Dispatching Agent Teams

Read a team definition file, resolve its agents and skills, and execute the coordination protocol. The team file is the recipe -- this skill is the cook.

Core Principles

Principle	Meaning
Team file is the contract	Follow the workflow, entry/exit criteria, and coordination rules defined in the team file. Do not improvise the process.
Detect capabilities first	Check what spawning mode the platform supports before dispatching. Peer mode if available, sequential fallback otherwise.
Skills before agents	Preload the team's bundled skills before spawning any agent. Agents need their reference material from the start.
Respect coordination rules	If the team file says "Architect must approve before implementation starts", enforce it. Do not skip gates.
Fail early, not late	If a required agent is not installed, stop before dispatching. Do not discover missing agents mid-workflow.

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Workflow

Phase 1: Resolve the Team

1. If the user provided a team name as argument, look for teams/{name}.md in the project directory, then user-level directories, then plugin cache.
2. If no argument, scan for available team files and present a selection menu.
3. Read the team file's YAML frontmatter: name, lead, agents, skills, workflow.
4. Verify every agent in the agents list exists as an installed agent definition.
5. Verify every skill in the skills list exists as an installed skill.
6. If any agent or skill is missing, report what is missing and stop. Do not proceed with a partial team.

Phase 2: Verify Entry Criteria

1. Read the team file's "Entry Criteria" section.
2. Check each criterion against the current state (e.g., "ticket exists", "CI is green", "stakeholder available").
3. If a criterion cannot be verified automatically, ask the user to confirm it.
4. Do not proceed until all entry criteria are met or explicitly waived by the user.

Phase 3: Preload Skills

Load the skills listed in the team's skills frontmatter. These provide reference material that agents will need during their work (e.g., testing patterns, API design principles, verification checklists).

Phase 4: Detect Spawning Mode and Workflow Variants

Check what the current platform supports:

Capability	Detection	Mode
Platform supports agent teams with peer messaging and shared task lists	Team creation tools are available	Peer mode
Platform supports sub-agent spawning but no peer messaging	Agent delegation tools are available	Sequential mode
Neither	No delegation support	Inline mode -- lead executes all phases in the current session

Then check the team's workflow type for special handling:

Workflow	Special protocol
parallel	Check Coordination Rules for per-agent context restrictions. If present, build differential briefs per agent (see spawning-protocol).
war-room	Use multi-pass rounds: position round, then challenge round, then synthesis. Agents respond with perspective only -- no tool use during the debate (see spawning-protocol).
sequential, hybrid	Standard protocol.

Phase 5: Dispatch

Peer Mode

1. Create a team with the lead agent as coordinator.
2. Add all other agents as teammates.
3. Create shared tasks matching the workflow phases from the team file.
4. Set task dependencies based on the workflow order (e.g., "Implementation" is blocked by "Design").
5. The lead assigns the first unblocked task. Teammates claim tasks as they unblock.
6. Teammates message each other for clarifications as described in the coordination rules.

Sequential Mode

1. The lead agent runs in the current session.
2. For each workflow phase in order: a. Read the phase description from the team file (what this agent does, expected input/output). b. Spawn the phase's agent as a sub-agent with a brief containing: the phase description, the output from previous phases, and the relevant skills to consult. c. Collect the sub-agent's output. d. If the team file defines a gate between this phase and the next, verify the gate condition before proceeding.
3. Pass each phase's output as input to the next phase.

Inline Mode

1. Execute each workflow phase sequentially in the current session.
2. For each phase, adopt the role described in the team file and consult the relevant skills.
3. Produce the expected output before moving to the next phase.

Phase 6: Verify Exit Criteria

1. Read the team file's "Exit Criteria" section.
2. Check each criterion against the current state.
3. Report results to the user with evidence for each criterion (pass/fail with proof).
4. If any exit criterion fails, report what remains and ask the user how to proceed.

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Handling Failures

Failure	Action
Agent not installed	Stop before dispatching. List missing agents with install instructions.
Skill not installed	Stop before dispatching. List missing skills with install instructions.
Entry criterion not met	Ask user to confirm or waive. Do not silently skip.
Phase produces no output	Retry the phase once. If it fails again, report to the lead/user.
Gate condition not met	Block the next phase. Report what failed the gate and what needs to change.
Agent times out or errors	Report the error. Ask user whether to retry, skip, or abort the team.

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Quality Checklist

Before claiming the team run is complete:

• All workflow phases were executed in the defined order
• All coordination gates were enforced (no skipped approvals)
• All exit criteria were verified with evidence
• Outputs from each phase were captured and passed forward
• Any failures were reported with context, not silently swallowed

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Reference Files

Reference	Contents
spawning-protocol	Detailed spawning steps for peer, sequential, and inline modes

Integration with Other Skills

Situation	Recommended Skill
Need to discover which teams are available	using-ecosystem
Need to create a new team definition	Use template/team-template.md and spec/team-spec.md
Need to dispatch agents without a team file	dispatching-parallel-agents or subagent-driven-development
Need to verify work before closing a phase	verification-before-completion