required Before Mission Start**

### COMMANDER'S RECOMMENDATION

[GO / NO-GO / CONDITIONAL GO]

**Reasoning:** [Why this recommendation]

**Conditional Requirements (if applicable):**
1. [Condition 1]
2. [Condition 2]

Mission Flow Integration

Typical SOF_PARTY Workflow

User requests complex mission
    ↓
User invokes /usasoc
    ↓
USASOC activates 18A_DETACHMENT_COMMANDER
    ↓
/sof-party runs (7 operators assess in parallel)
    ↓
OPORD briefing generated
    ↓
USASOC assembles task force based on OPORD
    ↓
Mission executes

Decision Point

After SOF_PARTY assessment:

Timeout Profiles

Failure Recovery

Minimum Viable Assessment

Mission can proceed if:

• 18A-COMMAND (mission planning) ✓
• 18Z-OPERATIONS (execution feasibility) ✓
• At least 3 of remaining 5 operators

Circuit Breaker

If > 2 consecutive operator failures: Trip to OPEN state, report to USASOC/ORCHESTRATOR.

Related Skills

Authority Model

SOF_PARTY operates under USASOC authority when activated via /usasoc:

• Can draw specialists from any domain
• Wide lateral authority to investigate
• Reports directly to USASOC or ORCHESTRATOR
• Bypasses normal hierarchy for time-critical assessment

Under normal operations (not USASOC):

• Reports to ORCHESTRATOR
• Follows standard chain of command
• Advisory role only

SOF_PARTY: Seven perspectives, one mission, zero marginal cost. The discrepancies are the signal.