Orchestrating Subagents

Overview

Delegation has two dials — which model, how much reasoning effort — and both inherit the orchestrator's by default. Inheriting is a decision, not a neutral default: it puts the most expensive model on the cheapest work. The orchestrator stays strong; the workers rarely need to be.

The Dispatch Contract

A one-off Agent call takes exactly these four. All four filled, every time:

subagent_type:  general-purpose | Explore | Plan | <custom>
model:          haiku | sonnet | opus | fable
description:    3-5 words
prompt:         self-contained; states output format and where to write it

effort is not a parameter of the Agent tool. Writing it there does nothing. Effort is set where it exists: