Agent Protocols

Shared behavioral protocols for all agents in the workflow-team pipeline.

1. Recursive Nesting Protocol

When your scope card is too broad for a single context:

1. Further decompose using parallel-dispatch skill (§1 Decomposition, §5 Hierarchical Decomposition)
2. Spawn sub-agents with narrower scope cards using TypeName="self" with dedicated Role designations (see §3 Agent Spawn Protocol)
3. Your scope becomes the ceiling — children cannot operate outside it
4. Track sub-agent progress; merge results when all complete
5. Write .agentwork/handoff.md for your parent coordinator

Triggers for nesting:

• Task edits >3 unrelated files
• Scope card contains >2 features
• Context approaching 50% capacity
• Secondary expertise needed (delegate to specialist)