Claude Delegation Rules

Design principles and patterns for creating effective multi-agent systems. This skill is for designing agents - how to structure them, define their boundaries, and plan their coordination.

Core Delegation Principles

1. Single Responsibility

Each agent should have a clear, focused purpose:

# ✅ Good - Clear, focused responsibility
name: code-reviewer
description: Expert code review with comprehensive quality analysis

# ❌ Bad - Too broad
name: developer
description: Does development tasks

2. Explicit Activation

Agents should know exactly when they should activate:

# ✅ Good - Clear activation triggers
description: Senior engineer for implementation tasks. Use PROACTIVELY
for fix, implement, build, create, add, refactor, optimize keywords.

# ❌ Bad - Vague activation
description: Helps with coding

3. Clear Boundaries

Define what an agent does and doesn't do:

## When to Use
- Implementing new features
- Fixing bugs
- Refactoring code

## When NOT to Use
- High-level architecture decisions (use technical-architecture-advisor)
- UI/UX design (use designer agent)

Delegation Patterns

For detailed patterns, see patterns/delegation-patterns.md:

• One-Way Handoff
• Consultation Pattern
• Parallel Execution
• Iterative Refinement

Context Handoff

For context handoff best practices, see guides/context-handoff.md.

Quick reference - Always include:

• Purpose of delegation
• Current state/progress
• Specific questions or tasks
• Success criteria
• Relevant files or code
• Constraints or requirements

Delegation Anti-Patterns

For anti-patterns to avoid, see guides/anti-patterns.md.

Quick reference:

• ❌ Circular Delegation (infinite loops)
• ❌ Over-Delegation (too much overhead)
• ❌ Under-Context (not enough info)
• ❌ Ambiguous Boundaries (unclear ownership)

Delegation Decision Tree

Does task require specialized expertise?
├─ No → Handle it yourself
└─ Yes → Is the expertise in your domain?
    ├─ Yes → Handle it yourself
    └─ No → Should you learn first or delegate?
        ├─ Learn → Research then handle
        └─ Delegate → Identify appropriate agent
            ↓
        Is agent clearly defined?
        ├─ Yes → Delegate with full context
        └─ No → Create spec for new agent

Agent Configuration Examples

For configuration examples, see examples/agent-configs.md.

Testing Delegation

Verify delegation works correctly:

1. Clear Activation: Agent activates for intended scenarios
2. Proper Context: Receives necessary information
3. Appropriate Delegation: Delegates to correct agents
4. No Loops: No circular delegation patterns
5. Clean Handoffs: Clear completion and transitions

Best Practices Checklist

• Each agent has single, clear responsibility
• Activation criteria are explicit and testable
• Delegation triggers are well-defined
• Context handoff is comprehensive
• Boundaries between agents are clear
• Shared state is managed through files
• Error handling includes delegation paths
• No circular delegation patterns

Integration Points

This skill informs:

• Agent specification creation
• AGENTS.md documentation
• Workflow design
• Plugin architecture
• Team collaboration patterns