# Agentic Delegation > Delegate exploration sweeps to Haiku subagents and bulk writing to Sonnet subagents while the orchestrator keeps architecture, security-sensitive edits, and commits; use at the start of any multi-step task in this repo to minimize token spend by delegating to cheaper models. - **Type:** Skill - **Install:** `agentstack add skill-vincentchuwaichow-vanguard-frontier-agentic-agentic-delegation` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [VincentChuWaiChow](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/vincentchuwaichow) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [Cloud & Infrastructure](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/cloud-infrastructure) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** Apache-2.0 - **Upstream author:** [VincentChuWaiChow](https://github.com/VincentChuWaiChow) - **Source:** https://github.com/VincentChuWaiChow/vanguard-frontier-agentic/tree/master/.claude/skills/agentic-delegation ## Install ```sh agentstack add skill-vincentchuwaichow-vanguard-frontier-agentic-agentic-delegation ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # Agentic Delegation ## Doctrine Most tasks in this repo decompose into cheap, parallelizable work plus a small amount of work that genuinely needs the orchestrator's judgment. Default to delegating the former. Before doing multi-step work yourself, ask: can a cheaper model do this step just as well? ## a) Exploration and reconnaissance → Haiku - Use the `Explore` agent type with `model: haiku` for read-only reconnaissance: locating files, grepping for symbols, mapping call sites, summarizing existing structure. - Scope each Explore task tightly — one question, one area of the tree. Do not send an Explore agent an open-ended "understand the whole system" ask; split it into targeted sweeps instead. - Require file:line citations in every finding. A report without exact paths and line numbers is not actionable — re-run it with a tighter prompt rather than accepting it. ## b) Bulk writing → Sonnet - Route bulk writing — docs, guides, boilerplate, test scaffolding, repetitive multi-file edits — to Sonnet subagents. - Give each writing task a precise spec: exact file paths to create or edit, the content shape expected, and which repo conventions to mirror (frontmatter shape, heading structure, existing tone). - Hard-constrain every writing delegate: - **Files it may touch** — list them explicitly; nothing outside that list. - **Linters/gates it must pass** — e.g. `npx markdownlint-cli2`, `codespell`, or the schema/validation gate relevant to the files it is touching. - **No commits** — delegates write files; only the orchestrator commits. ## Orchestrator requirements - **Haiku must never be the orchestrator.** It explores and runs gates; it does not plan, decompose, or accept work. - **When Sonnet is the orchestrator, run it at high reasoning effort at minimum** — use the harness's maximum-thinking mode where available. Planning and delegation quality degrade below that, and a weak plan wastes every delegate downstream. - The model split in this skill is unchanged by who orchestrates: even a Sonnet orchestrator routes bulk writing to Sonnet subagents — the benefit is keeping the orchestrator's context clean for judgment, not just the per-token price. ## c) What the orchestrator keeps Never delegate: - Architecture and design decisions (schema shapes, scope boundaries, precedence rules). - Security-sensitive code (auth, secrets handling, trust-boundary logic). - Surgical edits to load-bearing logic (validation gates, schemas, catalog generators). - Final verification and the commit itself. ## d) Every delegate gets - Exact file paths — absolute, not "somewhere in docs/". - Acceptance criteria — what "done" looks like, stated concretely and checkably. - An explicit "do NOT" list — files not to touch, commands not to run (no `npm run validate`, no `cargo test`, no `git commit` inside a delegate unless explicitly asked to run them for verification). ## e) Verify before accepting - Run the repo's own gates on delegate output before treating it as done: `npm run validate`, `cargo test` (for `tools/vfa-tui`), `npx markdownlint-cli2`, `codespell`. - A delegate's self-report is not verification — read the diff, run the gate, then accept. ## Workflow templates Three reusable orchestration shapes cover most multi-step tasks in this repo. Reach for one of these before inventing a bespoke delegation plan. ### a) Recon sweep Parallel Haiku `Explore` agents, one question each, citations required. - Split the open-ended question into narrow, independent sub-questions — one per agent, one area of the tree each. - Launch all Explore agents in the same message so they run in parallel, not sequentially. - Require file:line citations in every finding, same as section (a) above. - **When to use** — you don't yet know where something lives, or need a map of an unfamiliar area before deciding what to change. - **Hard constraints** — read-only; Explore agents may not `Edit`/`Write`. No commits. If a sweep comes back thin or off-target, re-run it with a tighter prompt rather than accepting a vague report. ### b) Spec-driven implementation Orchestrator writes an exact file-scoped spec, Sonnet implements, orchestrator reviews the diff and runs decisive verification before accepting. - Orchestrator writes the spec first: exact file paths, the content/code shape expected, which repo conventions to mirror, and acceptance criteria stated concretely. - Delegate the spec verbatim to a Sonnet subagent — do not compress it to a one-line ask; a vague handoff produces a vague implementation. - Orchestrator reads the resulting diff in full before running any gate — do not skip straight to "did the gate pass." - Run the gate(s) relevant to the touched files (schema validation, `npm run validate`, `cargo test`, linters) and treat a pass as necessary, not sufficient, for acceptance. - **When to use** — the shape of the change is fully known up front (new file, defined edit to an existing one) and doesn't require architectural judgment mid-implementation. - **Hard constraints** — files it may touch: exactly the list in the spec, nothing else. No commits — the orchestrator commits after review. ### c) Gate run Haiku runs the full repo gate suite and reports pass/fail with raw failure output. - Delegate to Haiku: `cargo fmt --check`, `cargo clippy -- -D warnings`, `cargo test` (for `tools/vfa-tui`), `npm run validate`, `codespell`, `npx markdownlint-cli2`, then `npm run asset-integrity:write` **last**, only after every other gate is green. Regenerating integrity before other generators finish stales the manifest — see the ordering caveat in `CLAUDE.md`/`AGENTS.md`. - Require raw failure output verbatim in the report — not a paraphrase like "some tests failed." The orchestrator needs the actual error to decide the next move. - **When to use** — verifying a change is ready before the orchestrator reviews/commits, or a periodic health check with no code changes attached. - **Hard constraints** — this is a read/verify pass: the only file it may write is `catalog/asset-integrity.json` via `asset-integrity:write`, and only after all other gates pass. No other edits. No commits — report results back to the orchestrator, who decides whether to fix, re-run, or commit. ## Source & license This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [VincentChuWaiChow](https://github.com/VincentChuWaiChow) - **Source:** [VincentChuWaiChow/vanguard-frontier-agentic](https://github.com/VincentChuWaiChow/vanguard-frontier-agentic) - **License:** Apache-2.0 Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above. ## Pricing - **Free** — Free ## Security capabilities Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access: - **Network access:** no - **Filesystem access:** no - **Shell / process execution:** no - **Environment & secrets:** no - **Dynamic code execution:** no *"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.* ## Versions - **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source. ## Links - Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-vincentchuwaichow-vanguard-frontier-agentic-agentic-delegation - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/vincentchuwaichow - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. Every listing is security-reviewed. Creators keep 70%.