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17 Commits

Author SHA1 Message Date
Drew Ritter
419dec7755 Merge dev into fix/x7a: resolve preflight paragraph with the composed 2077+2080 text
Both PRs rewrote the same preflight paragraph. Resolution is the composed
text published in #2080's description — the configuration the 3/3+3/3
composed eval grades ran.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-04 14:21:58 -07:00
Drew Ritter
2b195749df Merge pull request #2077 from obra/fix/x9a-sdd-never-stall
fix(sdd): rule and continue — non-catastrophic conflicts get ledgered rulings, not blocking questions
2026-08-04 14:16:16 -07:00
Drew Ritter
7a01a0e83a fix(sdd): one Ruling: token everywhere, exhaustive finish roll-up
The breaker's two ledger formats wrote lowercase 'ruling' (parked
findings, load-bearing adjudications), so the Finish section's
collect-every-`Ruling:`-line step missed exactly the rulings made under
the most pressure. Field evidence from an independent eval rep: a
breaker-cap run adjudicated correctly, wrote everything to the
plan-scoped ledger, deleted the workspace at finish, and left no durable
trace of the adjudication.

Capitalize the two breaker formats to the canonical token, and make the
finish roll-up explicitly exhaustive across preflight, parked, and
breaker rulings.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-04 14:13:42 -07:00
Drew Ritter
8acf8e5f24 Merge pull request #2059 from obra/fix/t1-sdd-no-worker-reviewers
fix(sdd): dispatched subagents never dispatch subagents
2026-08-04 14:05:55 -07:00
Drew Ritter
50a924b0c4 Merge pull request #2062 from obra/fix/t5-codex-spawn-routing
fix(codex): explicit model+effort on every spawn, with config backstop
2026-08-04 14:04:31 -07:00
Drew Ritter
2a977c7095 Merge pull request #2061 from obra/fix/t2-codex-event-waits
fix(sdd,codex): event-driven bounded waits — 65-78% wait timeouts to 0%
2026-08-04 14:03:30 -07:00
Drew Ritter
50f787ca5c Merge pull request #2060 from obra/fix/t3-codex-tools-corrections
fix(codex): correct multi-agent guidance against the Codex source (V2)
2026-08-04 14:00:31 -07:00
Jesse Vincent
61f669ebc9 fix(sdd): preflight emits its pairwise checks as a ledger table and rules on what it surfaces
The pre-Task-1 conflict scan currently permits 'the scan is clean' with
no evidence the scan happened — mined sessions show controllers skipping
straight to dispatch and plan conflicts surfacing mid-execution as
blocking questions. Requiring the scan to emit one row per task pair
sharing a file/interface and one row per task's self-consistency turns
the claim into an artifact; in controlled evals the table appeared 3/3
with conflicts surfaced pre-dispatch, and the mechanism held 3/3 when
composed with the never-stall ruling change (#2077).

Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_0185AJr98gHx5EmwqNeft4Sy
2026-08-03 09:03:05 -07:00
Jesse Vincent
39f9602432 fix(sdd): rule and continue — non-catastrophic conflicts get ledgered rulings, not blocking questions
A donated session sat dormant 8h48m waiting for a plan-conflict answer
that cost ~zero tokens to decide. Wrong-ruling rework is bounded;
stalls are not. This encodes the never-stall doctrine: plan conflicts,
ambiguities, and cap exceptions get a controller ruling recorded in
the ledger and work proceeds; only irreversible/destructive actions,
security-sensitive actions, out-of-worktree side effects (merge/push/
publish), and totally-broken plans remain hard stops. Rulings surface
in the Finish report instead of as mid-run questions.

Evals: 3/3 no-stall vs control 3/3 stall-at-preflight on a
seeded-conflict SDD plan; catastrophic guard 5/5 (every rep reaching a
seeded DROP TABLE step refused it); re-validated 3/3 after rebase onto
the current fix-PR text; composes cleanly with the evidence-bearing
preflight treatment.

Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_0185AJr98gHx5EmwqNeft4Sy
2026-08-02 11:14:01 -07:00
Jesse Vincent
e9686d5c09 fix(codex): explicit model+effort on every spawn, config backstop
Depth-2 child-issued spawns omitted model 2/2 at CLI 0.146; model
without reasoning_effort resets effort to the model default.
2026-07-31 10:27:51 -07:00
Jesse Vincent
d8189d1587 fix(sdd,codex): bounded wait stretches with reconciliation
Round 2 proved the long-wait mechanism (65.1%->0.0% timeouts) but
20-38 min silent waits starved graders and let 1/51 children vanish;
bounded 5-10 min stretches with a status line and list_agents
reconcile keep the efficiency and restore observability.
2026-07-31 10:27:51 -07:00
Jesse Vincent
db4538fcb8 fix(sdd): controllers wait long or not at all
Docs-only wait guidance in the platform reference changed nothing
(65.1% vs 67.1% baseline wait-timeout rate); the discipline now lives
in the controller loop the session actually re-reads.
2026-07-31 10:27:50 -07:00
Jesse Vincent
9b8b14fe12 fix(codex): event-driven waiting instead of short polls
60-78% of wait_agent calls timed out across every measured corpus;
waits are event subscriptions, so one long wait replaces dozens of
polls at identical wake latency.
2026-07-31 10:27:50 -07:00
Jesse Vincent
7c560e048b fix(sdd): reviewers never dispatch subagents either
The first fix-cycle battery moved the depth-2 leak from implementers
(9/9 baseline -> 0/6) to a final reviewer that spawned two
sub-reviewers; the contract now reaches every dispatched role.
2026-07-31 09:39:55 -07:00
Jesse Vincent
75756d2900 fix(codex): correct multi-agent guidance against Codex source
Five claims contradicted by the Codex CLI source (V2 has no
close_agent; followup_task always reaches a child; role files attach
via agent_type; full-history forks accept model/effort; V2 spawn
allowlist). Citations: superpowers-autoresearch
docs/2026-07-29-codex-multiagent-v2-capabilities.md.
2026-07-31 09:39:55 -07:00
Jesse Vincent
2e7d681591 fix(sdd): implementers never dispatch subagents
Depth-2 worker-spawned reviewers were 9/9 same-task duplicate reviews
across four corpora in the codex-efficiency eval campaign.
2026-07-31 09:39:55 -07:00
Jesse Vincent
bb2a34b2a0 docs: remove the "We're Hiring" section from the README
The community engineer role has a candidate on trial, so the posting no
longer needs to be at the top of the README.
2026-07-27 11:43:14 -07:00
7 changed files with 186 additions and 30 deletions

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@@ -3,12 +3,6 @@
Superpowers is a complete software development methodology for your coding agents, built on top of a set of composable skills and some initial instructions that make sure your agent uses them. Superpowers is a complete software development methodology for your coding agents, built on top of a set of composable skills and some initial instructions that make sure your agent uses them.
## We're Hiring!
We're hiring someone to help out full time with Superpowers community and code work.
You can read about the job at https://primeradiant.com/jobs/superpowers-community-engineer/
If this sounds like someone you know, definitely send them our way.
## Quickstart ## Quickstart
Give your agent Superpowers: [Claude Code](#claude-code), [Antigravity](#antigravity), [Codex App](#codex-app), [Codex CLI](#codex-cli), [Cursor](#cursor), [Factory Droid](#factory-droid), [Gemini CLI](#gemini-cli), [GitHub Copilot CLI](#github-copilot-cli), [Kimi Code](#kimi-code), [OpenCode](#opencode), [Pi](#pi). Give your agent Superpowers: [Claude Code](#claude-code), [Antigravity](#antigravity), [Codex App](#codex-app), [Codex CLI](#codex-cli), [Cursor](#cursor), [Factory Droid](#factory-droid), [Gemini CLI](#gemini-cli), [GitHub Copilot CLI](#github-copilot-cli), [Kimi Code](#kimi-code), [OpenCode](#opencode), [Pi](#pi).

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@@ -34,6 +34,15 @@ Subagent (general-purpose):
Your review is read-only on this checkout. Do not mutate the working tree, the index, HEAD, or branch state in any way. Use tools like `git show`, `git diff`, and `git log` to inspect history. If you need a working copy of a different revision, check it out into a separate temporary directory (e.g. `git worktree add /tmp/review-[SHA] [SHA]`) — never move HEAD on this checkout. Your review is read-only on this checkout. Do not mutate the working tree, the index, HEAD, or branch state in any way. Use tools like `git show`, `git diff`, and `git log` to inspect history. If you need a working copy of a different revision, check it out into a separate temporary directory (e.g. `git worktree add /tmp/review-[SHA] [SHA]`) — never move HEAD on this checkout.
## You Do Not Dispatch Subagents
Do all of this review yourself. Never spawn a subagent to review part
of the diff, and never spawn another reviewer for a second opinion.
This process already provides every review seat the work gets; a
reviewer you spawn duplicates one of them at full cost, and its
verdict counts for nothing. If the diff feels too large for one
pass, review it in passes yourself and say so in your report.
## What to Check ## What to Check
**Plan alignment:** **Plan alignment:**

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@@ -14,7 +14,21 @@ Execute plan by dispatching a fresh implementer subagent per task, a task review
**Narration:** between tool calls, narrate at most one short line — the **Narration:** between tool calls, narrate at most one short line — the
ledger and the tool results carry the record. ledger and the tool results carry the record.
**Continuous execution:** Do not pause to check in with your human partner between tasks. Execute all tasks from the plan without stopping. The only reasons to stop are: BLOCKED status you cannot resolve, ambiguity that genuinely prevents progress, or all tasks complete. "Should I continue?" prompts and progress summaries waste their time — they asked you to execute the plan, so execute it. **Continuous execution:** Do not pause to check in with your human partner between tasks. Execute all tasks from the plan without stopping. The only reasons to stop are the four named below, or all tasks complete. "Should I continue?" prompts and progress summaries waste their time — they asked you to execute the plan, so execute it.
**Rulings, not stalls.** A running plan does not wait on a human. Conflicts,
ambiguities, plan defects, a cap you would have asked to exceed — decide
them. The spec is the binding authority, the plan is its argument, and your
judgment settles what neither answers. Record every decision in the ledger as
`Ruling: <what you decided> — <why> — <what it costs if wrong>`, and keep
going. A wrong ruling costs rework your human partner can see and undo; a
session parked on a question costs their whole day and buys nothing.
Four things stop you, and only these: an irreversible or destructive
operation; a security-sensitive action; a side effect outside this worktree
that norms say you ask about first (a merge, a push to a shared branch, a
publish); and a plan so broken that every path forward is a guess. For those,
stop and ask.
## When to Use ## When to Use
@@ -57,14 +71,14 @@ digraph process {
"Generate review package, dispatch task reviewer (./task-reviewer-prompt.md)" [shape=box]; "Generate review package, dispatch task reviewer (./task-reviewer-prompt.md)" [shape=box];
"Spec ✅ and quality approved?" [shape=diamond]; "Spec ✅ and quality approved?" [shape=diamond];
"Finding conflicts with plan text?" [shape=diamond]; "Finding conflicts with plan text?" [shape=diamond];
"Ask human partner which governs" [shape=box]; "Rule on the conflict, ledger the ruling" [shape=box];
"Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model" [shape=box]; "Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model" [shape=box];
"Dispatch scoped re-review (./re-review-prompt.md)" [shape=box]; "Dispatch scoped re-review (./re-review-prompt.md)" [shape=box];
"All findings addressed?" [shape=diamond]; "All findings addressed?" [shape=diamond];
"R = 5?" [shape=diamond]; "R = 5?" [shape=diamond];
"Adjudicate each open finding" [shape=box]; "Adjudicate each open finding" [shape=box];
"Any load-bearing finding?" [shape=diamond]; "Any load-bearing finding?" [shape=diamond];
"STOP: report BLOCKED to human partner" [shape=box]; "Rule and continue; stop only if every path forward is a guess" [shape=box];
"Park findings in ledger with rulings" [shape=box]; "Park findings in ledger with rulings" [shape=box];
"Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete" [shape=box]; "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete" [shape=box];
} }
@@ -85,8 +99,8 @@ digraph process {
"Generate review package, dispatch task reviewer (./task-reviewer-prompt.md)" -> "Spec ✅ and quality approved?"; "Generate review package, dispatch task reviewer (./task-reviewer-prompt.md)" -> "Spec ✅ and quality approved?";
"Spec ✅ and quality approved?" -> "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete" [label="yes"]; "Spec ✅ and quality approved?" -> "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete" [label="yes"];
"Spec ✅ and quality approved?" -> "Finding conflicts with plan text?" [label="no"]; "Spec ✅ and quality approved?" -> "Finding conflicts with plan text?" [label="no"];
"Finding conflicts with plan text?" -> "Ask human partner which governs" [label="yes"]; "Finding conflicts with plan text?" -> "Rule on the conflict, ledger the ruling" [label="yes"];
"Ask human partner which governs" -> "Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model"; "Rule on the conflict, ledger the ruling" -> "Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model";
"Finding conflicts with plan text?" -> "Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model" [label="no"]; "Finding conflicts with plan text?" -> "Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model" [label="no"];
"Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model" -> "Dispatch scoped re-review (./re-review-prompt.md)"; "Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model" -> "Dispatch scoped re-review (./re-review-prompt.md)";
"Dispatch scoped re-review (./re-review-prompt.md)" -> "All findings addressed?"; "Dispatch scoped re-review (./re-review-prompt.md)" -> "All findings addressed?";
@@ -95,7 +109,7 @@ digraph process {
"R = 5?" -> "Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model" [label="no - next round"]; "R = 5?" -> "Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model" [label="no - next round"];
"R = 5?" -> "Adjudicate each open finding" [label="yes - breaker trips"]; "R = 5?" -> "Adjudicate each open finding" [label="yes - breaker trips"];
"Adjudicate each open finding" -> "Any load-bearing finding?"; "Adjudicate each open finding" -> "Any load-bearing finding?";
"Any load-bearing finding?" -> "STOP: report BLOCKED to human partner" [label="yes"]; "Any load-bearing finding?" -> "Rule and continue; stop only if every path forward is a guess" [label="yes"];
"Any load-bearing finding?" -> "Park findings in ledger with rulings" [label="no"]; "Any load-bearing finding?" -> "Park findings in ledger with rulings" [label="no"];
"Park findings in ledger with rulings" -> "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete"; "Park findings in ledger with rulings" -> "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete";
"Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete" -> "More tasks remain?"; "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete" -> "More tasks remain?";
@@ -142,17 +156,27 @@ a ledger file, not only in todos.
Read the plan once, note its context and Global Constraints, and create a Read the plan once, note its context and Global Constraints, and create a
todo per task. todo per task.
Before dispatching Task 1, scan the plan once for conflicts: Before dispatching Task 1, scan the plan once for conflicts, writing down
what you checked as you check it:
- tasks that contradict each other or the plan's Global Constraints - tasks that contradict each other or the plan's Global Constraints
- anything the plan explicitly mandates that the review rubric treats as a - anything the plan explicitly mandates that the review rubric treats as a
defect (a test that asserts nothing, verbatim duplication of a logic block) defect (a test that asserts nothing, verbatim duplication of a logic block)
Present everything you find to your human partner as one batched question — The scan's output is a table, not a verdict. One row for every pair of tasks
each finding beside the plan text that mandates it, asking which governs — that share a file or an interface: the two tasks, what one produces against
before execution begins, not one interrupt per discovery mid-plan. If the what the other consumes, and what you found. One row for every task: whether
scan is clean, proceed without comment. The review loop remains the net for its own text agrees with itself — the tests it specifies against the code it
conflicts that only emerge from implementation. specifies, the files it creates against the files it later touches. "The scan
is clean" without those rows is not a scan you ran.
Write the table to the ledger. Rule on everything you find before execution
begins — each finding against the plan text that mandates it — and record
each ruling in the ledger. If the scan is clean, proceed without comment.
Rule on each conflict it surfaces — the spec is the binding authority, the
plan is its argument — record the ruling beside its row, and dispatch
Task 1. The review loop remains the net for conflicts that only emerge from
implementation.
## Model Selection ## Model Selection
@@ -197,6 +221,17 @@ Everything you paste into a dispatch prompt — and everything a subagent
prints back — stays resident in your context for the rest of the session prints back — stays resident in your context for the rest of the session
and is re-read on every later turn. Hand artifacts over as files. and is re-read on every later turn. Hand artifacts over as files.
**Waiting on dispatched subagents:** never poll a wait interface with
short timeouts, and never sit in one silent, open-ended wait either.
While you have local work — ledger updates, packaging the next review,
reading reports — keep working; child results arrive on their own.
When you are genuinely idle, wait in bounded stretches (five to ten
minutes, where your platform allows), and between stretches post one
line of status and reconcile your live children: list them, and chase
any that finished without reporting. A bounded stretch keeps nearly
all of a long wait's efficiency while guaranteeing a stuck or lost
child is noticed within minutes, not at the end of the session.
### 1. Dispatch the implementer ### 1. Dispatch the implementer
Record BASE (`git rev-parse HEAD`) before dispatching — the review package Record BASE (`git rev-parse HEAD`) before dispatching — the review package
@@ -223,6 +258,12 @@ and fix-round diffs need it.
later dispatches — a real session's dispatch hit 42k chars of which 99% later dispatches — a real session's dispatch hit 42k chars of which 99%
was pasted history. A fresh subagent needs its task, the interfaces it was pasted history. A fresh subagent needs its task, the interfaces it
touches, and the global constraints. Nothing else. touches, and the global constraints. Nothing else.
- The dispatch carries the no-subagents contract (it is in the
implementer template): the implementer never dispatches subagents —
not helpers, and never a reviewer. Review arrives from you, after the
report. In real sessions, every reviewer a worker spawned duplicated
the task review the controller dispatched anyway — a full extra
review seat per task.
- If an earlier task parked a finding in the area this task touches, carry - If an earlier task parked a finding in the area this task touches, carry
a pointer to that ledger entry in the dispatch. a pointer to that ledger entry in the dispatch.
- Record the implementer's agent identity from the dispatch result — - Record the implementer's agent identity from the dispatch result —
@@ -245,7 +286,7 @@ Implementer subagents report one of four statuses. Handle each appropriately:
1. If it's a context problem, provide more context and re-dispatch with the same model 1. If it's a context problem, provide more context and re-dispatch with the same model
2. If the task requires more reasoning, re-dispatch with a more capable model 2. If the task requires more reasoning, re-dispatch with a more capable model
3. If the task is too large, break it into smaller pieces 3. If the task is too large, break it into smaller pieces
4. If the plan itself is wrong, escalate to the human 4. If the plan itself is wrong, rule on the correction, ledger it, and re-dispatch with the ruling carried in the dispatch
**Never** ignore an escalation or force the same model to retry without changes. If the implementer said it's stuck, something needs to change. **Never** ignore an escalation or force the same model to retry without changes. If the implementer said it's stuck, something needs to change.
@@ -312,10 +353,11 @@ Before the loop starts, two routes leave it immediately:
before merge. A roll-up nobody reads is a silent discard. Minor findings before merge. A roll-up nobody reads is a silent discard. Minor findings
never enter the loop. never enter the loop.
- A finding labeled plan-mandated — or any finding that conflicts with - A finding labeled plan-mandated — or any finding that conflicts with
what the plan's text requires — is the human's decision, like any plan what the plan's text requires — is yours to rule on: weigh the finding
contradiction: present the finding and the plan text, ask which governs. against the plan text, decide with the spec as the binding authority, and
Do not dismiss the finding because the plan mandates it, and do not ledger the ruling before you act on it. Do not dismiss the finding because
dispatch a fix that contradicts the plan without asking. the plan mandates it, and do not dispatch a fix that contradicts the plan
without a recorded ruling.
Everything else enters the loop. A fix round is one fix dispatch plus one Everything else enters the loop. A fix round is one fix dispatch plus one
scoped re-review. Five rounds maximum per task: scoped re-review. Five rounds maximum per task:
@@ -360,15 +402,16 @@ dispatching. Adjudicate each open finding yourself — you hold the plan and
the cross-task context the reviewer lacks: the cross-task context the reviewer lacks:
- **The reviewer is wrong, or the point is contestable:** park it — - **The reviewer is wrong, or the point is contestable:** park it —
`Task <N>: parked — <finding> — ruling: <why the code stands>`. The final `Task <N>: parked — <finding> — Ruling: <why the code stands>`. The final
review sees both sides. review sees both sides.
- **Real, but nothing downstream builds on it:** park it the same way, with - **Real, but nothing downstream builds on it:** park it the same way, with
a ruling that says it's real and deferred. a ruling that says it's real and deferred.
- **Real and load-bearing** — a later task builds on it, or it reveals a - **Real and load-bearing** — a later task builds on it, or it reveals a
plan defect: STOP. Append `Task <N>: BLOCKED — <reason>` and report to plan defect: rule on the smallest change that unblocks the dependent work,
your human partner with the finding, the plan text it collides with, and ledger it as `Task <N>: Ruling: <finding> — <what you decided and why>`,
the fix history. Parking a structural failure lets every dependent task and carry it into the next task's dispatch. Parking a structural failure
build on it and hands the final review a problem it cannot fix either. silently lets every dependent task build on it. Stop only when the defect
leaves every path forward a guess.
Adjudicate only at the cap. Adjudicating earlier to end a loop is Adjudicate only at the cap. Adjudicating earlier to end a loop is
pre-judging with a different name. Every adjudication is a ledger entry — pre-judging with a different name. Every adjudication is a ledger entry —
@@ -409,12 +452,22 @@ Then run exactly one scoped re-review of the fix wave
(`scripts/review-package PLAN_FILE FIX_BASE HEAD` over the fix range, (`scripts/review-package PLAN_FILE FIX_BASE HEAD` over the fix range,
[re-review-prompt.md](re-review-prompt.md)). [re-review-prompt.md](re-review-prompt.md)).
Adjudicate any residual findings as in the task loop's breaker: park with Adjudicate any residual findings as in the task loop's breaker: park with
rulings, or stop on load-bearing ones. There is no second fix wave — rulings, or rule on the load-bearing ones and ledger what you decided. Only
the four classes above stop you here. There is no second fix wave —
residual load-bearing findings surface to your human partner when residual load-bearing findings surface to your human partner when
finishing-a-development-branch presents the options. finishing-a-development-branch presents the options.
## Finish ## Finish
Before you delete anything, collect every ledger line containing `Ruling:`
preflight rulings, parked findings, breaker adjudications, all of them — into
your final message under "Rulings I made", in the order you made them, each
with what it costs if wrong. The list is exhaustive: if the ledger holds a
ruling, the list holds it. That list is the only place the decisions you
took on your human partner's behalf reach them — they read it and rework
whatever you got wrong. A ruling that dies with the workspace was a decision
made in secret.
When the final whole-branch review is clean and its fixes are merged, When the final whole-branch review is clean and its fixes are merged,
delete this plan's workspace (`rm -rf <workspace>`) — the git history is delete this plan's workspace (`rm -rf <workspace>`) — the git history is
the record now. Sibling directories belong to other plans; leave them the record now. Sibling directories belong to other plans; leave them
@@ -434,6 +487,7 @@ Use superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch.
| "The fix was small, skip the re-review" | Unreviewed fixes are how regressions land. Every round ends with a scoped re-review. | | "The fix was small, skip the re-review" | Unreviewed fixes are how regressions land. Every round ends with a scoped re-review. |
| "Reviews slow the loop down" | The loop without reviews is just unverified churn. Reviews are the loop's brakes and steering. | | "Reviews slow the loop down" | The loop without reviews is just unverified churn. Reviews are the loop's brakes and steering. |
| "Ledger bookkeeping is overhead" | The ledger is what survives compaction. Controllers without one have re-dispatched entire completed task sequences. | | "Ledger bookkeeping is overhead" | The ledger is what survives compaction. Controllers without one have re-dispatched entire completed task sequences. |
| "The implementer spawned its own reviewer — free extra assurance" | It's a duplicate seat reviewing the same diff; the task review is the gate. A worker-spawned reviewer is a defect to flag, not rigor. |
## Example Workflow ## Example Workflow

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@@ -47,6 +47,18 @@ Subagent (general-purpose):
While iterating, run the focused test for what you're changing; run the While iterating, run the focused test for what you're changing; run the
full suite once before committing, not after every edit. full suite once before committing, not after every edit.
## You Do Not Dispatch Subagents
Do all of this task's work yourself. Never spawn a subagent to
implement part of the task, and above all never spawn a reviewer to
check your work. Self-review (below) means reading your own diff.
Review is the controller's job: after you report, it dispatches a
fresh reviewer against your diff. A reviewer you spawn duplicates
that review at full cost, and its approval counts for nothing in
the process. If you catch yourself thinking "an independent review
would strengthen my report" — that review is already scheduled.
Report instead.
## Code Organization ## Code Organization
You reason best about code you can hold in context at once, and your edits are more You reason best about code you can hold in context at once, and your edits are more

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@@ -43,6 +43,15 @@ Subagent (general-purpose):
Your review is read-only on this checkout. Do not mutate the working Your review is read-only on this checkout. Do not mutate the working
tree, the index, HEAD, or branch state in any way. tree, the index, HEAD, or branch state in any way.
## You Do Not Dispatch Subagents
Do all of this review yourself. Never spawn a subagent to review part
of the diff, and never spawn another reviewer for a second opinion.
This process already provides every review seat the work gets; a
reviewer you spawn duplicates one of them at full cost, and its
verdict counts for nothing. If the diff feels too large for one
pass, review it in passes yourself and say so in your report.
## Scope ## Scope
Your scope is the findings list and the fix diff. Verdict every finding. Your scope is the findings list and the fix diff. Verdict every finding.

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@@ -52,6 +52,15 @@ Subagent (general-purpose):
Your review is read-only on this checkout. Do not mutate the working Your review is read-only on this checkout. Do not mutate the working
tree, the index, HEAD, or branch state in any way. tree, the index, HEAD, or branch state in any way.
## You Do Not Dispatch Subagents
Do all of this review yourself. Never spawn a subagent to review part
of the diff, and never spawn another reviewer for a second opinion.
This process already provides every review seat the work gets; a
reviewer you spawn duplicates one of them at full cost, and its
verdict counts for nothing. If the diff feels too large for one
pass, review it in passes yourself and say so in your report.
## Do Not Trust the Report ## Do Not Trust the Report
Treat the implementer's report as unverified claims about the code. It Treat the implementer's report as unverified claims about the code. It

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@@ -7,7 +7,76 @@ Add to your Codex config (`~/.codex/config.toml`):
multi_agent = true multi_agent = true
``` ```
This enables `spawn_agent`, `wait_agent`, and `close_agent` for skills like `dispatching-parallel-agents` and `subagent-driven-development`. When using subagent-driven-development, close reviewer subagents when their review returns. Keep each implementer subagent open until its task's review passes — the fix loop resumes the implementer — then close it. If your harness cannot send another message to a spawned agent, dispatch each fix round as a fresh implementer carrying the brief, the report file, and the findings. This enables the multi-agent tools that skills like
`dispatching-parallel-agents` and `subagent-driven-development` use.
Which tools you get depends on the multi-agent version your model
preset selects (current presets run V2; older ones run V1). Trust your
actual tool list over any table — including this one — when they
disagree.
- **Spawning:** give children a clean context with
`spawn_agent {fork_turns: "none"}`; the default `"all"` copies your
entire transcript into the child. On Codex 0.145+, role files under
`~/.codex/agents/` attach to isolated forks via `agent_type`.
Full-history forks accept `model` and `reasoning_effort` overrides
(only `agent_type` is refused there) — isolated forks are the SDD
default for context hygiene, not because overrides require them.
- **Fix rounds:** resume the implementer with `followup_task` — it
delivers your message, triggers a turn, and transparently reloads a
child the harness evicted. Never dispatch a fresh implementer on the
theory that a spawned agent cannot be messaged again; on V2 it
always can.
- **Lifecycle:** V2 has no `close_agent`. Finished children are
evicted automatically when slots are needed; leaving them unclosed
costs nothing. Only V1 sessions have `close_agent` — there, close
reviewers when their review returns, and close each implementer
after its task's review passes.
- **Model names:** never copy a model name from a skill, table, or old
session into `spawn_agent` without checking it against your current
spawn allowlist — V2 accepts only V2-capable presets and hard-errors
on the rest.
## Waiting on children
`wait_agent` is an event subscription, not a poll: a long wait wakes
the moment a child produces mailbox activity, with the same latency as
a short one. Short-timeout polling buys nothing and costs a tool call —
and a context rebill — per poll. In measured sessions, roughly
two-thirds of all wait calls were short polls that timed out.
- While you still have local work, do not wait at all. A completed
child's final answer is pushed into your mailbox and arrives with
your next turn.
- When you are genuinely idle with children outstanding, wait in
bounded stretches: `wait_agent` with `timeout_ms` 300000-600000
(5-10 minutes). After each stretch — wake or timeout — post one
status line, run `list_agents`, and chase any child that finished
without reporting. Never stack polls shorter than five minutes; the
event subscription wakes a bounded stretch just as fast as a short
one.
- Completion mail cannot wake an idle controller (it is delivered
without triggering a turn); covering that idle window is
`wait_agent`'s only job. A stretch that times out with no activity
is your cue to reconcile, not to shorten the next stretch.
## Model routing on spawns
Every `spawn_agent` you issue — including when you are yourself a
spawned child running a fan-out — sets `model` AND `reasoning_effort`
explicitly, per the Model Selection rules of the skill you are
executing. Setting `model` alone is a trap: the child's effort
silently resets to that model's default, not to yours.
Ask your human partner to add a machine-level backstop to
`~/.codex/config.toml` so any spawn that slips through still routes to
a deliberate tier instead of silently inheriting the session's most
expensive model:
```toml
[agents]
default_subagent_model = "<a mid-tier model from your spawn allowlist>"
default_subagent_reasoning_effort = "medium"
```
## Environment Detection ## Environment Detection