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SKILL.md
Dispatching Parallel Agents
Overview
When you have multiple unrelated failures (different test files, different subsystems, different bugs), investigating them sequentially wastes time. Each investigation is independent and can happen in parallel.
Core principle: Dispatch one agent per independent problem domain. Let them work concurrently.
When to Use
digraph when_to_use {
"Multiple failures?" [shape=diamond];
"Are they independent?" [shape=diamond];
"Single agent investigates all" [shape=box];
"One agent per problem domain" [shape=box];
"Can they work in parallel?" [shape=diamond];
"Sequential agents" [shape=box];
"Parallel dispatch" [shape=box];
"Multiple failures?" -> "Are they independent?" [label="yes"];
"Are they independent?" -> "Single agent investigates all" [label="no - related"];
"Are they independent?" -> "Can they work in parallel?" [label="yes"];
"Can they work in parallel?" -> "Parallel dispatch" [label="yes"];
"Can they work in parallel?" -> "Sequential agents" [label="no - shared state"];
}
Use when:
3+ test files failing with different root causes
Multiple subsystems broken independently
Each problem can be understood without context from others
No shared state between investigations
Don't use when:
Failures are related (fix one might fix others)
Need to understand full system state
Agents would interfere with each other
The Pattern
1. Identify Independent Domains
Group failures by what's broken:
File A tests: Tool approval flow
File B tests: Batch completion behavior
File C tests: Abort functionality
Each domain is independent - fixing tool approval doesn't affect abort tests.
2. Create Focused Agent Tasks
Each agent gets:
One test file or subsystem
Specific scope:
Clear goal: Make these tests pass
Constraints: Don't change other code
Expected output: Summary of what you found and fixed
3. Dispatch in Parallel
// In Claude Code / AI environment
Task("Fix agent-tool-abort.test.ts failures")
Task("Fix batch-completion-behavior.test.ts failures")
Task("Fix tool-approval-race-conditions.test.ts failures")
// All three run concurrently
4. Review and Integrate
When agents return:
Read each summary
Verify fixes don't conflict
Run full test suite
Integrate all changes
Agent Prompt Structure
Good agent prompts are:
Focused - One clear problem domain
Self-contained - All context needed to understand the problem
Specific about output - What should the agent return?
Fix the 3 failing tests in src/agents/agent-tool-abort.test.ts:
1. "should abort tool with partial output capture" - expects 'interrupted at' in message
2. "should handle mixed completed and aborted tools" - fast tool aborted instead of completed
3. "should properly track pendingToolCount" - expects 3 results but gets 0
These are timing/race condition issues. Your task:
1. Read the test file and understand what each test verifies
2. Identify root cause - timing issues or actual bugs?
3. Fix by:
- Replacing arbitrary timeouts with event-based waiting
- Fixing bugs in abort implementation if found
- Adjusting test expectations if testing changed behavior
Do NOT just increase timeouts - find the real issue.
Return: Summary of what you found and what you fixed.
Common Mistakes
❌ Too broad: "Fix all the tests" - agent gets lost
✅ Specific: "Fix agent-tool-abort.test.ts" - focused scope
❌ No context: "Fix the race condition" - agent doesn't know where
✅ Context: Paste the error messages and test names
❌ No constraints: Agent might refactor everything
✅ Constraints: "Do NOT change production code" or "Fix tests only"
❌ Vague output: "Fix it" - you don't know what changed
✅ Specific: "Return summary of root cause and changes"
When NOT to Use
Related failures: Fixing one might fix others - investigate together first
Need full context: Understanding requires seeing entire system
Exploratory debugging: You don't know what's broken yet
Shared state: Agents would interfere (editing same files, using same resources)
Real Example from Session
Scenario: 6 test failures across 3 files after major refactoring
