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Delegating Work Decider

Decide whether an agent should do a task itself, hand it to a subagent, or route it to an agent that holds the context

Source Download skill
Repository
mvschwarz/openrig
Stars
8,553
Licence
Apache-2.0
Files
1 file

What it does

When an AI agent has a task and must choose who does it, this skill makes it weigh how much background a blank helper would need to do the job correctly. Context-heavy work goes to an agent that already understands the project; self-contained lookups like searching, summarizing or extracting with citations go to a subagent. It also guides how to brief the receiving agent and how far to trust a delegated result.

Great for

  • Teams running multiple AI agents in an orchestrated topology who need to decide which seat handles a task
  • Developers building agent workflows who want clearer rules for when subagents help versus mislead
  • Anyone who has received a confident but wrong summary from a subagent and wants a safer delegation habit

Skip it if

  • Solo users doing simple one-off tasks, where the delegation framework adds overhead without benefit
  • Setups without a project context or multiple agents, since the core decision assumes other agents or subagents are available
  • Relying on it as a guarantee of correctness: it is guidance for judgment, not a verification tool

Try asking

  • “Should I hand this log-scanning job to a subagent or to the reviewer who has been on this project?”
  • “Help me brief another agent for an open-ended architecture investigation, given which model it runs”
  • “How far should I trust the subagent's summary of these four repos before acting on it?”
Step-by-step guide: how to use Delegating Work DeciderInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 1 original files, the Apache-2.0 licence and an attribution note.

    delegating-work.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip delegating-work.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip delegating-work.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Use it alongside the OpenRig topology so the agent can actually route work to named seats that hold context
  • Pass the requester's original words along when delegating, since the skill recommends intent over step-by-step instructions
  • Ask for citations or re-runnable counts from subagents so wrong-but-plausible answers can be checked

What's inside

  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from mvschwarz/openrig under the Apache-2.0 licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.