Writing Subagents

Writing Subagents

Overview

Writing subagents IS creating specialized workers with isolated contexts.

Subagents run via the Agent tool with their own context window, tools, and system prompt. Use for tasks that benefit from focused expertise.

Core principle: One agent, one responsibility. Bloated agents become unfocused.

Task Initialization (MANDATORY)

Follow task initialization protocol.

Tasks: 0. Fetch latest official subagent spec

1. Analyze requirements
2. Document problem context
3. Design agent configuration
4. Validate structure
5. Test invocation
6. Verify behavior
7. REFACTOR - quality review

Announce: "Created 8 tasks (0–7). Starting execution..."

Agent Configuration Process

Task 0: Fetch Latest Official Spec

Goal: Pull the current Anthropic subagent spec before designing — never trust cached memory.

Action:

Skill tool: fetching-claude-docs
  component: subagent
  question: "frontmatter fields, tool inheritance, model selection,
             description trigger format (PROACTIVELY, examples), context isolation"

Verification: Received YAML with source: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/sub-agents.md and non-empty spec_excerpt. Use this as the authoritative reference for Tasks 1–7; if any rule in this SKILL conflicts with the fetched spec, the fetched spec wins (and flag the conflict for refactoring).

Task 1: Analyze Requirements

Goal: Understand what specialized task needs isolation.

Questions to answer:

• What specific task needs a subagent?
• Why can't the main agent do this?
• What tools does this agent need?
• Should it be proactive or manual?

When to use subagents:

• Task needs isolated context (code review, deep analysis)
• Task would pollute main conversation
• Task is repetitive and well-defined
• Task benefits from specialized system prompt

See references/examples.md for subagent templates and trigger examples.

Built-in subagent types (consider BEFORE creating custom agents):

Decision: Can a built-in type handle this? If yes, use it directly via the Agent tool — no agent file needed.

Verification: Can describe the agent's single responsibility in one sentence.

Task 2: Document Problem Context

Goal: Clearly understand why the main agent is insufficient for this task.

Analysis points:

1. What specific challenges arise when using the main agent?
2. How would task isolation improve the outcome?
3. What context pollution or focus issues occur?
4. What specialized expertise would help?

Verification: Documented specific problems that justify creating a specialized subagent.

Task 3: Design Agent Configuration

Goal: Plan the agent configuration to address the documented problems.

Before drafting the system prompt, walk through prompt-design-principles.md:

• 5-skeleton framework — the system prompt needs Role (agent's job, not persona), Scope (what this agent does and doesn't handle), Workflow (procedure for its task), Standards (output rules), Completion (what "done" means for this agent's output).
• Failure-mode reverse engineering — anticipate what this agent could get wrong and write rules against those specific failures.
• Conditional dispatch — if the agent handles multiple task variants, write per-variant behavior, not absolute rules.
• Creative-constraint balance — decide what axes the agent can vary on (e.g., review phrasing) vs. must stay fixed (e.g., output YAML structure).

Agent Location

.claude/agents/      # Project-level
~/.claude/agents/    # User-level (global)

Agent Format

---
name: agent-name
description: What this agent does. Use proactively when [triggers].
tools: Read, Grep, Glob, Bash
model: sonnet
---

System prompt for the agent.

## Role
[Clear description of the agent's responsibility]

## Process
[Steps the agent should follow]

## Output Format
[Expected output structure]

Configuration & Tools

See references/agent-spec.md for full configuration fields, model selection, context:fork guidelines, and tool permissions.

Key rules:

• name: lowercase with hyphens, matches filename
• description: include 2-4 concrete examples in <example> blocks showing triggering conditions
• model: specified explicitly; inherit is an anti-pattern in plugin agents (only project/user-level agents in .claude/agents/ may omit)
• color: unique color per agent (blue, green, red, purple, yellow)
• tools: minimal set (principle of least privilege). Subagents cannot request permissions at runtime.
• Plugin agents do not support hooks, mcpServers, or permissionMode
• System prompt should encourage parallel tool calls for independent operations (e.g. "When reading N files, fire N Read calls in a single response")

See references/agent-spec.md for the three-layer model selection guide, isolation guide, effort guide, and Opus/Haiku constraints.

Verification:

• Name is lowercase with hyphens
• Description has clear trigger
• model explicitly specified (inherit = anti-pattern in plugin agents)
• Tools are minimal (principle of least privilege)
• System prompt is focused

Task 4: Validate Structure

Goal: Verify agent file structure is correct.

Checklist:

• File is in .claude/agents/ directory
• Frontmatter has name and description
• Name matches filename (minus .md)
• Tools are appropriate for the task
• System prompt is actionable
• No overlapping responsibility with other agents

Verification: All checklist items pass.

Task 5: Test Invocation

Goal: Verify agent can be invoked via Agent tool.

Test:

Agent tool:
- subagent_type: "[plugin:]agent-name"
- prompt: "Test invocation"

Check:

• Agent loads correctly
• System prompt is applied
• Tool restrictions work
• Model selection honored

Verification: Agent invocation succeeds without errors.

Task 6: Verify Behavior

Goal: Run agent on real task and verify quality.

Process:

1. Invoke agent with real task input
2. Observe agent follows its system prompt
3. Verify output matches expected format
4. Check agent stays within its scope

Verification:

• Agent produces expected output
• Agent uses only granted tools
• Agent doesn't exceed its scope

Task 7: REFACTOR - Quality Review

Goal: Have subagent reviewed by subagent-reviewer.

Agent tool:
- subagent_type: "rcc:subagent-reviewer"
- prompt: "Review subagent at [path/to/agent.md]"

Interpret YAML output:

• pass: true → Subagent complete
• pass: false → Fix all issues listed, re-run reviewer, repeat until pass: true

This is the REFACTOR phase: Close loopholes identified by reviewer.

Verification: subagent-reviewer returns YAML with pass: true.

Trigger Patterns

• Proactive: Include "Use proactively when..." in description for auto-invoke
• Manual: Omit proactive triggers for explicit-only invocation

Designing for Parallel Use (P-Thread / F-Thread)

A single agent file may be invoked once, fanned-out, or voted on. Design choices change depending on which.

Rules when designing for fanout:

• Output schema must be machine-mergeable — fixed keys, not free prose.
• Avoid side effects (writes, commits) — fanned agents collide on the same files.
• Keep tool set narrow — Read, Grep, Glob is safe for N-parallel; Write, Edit, Bash is not.
• If an agent runs in F-Thread, its system prompt should say "you are one of several reviewers; do not coordinate, just give your independent judgment."

For dispatch mechanics (how the caller fans out and merges results), see the dispatching-parallel-agents skill.

Red Flags - STOP

These thoughts mean you're rationalizing. STOP and reconsider:

• "This agent needs all tools"
• "One agent can handle multiple responsibilities"
• "Main context is fine, don't need isolation"
• "Skip testing, the prompt is simple"
• "Use opus for everything / use haiku for everything"

All of these mean: You're about to create a weak agent. Follow the process.

Common Rationalizations

References

• references/examples.md - Subagent templates
• references/tools.md - Available tools reference
• ../../references/prompt-design-principles.md - 5-skeleton framework, failure-mode reverse engineering, conditional dispatch, creative-constraint balance, completion semantics
• See also: advising-architecture skill for component classification guidance