Subagent Driven Development

Subagent-Driven Development

When to Use

Activate when a plan has 3+ independent tasks that can be implemented and reviewed separately. Do NOT use for single-task or tightly-coupled work.

Per-Task Loop

For each task in the plan:

1. Dispatch Implementer — Fresh subagent with task context (see references/implementer-prompt.md)
2. Spec Review — Fresh subagent verifies code matches spec (see references/spec-reviewer-prompt.md)
3. Quality Review — Fresh subagent reviews code quality (see references/code-quality-reviewer-prompt.md)
4. Fix Loop — If either review fails: fix → re-review (max 3 iterations)
5. Mark Done — Update plan TODO, move to next task

Two-Stage Review

Every task gets TWO independent reviews, in order:

Stage 1: Spec Compliance

• Does the code do what the spec says?
• Line-by-line comparison against requirements
• Output: ✅ matches / ❌ deviates with file:line

Stage 2: Code Quality

• Is the code well-written?
• Security, performance, maintainability
• Only runs AFTER spec compliance passes

Rules

• Never start work on main/master without user consent
• Never skip either review stage
• Never dispatch parallel implementation subagents (serial only — one task at a time)
• Each subagent gets a FRESH context (no stale state)
• Max 3 fix-review iterations per task; escalate to user after 3

Task Dispatch Order

1. Foundation tasks first (shared utilities, types, config)
2. Independent features in plan order
3. Integration tasks last (wire components together)

Prompt Templates

• references/implementer-prompt.md — Task context and self-review checklist
• references/spec-reviewer-prompt.md — Skeptical spec comparison
• references/code-quality-reviewer-prompt.md — Quality review after spec passes

Related Skills

• verification-before-completion — Verify each task before marking done
• code-review — Quality review patterns
• plan — Plan structure that feeds task dispatch