Swarm

Swarm

Fan out N parallel workers. They may cover separate slices, race the same brief, or mix both. The parent waits, aggregates, and returns one report.

Companion to arena, which picks a base and grafts. Companion to multi-agent-patterns, which designs architectures. This skill runs one operational fan-out.

Authorized Scope

Apply this engine only within the user's requested task and existing explicit authorization. Loading or delegating to it grants no additional authority. Preserve report-only restrictions and the caller's target, host, provider, and cost limits. Existing approval satisfies a gate only for the same actions and scope; obtain approval before expanding them. Forward these limits to delegates.

Contract

Inputs:

• A done predicate and the report the swarm must return
• Shape: partition, race, or mix
• Optional N

Outputs:

• One consolidated report with a result table, issue one-liners, and gaps or dropouts

Creates/Modifies:

• Per-worker output under worktrees or .tmp/swarm-<slug>/worker-<n>/ when workers write

External Side Effects:

• None beyond what each worker's brief authorizes

Confirmation Required:

• None for the swarm itself

Delegates To:

• worktree when workers need isolated checkouts

Phases

Open a todo list: Frame, Fan out, Aggregate, Report.

A. Frame

State the done predicate. Choose the shape. For a race, declare first pass, rank all, or best-of before spawning. Set N. Default workers to the fast cheap tier. For a model-family race, name each arm's capability tier up front.

B. Fan out

Spawn all N workers in one message. Every brief stands alone: goal, scope, slice or race arm, how to verify, what to report. Reports use PASS, ISSUES, or BLOCKED with evidence.

C. Aggregate

Read the terminal results. For coverage, every required slice needs a result. For a race, apply the selection rule declared up front. Do not paste raw worker dumps.

D. Report

Return one in-chat report: table, issue one-liners, gaps or dropouts, and the race rule when used.

Swarm procedure

Read swarm procedure when running this workflow. Apply the authorized scope and mode of this entry point to every step. Resolve other skills through this distribution’s active catalog; resolve resources relative to the installed skill directory.