Vc Delegate

Invocation for vc-delegate (launcher delegate)

Same three-path shape as the fleet, with this skill's literals — see the canonical Delegation Matrix:

• Shared three paths
• Launcher catalogue
• Per-launcher rule
• Native vs external

Path	Literal for this skill
1. User-launched worker	vibecrafted delegate <agent>
2. Interactive	/vc-delegate — execute in this session; use native subagents when required; do not externalize merely because a launcher exists
3. Agent-operator	may dispatch the worker form above via vc-dispatch / operator lines while preserving this skill's identity

Note: Native subagent bounds; freer native under other skills still points here for limits.

Freer native on some runs ≠ abandon external fleet. vc-dispatch and vc-ship keep their own identities.

vc-delegate

Operator Entry

Living Tree / Worktree Rule

This workflow runs in the operator's current checkout and current branch. Do not create, switch to, or move execution into a git worktree unless the operator explicitly asks for a worktree in this prompt. Generic words like "isolate", "parallel", or "clean branch" are not enough. The one sanctioned second mode is a Fleet Worktree dispatch (written plan, pre-committed verifiers, disjoint domains, single-thread integrator — see Living Tree Rule, Mode B); outside that formation, stay in the shared tree. Re-read files before editing, adapt to concurrent changes, and report a substrate failure if the current tree is too poisoned to continue safely.

See Living Tree Rule.

Canonical Orientation Gate

Before this workflow performs repo-specific analysis, planning, implementation, review, release, or delegation, it MUST run or consume the vc-init procedure for the assigned repo. If fresh vc-init evidence is absent, perform the init pass first and treat workflow-specific work as blocked until repo truth exists.

Loctree:loctree is the default structural perception skill for that pass. Use Loctree before grep or docs-driven claims to produce or refresh the Code-Derived Application Map: repo-view, focus, slice, impact, find, and follow as relevant. Search for existing symbols and contracts before creating new ones; run impact before delete or major refactor; run slice before editing.

The point is to find the hooks: load-bearing hubs, twins, dead code, drift, runtime entrypoints, and blast-radius traps. If the task is explicitly non-repo or no-code, state the no-repo exception in the report. Otherwise, missing vc-init/Loctree evidence is a process failure.

Operator enters the framework session through:

vibecrafted start
# or
vc-start
# same default board as: vc-start operator

Do not launch vc-delegate directly. Its operator-facing replacement is:

vibecrafted <launcher> <agent> --file '/path/to/plan.md'

vc-<launcher> <agent> --prompt '<prompt>'

This skill is not the external fleet itself. It is the operator doctrine for native delegation: when to keep a cut local, when to stop pretending a native cut is still bounded, and when the operator should escalate into vc-agents.

Concrete dispatch examples

vibecrafted partner codex --prompt 'Split this into one small native cut'
vibecrafted implement claude --file /path/to/plan.md
vibecrafted workflow agy --prompt 'Keep this local unless it clearly wants the external fleet'  # gemini deprecated

Repository Work Doctrine

For repository work, start with Loctree as the map: use loct context, loct occurrences, loct body, and loct find --literal before broad manual search. Use AICX for intent and session context. Use rg/grep as fallback or local magnifier, not as a replacement for structural mapping. If Loctree fails or misses a surface, append feedback to ~/.vibecrafted/loctree/loctree-fail.md.

Native Delegation Policy

When using native subagents, default to the same frontier as the parent agent.

Why:

• Same-named native delegation preserves the closest reasoning style to the parent.
• It maximizes context locality and cache reuse opportunities.
• On the same repo and task family, this is usually the best cost-to-quality default.

Default:

• Parent model -> the same exact native model, when available.
• If the exact model is unavailable, use the nearest native equivalent and say so explicitly.

“Parent model" means the same concrete model identity, not merely the same vendor or family.

Exceptions:

• Codex: You may delegate to gpt-5.3-codex-spark with xhigh when the task benefits from extreme speed. Treat Spark as a fast execution tier; the parent agent remains responsible for final quality.
• Claude: For extensive long-running tasks, prefer opus[1m]; for easier or lighter tasks, prefer sonnet[1m].
• Gemini: If gemini-3.1-pro-preview is unavailable or unstable during peak demand, fallback native delegation to auto-gemini-3.

Rule:

• Default to same-named native agents first.
• Use cross-model exceptions intentionally, never casually.
• If you trade down for speed or availability, recover quality in the parent orchestration pass.

Escalation Direction

vc-delegate is a bounded native delegation tool for the operator agent.

Its role is to help the operator go deeper locally, or to admit when a task has outgrown native delegation.

If a native delegated task becomes too extensive, too cross-cutting, or too dependent on model-specific orchestration, it should not fake completion.

Instead, it must:

• report that the task has exceeded native delegation scope, or
• return to the parent operator, or
• escalate into vc-agents.

Escalation into vc-agents:

• by principle, vc-agents is not a generic recursion mechanism.
• it is a deliberate operator decision based on the vc-why-matrix.
• once a fleet agent has been chosen, that choice must remain stable unless the operator explicitly changes it.

Scope Boundary

This doctrine is for the operator layer.

It is not forwarded as an execution policy to the tiny native subagents themselves. Native subagents are execution helpers, not orchestration actors.

Read skills/vc-agents/SKILL.md alongside this file when the operator needs the full external fleet and the vc-why-matrix.