kienbui1995/subagent-driven-development

Subagent-Driven Development

Execute plan by dispatching fresh subagent per task, with review after each.

Why subagents: Fresh context per task = focused work. Precisely crafted instructions = reliable results. Your context preserved for coordination.

Core principle: Fresh subagent per task + review = high quality, fast iteration.

When to Use

• Have an implementation plan with independent tasks
• Want to stay in current session
• Tasks can be worked on without shared state

vs. executing-plans: Same session, fresh context per task, review between tasks, faster iteration.

The Process

For Each Task:

1. Dispatch implementer subagent with:

   • Task description from plan
   • Relevant file paths and context
   • Testing requirements
   • Commit message format

2. Implementer works: implements, tests, commits

3. Dispatch reviewer agent (Haiku — fast, cheap):

   • Review the diff
   • Check spec compliance
   • Check code quality

4. Handle review results:

   • If approved → mark task complete, next task
   • If issues → dispatch implementer to fix, re-review

5. Mark task complete in TodoWrite

Model Routing for Subagents

| Role | Agent | Model | Why | |------|-------|-------|-----| | Implementation | (default subagent) | Sonnet | Good balance of quality/cost | | Code review | reviewer | Haiku | Fast, cheap, read-only | | Complex design questions | architect | Opus | Deep reasoning needed |

Subagent Instructions Template

When dispatching an implementer subagent, provide:

## Task
[Exact task from plan]

## Context
- Working directory: [path]
- Relevant files: [list]
- Dependencies: [what previous tasks created]

## Requirements
- Follow TDD: write test first, verify it fails, implement, verify it passes
- Commit after each step
- Run full test suite before reporting done

## Do NOT
- Modify files outside the task scope
- Skip tests
- Change architecture decisions from the plan

Completion

After all tasks:

• Use magic-powers:verification-before-completion
• Use magic-powers:finishing-a-development-branch

Integration

• magic-powers:writing-plans — creates the plan this skill executes
• magic-powers:requesting-code-review — review pattern used between tasks
• magic-powers:dispatching-parallel-agents — for truly independent tasks that can run concurrently