Executing implementation plans with independent tasks

Subagent driven development

by obra · MIT license · ★ 289,792 on GitHub · updated Sep 20

Subagent driven development cover

Use when executing implementation plans with independent tasks in the current session

---
name: subagent-driven-development
description: Use when executing implementation plans with independent tasks in the current session
---

# Subagent-Driven Development

Execute plan by dispatching a fresh implementer subagent per task, a task review (spec compliance + code quality) after each, and a broad whole-branch review at the end.

**Why subagents:** You delegate tasks to specialized agents with isolated context. By precisely crafting their instructions and context, you ensure they stay focused and succeed at their task. They should never inherit your session's context or history — you construct exactly what they need. This also preserves your own context for coordination work.

**Core principle:** Fresh subagent per task + task review (spec + quality) + broad final review = high quality, fast iteration

**Narration:** between tool calls, narrate at most one short line — the
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 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.

Overview

Execute plan by dispatching a fresh implementer subagent per task, a task review (spec compliance + code quality) after each, and a broad whole-branch review at the end.

The SKILL.md below is the copy AgentAlley read and checked. The repo has changed it since; the other files are from commit 5bf4e78.

Manual install (npx, ZIP)
Claude Codenpx skills add obra/superpowers --skill subagent-driven-development -g -a claude-code
Claude Code (manual)mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && curl -sL https://codeload.github.com/obra/superpowers/tar.gz/5bf4e7801107 \ | tar -xz -C ~/.claude/skills --strip-components=2 superpowers-5bf4e7801107/skills/subagent-driven-development
Windows (PowerShell)New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force "$HOME\.claude\skills" | Out-Null; Invoke-WebRequest "https://m.agentalley.io/zip/69dc1f84c3383ba461db/subagent-driven-development.zip" -OutFile "$env:TEMP\subagent-driven-development.zip"; Expand-Archive "$env:TEMP\subagent-driven-development.zip" -DestinationPath "$HOME\.claude\skills" -Force
Claude.ai / desktopDownload the ZIP and upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Codex, Cursor, other agentsPoint them at SKILL.md. The other files are plain text.

Connects with Agent Alley MCP · agentalley.io/mcp

Files included

  • SKILL.md31.8 KB
  • implementer-prompt.md6.2 KB
  • re-review-prompt.md4.6 KB
  • task-reviewer-prompt.md8.8 KB
  • scripts/3 files · 6.5 KB
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Subagent-Driven Development

Execute plan by dispatching a fresh implementer subagent per task, a task review (spec compliance + code quality) after each, and a broad whole-branch review at the end.

Why subagents: You delegate tasks to specialized agents with isolated context. By precisely crafting their instructions and context, you ensure they stay focused and succeed at their task. They should never inherit your session's context or history — you construct exactly what they need. This also preserves your own context for coordination work.

Core principle: Fresh subagent per task + task review (spec + quality) + broad final review = high quality, fast iteration

Narration: between tool calls, narrate at most one short line — the 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 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

digraph when_to_use {
    "Have implementation plan?" [shape=diamond];
    "Tasks mostly independent?" [shape=diamond];
    "Stay in this session?" [shape=diamond];
    "subagent-driven-development" [shape=box];
    "executing-plans" [shape=box];
    "Manual execution or brainstorm first" [shape=box];

    "Have implementation plan?" -> "Tasks mostly independent?" [label="yes"];
    "Have implementation plan?" -> "Manual execution or brainstorm first" [label="no"];
    "Tasks mostly independent?" -> "Stay in this session?" [label="yes"];
    "Tasks mostly independent?" -> "Manual execution or brainstorm first" [label="no - tightly coupled"];
    "Stay in this session?" -> "subagent-driven-development" [label="yes"];
    "Stay in this session?" -> "executing-plans" [label="no - parallel session"];
}

vs. Executing Plans (parallel session):

  • Same session (no context switch)
  • Fresh subagent per task (no context pollution)
  • Review after each task (spec compliance + code quality), broad review at the end
  • Faster iteration (no human-in-loop between tasks)

The Process

digraph process {
    rankdir=TB;

    subgraph cluster_per_task {
        label="Per Task";
        "Dispatch implementer subagent (./implementer-prompt.md)" [shape=box];
        "Implementer asks questions?" [shape=diamond];
        "Answer questions, provide context" [shape=box];
        "Implementer implements, tests, commits, self-reviews" [shape=box];
        "Generate review package, dispatch task reviewer (./task-reviewer-prompt.md)" [shape=box];
        "Spec ✅ and quality approved?" [shape=diamond];
        "Finding conflicts with plan text?" [shape=diamond];
        "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];
        "Dispatch scoped re-review (./re-review-prompt.md)" [shape=box];
        "All findings addressed?" [shape=diamond];
        "R = 5?" [shape=diamond];
        "Adjudicate each open finding" [shape=box];
        "Any load-bearing finding?" [shape=diamond];
        "Rule and continue; stop only if every path forward is a guess" [shape=box];
        "Park findings in ledger with rulings" [shape=box];
        "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete" [shape=box];
    }

    "Setup: worktree, ledger check, read plan, pre-flight review" [shape=box];
    "More tasks remain?" [shape=diamond];
    "Dispatch final code reviewer (../requesting-code-review/code-reviewer.md)" [shape=box];
    "Final findings? ONE fix dispatch, one scoped re-review, adjudicate residuals" [shape=box];
    "Final review clean: delete this plan's workspace" [shape=box];
    "Use superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch" [shape=box style=filled fillcolor=lightgreen];

    "Setup: worktree, ledger check, read plan, pre-flight review" -> "Dispatch implementer subagent (./implementer-prompt.md)";
    "Dispatch implementer subagent (./implementer-prompt.md)" -> "Implementer asks questions?";
    "Implementer asks questions?" -> "Answer questions, provide context" [label="yes"];
    "Answer questions, provide context" -> "Implementer implements, tests, commits, self-reviews";
    "Implementer asks questions?" -> "Implementer implements, tests, commits, self-reviews" [label="no"];
    "Implementer implements, tests, commits, self-reviews" -> "Generate review package, dispatch task reviewer (./task-reviewer-prompt.md)";
    "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?" -> "Finding conflicts with plan text?" [label="no"];
    "Finding conflicts with plan text?" -> "Rule on the conflict, ledger the ruling" [label="yes"];
    "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"];
    "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?";
    "All findings addressed?" -> "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete" [label="yes"];
    "All findings addressed?" -> "R = 5?" [label="no"];
    "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"];
    "Adjudicate each open finding" -> "Any load-bearing finding?";
    "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"];
    "Park findings in ledger with rulings" -> "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete";
    "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete" -> "More tasks remain?";
    "More tasks remain?" -> "Dispatch implementer subagent (./implementer-prompt.md)" [label="yes"];
    "More tasks remain?" -> "Dispatch final code reviewer (../requesting-code-review/code-reviewer.md)" [label="no"];
    "Dispatch final code reviewer (../requesting-code-review/code-reviewer.md)" -> "Final findings? ONE fix dispatch, one scoped re-review, adjudicate residuals";
    "Final findings? ONE fix dispatch, one scoped re-review, adjudicate residuals" -> "Final review clean: delete this plan's workspace";
    "Final review clean: delete this plan's workspace" -> "Use superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch";
}

Setup

Ensure the work happens in an isolated workspace: use superpowers:using-git-worktrees to create one or verify the existing one. Never start implementation on a main/master branch without your human partner's explicit consent.

Conversation memory does not survive compaction. In real sessions, controllers that lost their place have re-dispatched entire completed task sequences — the single most expensive failure observed. Track progress in a ledger file, not only in todos.

  • Each plan owns a workspace: at skill start, run this skill's scripts/sdd-workspace PLAN_FILE — it prints the plan's git-ignored directory (<repo-root>/.superpowers/sdd/<plan-basename>/), home to every artifact for THIS plan: ledger, briefs, reports, review packages. Another plan's directory is never yours to read or write.
  • Check for this plan's ledger at <workspace>/progress.md. If its first line names your plan file, tasks with a Task <N>: complete line are DONE — do not re-dispatch them; resume at the first task without one. A task whose last line is a fix round is mid-loop: resume the loop at the next round. A ledger whose first line names a different plan file — or a stray ledger at the old flat path .superpowers/sdd/progress.md — is another plan's progress: leave it in place and start your own, fresh.
  • Create the ledger with its identity as the first line: # SDD ledger — plan: <plan file path>.
  • The ledger is your recovery map: the commits it names exist in git even when your context no longer remembers creating them. After compaction, trust the ledger and git log over your own recollection.
  • git clean -fdx will destroy the workspace (it's git-ignored scratch); if that happens, recover from git log.

Read the plan once, note its context and Global Constraints, and create a todo per task. If the plan names a Spec, read that too: the spec is the authority the plan argues from, and conflicts inside the plan resolve against it. A plan with no reachable spec gets a ledger note saying so — rulings made without one are provisional.

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
  • anything the plan explicitly mandates that the review rubric treats as a defect (a test that asserts nothing, verbatim duplication of a logic block)

The scan's output is a table, not a verdict. One row for every pair of tasks that share a file or an interface: the two tasks, what one produces against what the other consumes, and what you found. One row for every task: whether its own text agrees with itself — the tests it specifies against the code it 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

Use the least powerful model that can handle each role to conserve cost and increase speed.

Mechanical implementation tasks (isolated functions, clear specs, 1-2 files): use a fast, cheap model. Most implementation tasks are mechanical when the plan is well-specified.

Integration and judgment tasks (multi-file coordination, pattern matching, debugging): use a standard model.

Architecture and design tasks: use the most capable available model. The final whole-branch review is one of these — dispatch it on the most capable available model, not the session default.

Review tasks: choose the model with the same judgment, scaled to the diff's size, complexity, and risk. A small mechanical diff does not need the most capable model; a subtle concurrency change does. Scoped re-reviews of small fix diffs take a cheap-to-mid tier.

Fix-loop escalation (rounds 4-5): use a model at least one tier above the implementer that got stuck.

Always specify the model explicitly when dispatching a subagent. An omitted model inherits your session's model — often the most capable and most expensive — which silently defeats this section.

Turn count beats token price. Wall-clock and context cost scale with how many turns a subagent takes, and the cheapest models routinely take 2-3× the turns on multi-step work — costing more overall. Use a mid-tier model as the floor for reviewers and for implementers working from prose descriptions. When the task's plan text contains the complete code to write, the implementation is transcription plus testing: use the cheapest tier for that implementer. Single-file mechanical fixes also take the cheapest tier.

Task complexity signals (implementation tasks):

  • Touches 1-2 files with a complete spec → cheap model
  • Touches multiple files with integration concerns → standard model
  • Requires design judgment or broad codebase understanding → most capable model

The Task Loop

Batch small same-shape work. When the plan lists several tasks that are each a small, independent edit of the same kind — the same one-line fix, constant change, or field addition repeated across files — do not dispatch one subagent per task. Compose ONE dispatch brief listing every file and its change, send the whole batch to a single subagent, and review its diff as one unit. Reserve one-dispatch-per-task for work that needs its own judgment, its own tests, or its own review surface.

Everything you paste into a dispatch prompt — and everything a subagent 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.

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

Record BASE (git rev-parse HEAD) before dispatching — the review package and fix-round diffs need it.

  • Task brief: before dispatching an implementer, run this skill's scripts/task-brief PLAN_FILE N — it extracts the task's full text to a uniquely named file and prints the path. Compose the dispatch so the brief stays the single source of requirements. Your dispatch should contain: (1) one line on where this task fits in the project; (2) the brief path, introduced as "read this first — it is your requirements, with the exact values to use verbatim"; (3) interfaces and decisions from earlier tasks that the brief cannot know; (4) your resolution of any ambiguity you noticed in the brief; (5) the report-file path and report contract. Exact values (numbers, magic strings, signatures, test cases) appear only in the brief. Never make a subagent read the whole plan file.
  • Report file: name the implementer's report file after the brief (brief …/task-N-brief.md → report …/task-N-report.md) and put it in the dispatch prompt. The implementer writes the full report there and returns only status, commits, a one-line test summary, and concerns.
  • A dispatch prompt describes one task, not the session's history. Do not paste accumulated prior-task summaries ("state after Tasks 1-3") into 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 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 a pointer to that ledger entry in the dispatch.
  • Record the implementer's agent identity from the dispatch result — fix-loop rounds 1-3 resume this agent.
  • Never dispatch multiple implementation subagents in parallel (conflicts).

Template: implementer-prompt.md

2. Handle the report

Implementer subagents report one of four statuses. Handle each appropriately:

DONE: Generate the review package (scripts/review-package PLAN_FILE BASE HEAD, from this skill's directory — it prints the unique file path it wrote; BASE is the commit you recorded before dispatching the implementer — never HEAD~1, which silently drops all but the last commit of a multi-commit task), then dispatch the task reviewer with the printed path.

DONE_WITH_CONCERNS: The implementer completed the work but flagged doubts. Read the concerns before proceeding. If the concerns are about correctness or scope, address them before review. If they're observations (e.g., "this file is getting large"), note them and proceed to review.

NEEDS_CONTEXT: The implementer needs information that wasn't provided. Provide the missing context and re-dispatch.

BLOCKED: The implementer cannot complete the task. Assess the blocker:

  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
  3. If the task is too large, break it into smaller pieces
  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.

If the implementer asks questions — before starting or mid-task — answer clearly and completely, provide additional context if needed, and don't rush it into implementation.

3. Review the task

Per-task reviews are task-scoped gates. The broad review happens once, at the final whole-branch review. Never skip the task review, and never accept a report missing either verdict — spec compliance AND task quality are both required. Implementer self-review never replaces the task review; both are needed.

  • Hand the reviewer its diff as a file: run this skill's scripts/review-package PLAN_FILE BASE HEAD and pass the reviewer the file path it prints (or, without bash: git log --oneline, git diff --stat, and git diff -U10 for the range, redirected to one uniquely named file). The output never enters your own context, and the reviewer sees the commit list, stat summary, and full diff with context in one Read call. Use the BASE you recorded before dispatching the implementer — never HEAD~1, which silently truncates multi-commit tasks. Never dispatch a task reviewer without a diff file.
  • Reviewer inputs: the task reviewer gets three paths — the same brief file, the report file, and the review package — plus the global constraints that bind the task.
  • The global-constraints block you hand the reviewer is its attention lens. Copy the binding requirements verbatim from the plan's Global Constraints section or the spec: exact values, exact formats, and the stated relationships between components ("same layout as X", "matches Y"). The reviewer's template already carries the process rules (YAGNI, test hygiene, review method) — the constraints block is for what THIS project's spec demands.
  • Do not add open-ended directives like "check all uses" or "run race tests if useful" without a concrete, task-specific reason
  • Do not ask a reviewer to re-run tests the implementer already ran on the same code — the implementer's report carries the test evidence
  • Do not pre-judge findings for the reviewer — never instruct a reviewer to ignore or not flag a specific issue. If you believe a finding would be a false positive, let the reviewer raise it and adjudicate it in the review loop. If the prompt you are writing contains "do not flag," "don't treat X as a defect," "at most Minor," or "the plan chose" — stop: you are pre-judging, usually to spare yourself a review loop. The task reviewer may report "⚠️ Cannot verify from diff" items — requirements that live in unchanged code or span tasks. These do not block the rest of the review, but you must resolve each one yourself before marking the task complete: you hold the plan and cross-task context the reviewer lacks. If you confirm an item is a real gap, treat it as a failed spec review — it enters the fix loop with the other findings.

Template: task-reviewer-prompt.md

4. The fix loop

The loop triggers when the review reports spec ❌, any Critical or Important finding, or a ⚠️ item you confirmed as a real gap.

Before the loop starts, two routes leave it immediately:

  • Record Minor findings in the progress ledger as you go (Task <N>: minor (deferred): <one-liner>), and point the final whole-branch review at that list so it can triage which must be fixed before merge. A roll-up nobody reads is a silent discard. Minor findings never enter the loop.
  • A finding labeled plan-mandated — or any finding that conflicts with what the plan's text requires — is yours to rule on: weigh the finding against the plan text, decide with the spec as the binding authority, and ledger the ruling before you act on it. Do not dismiss the finding because 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 scoped re-review. Five rounds maximum per task:

Rounds 1-3 — resume the original implementer. Send it the open findings verbatim. Its context is intact: it knows the task, the code, and its own choices. If your harness cannot send another message to a live subagent, dispatch a fresh implementer carrying the brief path, the report-file path, and the findings — the report file is the persistent memory either way.

Rounds 4-5 — dispatch a fresh implementer on a more capable model (per Model Selection), with the brief path, the report-file path, the open findings, and this framing: "A prior implementer attempted this task [N] times; you own it now. Read the report file for what was tried." A loop that survives three resumes usually means the implementer cannot see its own problem — fresh eyes and a capability bump in one move.

Every round, either way: the implementer fixes, re-runs the tests covering the amended code, appends its fix report to the same report file, and returns the short contract. Before re-dispatching the reviewer, confirm the fix report contains the covering tests, the command run, and the output; dispatch the re-review once all three are present. Name the covering test files in the fix message — a one-line fix does not need the whole suite.

The re-review is scoped. Run scripts/review-package PLAN_FILE FIX_BASE HEAD where FIX_BASE is the head the previous review saw, and dispatch re-review-prompt.md with the findings list, the brief, the report file, and the printed diff path. The re-reviewer verdicts each finding ADDRESSED or NOT ADDRESSED and flags new breakage in the fix diff only. New Critical/Important breakage in the fix diff joins the open findings list. Out-of-scope observations go to the ledger as deferred minors — they never extend the loop.

After each round, append to the ledger: Task <N>: fix round <R>/5 (<X> addressed, <Y> open — <finding one-liners>; commits <a7>..<b7>)

Never fix findings yourself in the controller session — your context stays clean for coordination, and controller fixes skip review.

The breaker. When round 5's re-review still leaves findings open, stop dispatching. Adjudicate each open finding yourself — you hold the plan and the cross-task context the reviewer lacks:

  • The reviewer is wrong, or the point is contestable: park it — Task <N>: parked — <finding> — Ruling: <why the code stands>. The final review sees both sides.
  • Real, but nothing downstream builds on it: park it the same way, with a ruling that says it's real and deferred.
  • Real and load-bearing — a later task builds on it, or it reveals a plan defect: rule on the smallest change that unblocks the dependent work, ledger it as Task <N>: Ruling: <finding> — <what you decided and why>, and carry it into the next task's dispatch. Parking a structural failure 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 pre-judging with a different name. Every adjudication is a ledger entry — a silent discard is forbidden.

5. Complete the task

When the review comes back clean — or every open finding is parked with a ruling at the cap — append the completion line to the ledger in the same message as your other bookkeeping:

  • Task <N>: complete (commits <base7>..<head7>, review clean)
  • Task <N>: complete (commits <base7>..<head7>, <K> parked) after a tripped breaker

Then mark the todo complete and move on. Never move to the next task while the review has open Critical/Important issues that are neither fixed nor parked-with-ruling at the cap.

Final Review

The final whole-branch review gets a package too: run scripts/review-package PLAN_FILE MERGE_BASE HEAD (MERGE_BASE = the commit the branch started from, e.g. git merge-base main HEAD) and include the printed path in the final review dispatch, so the final reviewer reads one file instead of re-deriving the branch diff with git commands. Dispatch on the most capable available model (see Model Selection), using superpowers:requesting-code-review's code-reviewer.md. Point it at the ledger's deferred-minor and parked lines so it can triage which must be fixed before merge.

If the final whole-branch review returns findings, dispatch ONE fix subagent with the complete findings list — not one fixer per finding. Per-finding fixers each rebuild context and re-run suites; a real session's final-review fix wave cost more than all its tasks combined. Then run exactly one scoped re-review of the fix wave (scripts/review-package PLAN_FILE FIX_BASE HEAD over the fix range, re-review-prompt.md). Adjudicate any residual findings as in the task loop's breaker: park with 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 finishing-a-development-branch presents the options.

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, delete this plan's workspace (rm -rf <workspace>) — the git history is the record now. Sibling directories belong to other plans; leave them alone.

Use superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch.

Common Rationalizations

Excuse Reality
"Close enough on spec compliance" Reviewer found spec gaps = not done. Fix or hit the cap and adjudicate — those are the only exits.
"I'll fix it myself, dispatching is overhead" Controller fixes pollute your context and skip review. Resume the implementer.
"One more round will converge" Past the cap, rounds don't converge — the failure is structural. Adjudicate and route.
"The reviewer will just find something new anyway" Scoped re-reviews verify fixes; they cannot wander. New findings on untouched code go to the ledger, not the loop.
"This finding is obviously wrong, I'll drop it" You adjudicate only at the cap, and every ruling is a ledger entry. Silent discards are forbidden.
"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.
"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

You: I'm using Subagent-Driven Development to execute this plan.

[Setup: worktree verified]
[Read plan file once: docs/superpowers/plans/feature-plan.md]
[Resolve workspace: scripts/sdd-workspace docs/superpowers/plans/feature-plan.md — no ledger inside, fresh start]
[Create todos for all tasks]

Task 1: Hook installation script

[Run task-brief for Task 1; dispatch implementer with brief + report paths + context]

Implementer: "Before I begin - should the hook be installed at user or system level?"

You: "User level (~/.config/superpowers/hooks/)"

Implementer: [Later]
  - Implemented install-hook command
  - Added tests, 5/5 passing
  - Self-review: Found I missed --force flag, added it
  - Committed

[Run review-package PLAN_FILE BASE HEAD; dispatch task reviewer with the printed path]
Task reviewer: Spec ✅ - all requirements met, nothing extra.
  Strengths: Good test coverage, clean. Issues: None. Task quality: Approved.

[Ledger: Task 1: complete (commits a1b2c3d..d4e5f6a, review clean)]

Task 2: Recovery modes

[Run task-brief for Task 2; dispatch implementer with brief + report paths + context]

Implementer: [No questions]
  - Added verify/repair modes
  - 8/8 tests passing
  - Committed

[Run review-package PLAN_FILE BASE HEAD; dispatch task reviewer with the printed path]
Task reviewer: Spec ❌:
  - Missing: Progress reporting (spec says "report every 100 items")
  Issues (Important): Magic number (100)

[Fix round 1: resume the implementer with both findings]
Implementer: Added progress reporting, extracted PROGRESS_INTERVAL constant.
  Re-ran test/recovery.test.js — 10/10 passing. Fix report appended.

[Run review-package PLAN_FILE FIX_BASE HEAD; dispatch scoped re-review]
Re-reviewer: Missing progress reporting — ADDRESSED (src/recovery.js:41).
  Magic number — ADDRESSED (src/recovery.js:7). New breakage: none.
  Verdict: all findings addressed.

[Ledger: Task 2: fix round 1/5 (2 addressed, 0 open; commits d4e5f6a..b7c8d9e)]
[Ledger: Task 2: complete (commits d4e5f6a..b7c8d9e, review clean)]

...

[After all tasks]
[Run review-package PLAN_FILE MERGE_BASE HEAD; dispatch final code-reviewer, most capable model]
Final reviewer: All requirements met. Deferred minors triaged: none block merge.

[Delete this plan's workspace — the record now lives in git]

Done! Using superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch.
1---
2name: subagent-driven-development
3description: Use when executing implementation plans with independent tasks in the current session
4---
5 
6# Subagent-Driven Development
7 
8Execute plan by dispatching a fresh implementer subagent per task, a task review (spec compliance + code quality) after each, and a broad whole-branch review at the end.
9 
10**Why subagents:** You delegate tasks to specialized agents with isolated context. By precisely crafting their instructions and context, you ensure they stay focused and succeed at their task. They should never inherit your session's context or history — you construct exactly what they need. This also preserves your own context for coordination work.
11 
12**Core principle:** Fresh subagent per task + task review (spec + quality) + broad final review = high quality, fast iteration
13 
14**Narration:** between tool calls, narrate at most one short line — the
15ledger and the tool results carry the record.
16 
17**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.
18 
19**Rulings, not stalls.** A running plan does not wait on a human. Conflicts,
20ambiguities, plan defects, a cap you would have asked to exceed — decide
21them. The spec is the binding authority, the plan is its argument, and your
22judgment settles what neither answers. Record every decision in the ledger as
23`Ruling: <what you decided> — <why> — <what it costs if wrong>`, and keep
24going. A wrong ruling costs rework your human partner can see and undo; a
25session parked on a question costs their whole day and buys nothing.
26 
27Four things stop you, and only these: an irreversible or destructive
28operation; a security-sensitive action; a side effect outside this worktree
29that norms say you ask about first (a merge, a push to a shared branch, a
30publish); and a plan so broken that every path forward is a guess. For those,
31stop and ask.
32 
33## When to Use
34 
35```dot
36digraph when_to_use {
37 "Have implementation plan?" [shape=diamond];
38 "Tasks mostly independent?" [shape=diamond];
39 "Stay in this session?" [shape=diamond];
40 "subagent-driven-development" [shape=box];
41 "executing-plans" [shape=box];
42 "Manual execution or brainstorm first" [shape=box];
43 
44 "Have implementation plan?" -> "Tasks mostly independent?" [label="yes"];
45 "Have implementation plan?" -> "Manual execution or brainstorm first" [label="no"];
46 "Tasks mostly independent?" -> "Stay in this session?" [label="yes"];
47 "Tasks mostly independent?" -> "Manual execution or brainstorm first" [label="no - tightly coupled"];
48 "Stay in this session?" -> "subagent-driven-development" [label="yes"];
49 "Stay in this session?" -> "executing-plans" [label="no - parallel session"];
50}
51```
52 
53**vs. Executing Plans (parallel session):**
54- Same session (no context switch)
55- Fresh subagent per task (no context pollution)
56- Review after each task (spec compliance + code quality), broad review at the end
57- Faster iteration (no human-in-loop between tasks)
58 
59## The Process
60 
61```dot
62digraph process {
63 rankdir=TB;
64 
65 subgraph cluster_per_task {
66 label="Per Task";
67 "Dispatch implementer subagent (./implementer-prompt.md)" [shape=box];
68 "Implementer asks questions?" [shape=diamond];
69 "Answer questions, provide context" [shape=box];
70 "Implementer implements, tests, commits, self-reviews" [shape=box];
71 "Generate review package, dispatch task reviewer (./task-reviewer-prompt.md)" [shape=box];
72 "Spec ✅ and quality approved?" [shape=diamond];
73 "Finding conflicts with plan text?" [shape=diamond];
74 "Rule on the conflict, ledger the ruling" [shape=box];
75 "Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model" [shape=box];
76 "Dispatch scoped re-review (./re-review-prompt.md)" [shape=box];
77 "All findings addressed?" [shape=diamond];
78 "R = 5?" [shape=diamond];
79 "Adjudicate each open finding" [shape=box];
80 "Any load-bearing finding?" [shape=diamond];
81 "Rule and continue; stop only if every path forward is a guess" [shape=box];
82 "Park findings in ledger with rulings" [shape=box];
83 "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete" [shape=box];
84 }
85 
86 "Setup: worktree, ledger check, read plan, pre-flight review" [shape=box];
87 "More tasks remain?" [shape=diamond];
88 "Dispatch final code reviewer (../requesting-code-review/code-reviewer.md)" [shape=box];
89 "Final findings? ONE fix dispatch, one scoped re-review, adjudicate residuals" [shape=box];
90 "Final review clean: delete this plan's workspace" [shape=box];
91 "Use superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch" [shape=box style=filled fillcolor=lightgreen];
92 
93 "Setup: worktree, ledger check, read plan, pre-flight review" -> "Dispatch implementer subagent (./implementer-prompt.md)";
94 "Dispatch implementer subagent (./implementer-prompt.md)" -> "Implementer asks questions?";
95 "Implementer asks questions?" -> "Answer questions, provide context" [label="yes"];
96 "Answer questions, provide context" -> "Implementer implements, tests, commits, self-reviews";
97 "Implementer asks questions?" -> "Implementer implements, tests, commits, self-reviews" [label="no"];
98 "Implementer implements, tests, commits, self-reviews" -> "Generate review package, dispatch task reviewer (./task-reviewer-prompt.md)";
99 "Generate review package, dispatch task reviewer (./task-reviewer-prompt.md)" -> "Spec ✅ and quality approved?";
100 "Spec ✅ and quality approved?" -> "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete" [label="yes"];
101 "Spec ✅ and quality approved?" -> "Finding conflicts with plan text?" [label="no"];
102 "Finding conflicts with plan text?" -> "Rule on the conflict, ledger the ruling" [label="yes"];
103 "Rule on the conflict, ledger the ruling" -> "Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model";
104 "Finding conflicts with plan text?" -> "Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model" [label="no"];
105 "Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model" -> "Dispatch scoped re-review (./re-review-prompt.md)";
106 "Dispatch scoped re-review (./re-review-prompt.md)" -> "All findings addressed?";
107 "All findings addressed?" -> "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete" [label="yes"];
108 "All findings addressed?" -> "R = 5?" [label="no"];
109 "R = 5?" -> "Fix round R of 5: R≤3 resume implementer; R≥4 fresh implementer, more capable model" [label="no - next round"];
110 "R = 5?" -> "Adjudicate each open finding" [label="yes - breaker trips"];
111 "Adjudicate each open finding" -> "Any load-bearing finding?";
112 "Any load-bearing finding?" -> "Rule and continue; stop only if every path forward is a guess" [label="yes"];
113 "Any load-bearing finding?" -> "Park findings in ledger with rulings" [label="no"];
114 "Park findings in ledger with rulings" -> "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete";
115 "Append completion to ledger, mark todo complete" -> "More tasks remain?";
116 "More tasks remain?" -> "Dispatch implementer subagent (./implementer-prompt.md)" [label="yes"];
117 "More tasks remain?" -> "Dispatch final code reviewer (../requesting-code-review/code-reviewer.md)" [label="no"];
118 "Dispatch final code reviewer (../requesting-code-review/code-reviewer.md)" -> "Final findings? ONE fix dispatch, one scoped re-review, adjudicate residuals";
119 "Final findings? ONE fix dispatch, one scoped re-review, adjudicate residuals" -> "Final review clean: delete this plan's workspace";
120 "Final review clean: delete this plan's workspace" -> "Use superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch";
121}
122```
123 
124## Setup
125 
126Ensure the work happens in an isolated workspace: use
127superpowers:using-git-worktrees to create one or verify the existing one.
128Never start implementation on a main/master branch without your human
129partner's explicit consent.
130 
131Conversation memory does not survive compaction. In real sessions,
132controllers that lost their place have re-dispatched entire completed task
133sequences — the single most expensive failure observed. Track progress in
134a ledger file, not only in todos.
135 
136- Each plan owns a workspace: at skill start, run this skill's
137 `scripts/sdd-workspace PLAN_FILE` — it prints the plan's git-ignored
138 directory (`<repo-root>/.superpowers/sdd/<plan-basename>/`), home to
139 every artifact for THIS plan: ledger, briefs, reports, review packages.
140 Another plan's directory is never yours to read or write.
141- Check for this plan's ledger at `<workspace>/progress.md`. If its first
142 line names your plan file, tasks with a `Task <N>: complete` line are DONE
143 — do not re-dispatch them; resume at the first task without one. A task
144 whose last line is a fix round is mid-loop: resume the loop at the next
145 round. A ledger whose first line names a different plan file — or a stray
146 ledger at the old flat path `.superpowers/sdd/progress.md` — is another
147 plan's progress: leave it in place and start your own, fresh.
148- Create the ledger with its identity as the first line:
149 `# SDD ledger — plan: <plan file path>`.
150- The ledger is your recovery map: the commits it names exist in git even
151 when your context no longer remembers creating them. After compaction,
152 trust the ledger and `git log` over your own recollection.
153- `git clean -fdx` will destroy the workspace (it's git-ignored scratch); if
154 that happens, recover from `git log`.
155 
156Read the plan once, note its context and Global Constraints, and create a
157todo per task. If the plan names a Spec, read that too: the spec is the
158authority the plan argues from, and conflicts inside the plan resolve
159against it. A plan with no reachable spec gets a ledger note saying so —
160rulings made without one are provisional.
161 
162Before dispatching Task 1, scan the plan once for conflicts, writing down
163what you checked as you check it:
164 
165- tasks that contradict each other or the plan's Global Constraints
166- anything the plan explicitly mandates that the review rubric treats as a
167 defect (a test that asserts nothing, verbatim duplication of a logic block)
168 
169The scan's output is a table, not a verdict. One row for every pair of tasks
170that share a file or an interface: the two tasks, what one produces against
171what the other consumes, and what you found. One row for every task: whether
172its own text agrees with itself — the tests it specifies against the code it
173specifies, the files it creates against the files it later touches. "The scan
174is clean" without those rows is not a scan you ran.
175 
176Write the table to the ledger. Rule on everything you find before execution
177begins — each finding against the plan text that mandates it — and record
178each ruling in the ledger. If the scan is clean, proceed without comment.
179Rule on each conflict it surfaces — the spec is the binding authority, the
180plan is its argument — record the ruling beside its row, and dispatch
181Task 1. The review loop remains the net for conflicts that only emerge from
182implementation.
183 
184## Model Selection
185 
186Use the least powerful model that can handle each role to conserve cost and increase speed.
187 
188**Mechanical implementation tasks** (isolated functions, clear specs, 1-2 files): use a fast, cheap model. Most implementation tasks are mechanical when the plan is well-specified.
189 
190**Integration and judgment tasks** (multi-file coordination, pattern matching, debugging): use a standard model.
191 
192**Architecture and design tasks**: use the most capable available model.
193The final whole-branch review is one of these — dispatch it on the most
194capable available model, not the session default.
195 
196**Review tasks**: choose the model with the same judgment, scaled to the
197diff's size, complexity, and risk. A small mechanical diff does not need the
198most capable model; a subtle concurrency change does. Scoped re-reviews of
199small fix diffs take a cheap-to-mid tier.
200 
201**Fix-loop escalation (rounds 4-5)**: use a model at least one tier above
202the implementer that got stuck.
203 
204**Always specify the model explicitly when dispatching a subagent.** An
205omitted model inherits your session's model — often the most capable and
206most expensive — which silently defeats this section.
207 
208**Turn count beats token price.** Wall-clock and context cost scale with how
209many turns a subagent takes, and the cheapest models routinely take 2-3× the
210turns on multi-step work — costing more overall. Use a mid-tier model as the
211floor for reviewers and for implementers working from prose descriptions.
212When the task's plan text contains the complete code to write, the
213implementation is transcription plus testing: use the cheapest tier for
214that implementer. Single-file mechanical fixes also take the cheapest tier.
215 
216**Task complexity signals (implementation tasks):**
217- Touches 1-2 files with a complete spec → cheap model
218- Touches multiple files with integration concerns → standard model
219- Requires design judgment or broad codebase understanding → most capable model
220 
221## The Task Loop
222 
223**Batch small same-shape work.** When the plan lists several tasks that are
224each a small, independent edit of the same kind — the same one-line fix,
225constant change, or field addition repeated across files — do not dispatch
226one subagent per task. Compose ONE dispatch brief listing every file and
227its change, send the whole batch to a single subagent, and review its diff
228as one unit. Reserve one-dispatch-per-task for work that needs its own
229judgment, its own tests, or its own review surface.
230 
231Everything you paste into a dispatch prompt — and everything a subagent
232prints back — stays resident in your context for the rest of the session
233and is re-read on every later turn. Hand artifacts over as files.
234 
235**Waiting on dispatched subagents:** never poll a wait interface with
236short timeouts, and never sit in one silent, open-ended wait either.
237While you have local work — ledger updates, packaging the next review,
238reading reports — keep working; child results arrive on their own.
239When you are genuinely idle, wait in bounded stretches (five to ten
240minutes, where your platform allows), and between stretches post one
241line of status and reconcile your live children: list them, and chase
242any that finished without reporting. A bounded stretch keeps nearly
243all of a long wait's efficiency while guaranteeing a stuck or lost
244child is noticed within minutes, not at the end of the session.
245 
246### 1. Dispatch the implementer
247 
248Record BASE (`git rev-parse HEAD`) before dispatching — the review package
249and fix-round diffs need it.
250 
251- **Task brief:** before dispatching an implementer, run this skill's
252 `scripts/task-brief PLAN_FILE N` — it extracts the task's full text to a
253 uniquely named file and prints the path. Compose the dispatch so the
254 brief stays the single source of
255 requirements. Your dispatch should contain: (1) one line on where this
256 task fits in the project; (2) the brief path, introduced as "read this
257 first — it is your requirements, with the exact values to use verbatim";
258 (3) interfaces and decisions from earlier tasks that the brief cannot
259 know; (4) your resolution of any ambiguity you noticed in the brief;
260 (5) the report-file path and report contract. Exact values (numbers,
261 magic strings, signatures, test cases) appear only in the brief. Never
262 make a subagent read the whole plan file.
263- **Report file:** name the implementer's report file after the brief
264 (brief `…/task-N-brief.md` → report `…/task-N-report.md`) and put it in
265 the dispatch prompt. The implementer writes the full report there and
266 returns only status, commits, a one-line test summary, and concerns.
267- A dispatch prompt describes one task, not the session's history. Do not
268 paste accumulated prior-task summaries ("state after Tasks 1-3") into
269 later dispatches — a real session's dispatch hit 42k chars of which 99%
270 was pasted history. A fresh subagent needs its task, the interfaces it
271 touches, and the global constraints. Nothing else.
272- The dispatch carries the no-subagents contract (it is in the
273 implementer template): the implementer never dispatches subagents —
274 not helpers, and never a reviewer. Review arrives from you, after the
275 report. In real sessions, every reviewer a worker spawned duplicated
276 the task review the controller dispatched anyway — a full extra
277 review seat per task.
278- If an earlier task parked a finding in the area this task touches, carry
279 a pointer to that ledger entry in the dispatch.
280- Record the implementer's agent identity from the dispatch result —
281 fix-loop rounds 1-3 resume this agent.
282- Never dispatch multiple implementation subagents in parallel (conflicts).
283 
284Template: [implementer-prompt.md](implementer-prompt.md)
285 
286### 2. Handle the report
287 
288Implementer subagents report one of four statuses. Handle each appropriately:
289 
290**DONE:** Generate the review package (`scripts/review-package PLAN_FILE BASE HEAD`, from this skill's directory — it prints the unique file path it wrote; BASE is the commit you recorded before dispatching the implementer — never `HEAD~1`, which silently drops all but the last commit of a multi-commit task), then dispatch the task reviewer with the printed path.
291 
292**DONE_WITH_CONCERNS:** The implementer completed the work but flagged doubts. Read the concerns before proceeding. If the concerns are about correctness or scope, address them before review. If they're observations (e.g., "this file is getting large"), note them and proceed to review.
293 
294**NEEDS_CONTEXT:** The implementer needs information that wasn't provided. Provide the missing context and re-dispatch.
295 
296**BLOCKED:** The implementer cannot complete the task. Assess the blocker:
2971. If it's a context problem, provide more context and re-dispatch with the same model
2982. If the task requires more reasoning, re-dispatch with a more capable model
2993. If the task is too large, break it into smaller pieces
3004. If the plan itself is wrong, rule on the correction, ledger it, and re-dispatch with the ruling carried in the dispatch
301 
302**Never** ignore an escalation or force the same model to retry without changes. If the implementer said it's stuck, something needs to change.
303 
304If the implementer asks questions — before starting or mid-task — answer
305clearly and completely, provide additional context if needed, and don't
306rush it into implementation.
307 
308### 3. Review the task
309 
310Per-task reviews are task-scoped gates. The broad review happens once, at the
311final whole-branch review. Never skip the task review, and never accept a
312report missing either verdict — spec compliance AND task quality are both
313required. Implementer self-review never replaces the task review; both are
314needed.
315 
316- Hand the reviewer its diff as a file: run this skill's
317 `scripts/review-package PLAN_FILE BASE HEAD` and pass the reviewer the file path
318 it prints (or, without bash: `git log --oneline`, `git diff --stat`,
319 and `git diff -U10` for the range, redirected to one uniquely named
320 file). The output never enters your own context, and the reviewer sees
321 the commit list, stat summary, and full diff with context in one Read
322 call. Use the BASE you recorded before dispatching the implementer —
323 never `HEAD~1`, which silently truncates multi-commit tasks. Never
324 dispatch a task reviewer without a diff file.
325- **Reviewer inputs:** the task reviewer gets three paths — the same brief
326 file, the report file, and the review package — plus the global
327 constraints that bind the task.
328- The global-constraints block you hand the reviewer is its attention
329 lens. Copy the binding requirements verbatim from the plan's Global
330 Constraints section or the spec: exact values, exact formats, and the
331 stated relationships between components ("same layout as X", "matches
332 Y"). The reviewer's template already carries the process rules (YAGNI,
333 test hygiene, review method) — the constraints block is for what THIS
334 project's spec demands.
335- Do not add open-ended directives like "check all uses" or "run race tests
336 if useful" without a concrete, task-specific reason
337- Do not ask a reviewer to re-run tests the implementer already ran on the
338 same code — the implementer's report carries the test evidence
339- Do not pre-judge findings for the reviewer — never instruct a reviewer to
340 ignore or not flag a specific issue. If you believe a finding would be a
341 false positive, let the reviewer raise it and adjudicate it in the review
342 loop. If the prompt you are writing contains "do not flag," "don't treat X
343 as a defect," "at most Minor," or "the plan chose" — stop: you are
344 pre-judging, usually to spare yourself a review loop.
345The task reviewer may report "⚠️ Cannot verify from diff" items — requirements
346that live in unchanged code or span tasks. These do not block the rest of the
347review, but you must resolve each one yourself before marking the task
348complete: you hold the plan and cross-task context the reviewer
349lacks. If you confirm an item is a real gap, treat it as a failed spec
350review — it enters the fix loop with the other findings.
351 
352Template: [task-reviewer-prompt.md](task-reviewer-prompt.md)
353 
354### 4. The fix loop
355 
356The loop triggers when the review reports spec ❌, any Critical or Important
357finding, or a ⚠️ item you confirmed as a real gap.
358 
359Before the loop starts, two routes leave it immediately:
360 
361- Record Minor findings in the progress ledger as you go
362 (`Task <N>: minor (deferred): <one-liner>`), and point the final
363 whole-branch review at that list so it can triage which must be fixed
364 before merge. A roll-up nobody reads is a silent discard. Minor findings
365 never enter the loop.
366- A finding labeled plan-mandated — or any finding that conflicts with
367 what the plan's text requires — is yours to rule on: weigh the finding
368 against the plan text, decide with the spec as the binding authority, and
369 ledger the ruling before you act on it. Do not dismiss the finding because
370 the plan mandates it, and do not dispatch a fix that contradicts the plan
371 without a recorded ruling.
372Everything else enters the loop. A fix round is one fix dispatch plus one
373scoped re-review. Five rounds maximum per task:
374 
375**Rounds 1-3 — resume the original implementer.** Send it the open findings
376verbatim. Its context is intact: it knows the task, the code, and its own
377choices. If your harness cannot send another message to a live subagent,
378dispatch a fresh implementer carrying the brief path, the report-file path,
379and the findings — the report file is the persistent memory either way.
380 
381**Rounds 4-5 — dispatch a fresh implementer on a more capable model** (per
382Model Selection), with the brief path, the report-file path, the open
383findings, and this framing: "A prior implementer attempted this task
384[N] times; you own it now. Read the report file for what was tried." A loop
385that survives three resumes usually means the implementer cannot see its
386own problem — fresh eyes and a capability bump in one move.
387 
388**Every round, either way:** the implementer fixes, re-runs the tests
389covering the amended code, appends its fix report to the same report file,
390and returns the short contract. Before re-dispatching the reviewer, confirm
391the fix report contains the covering tests, the command run, and the
392output; dispatch the re-review once all three are present. Name the
393covering test files in the fix message — a one-line fix does not need the
394whole suite.
395 
396**The re-review is scoped.** Run `scripts/review-package PLAN_FILE FIX_BASE HEAD`
397where FIX_BASE is the head the previous review saw, and dispatch
398[re-review-prompt.md](re-review-prompt.md) with the findings list, the
399brief, the report file, and the printed diff path. The re-reviewer verdicts
400each finding ADDRESSED or NOT ADDRESSED and flags new breakage in the fix
401diff only. New Critical/Important breakage in the fix diff joins the open
402findings list. Out-of-scope observations go to the ledger as deferred
403minors — they never extend the loop.
404 
405**After each round,** append to the ledger:
406`Task <N>: fix round <R>/5 (<X> addressed, <Y> open — <finding one-liners>; commits <a7>..<b7>)`
407 
408Never fix findings yourself in the controller session — your context stays
409clean for coordination, and controller fixes skip review.
410 
411**The breaker.** When round 5's re-review still leaves findings open, stop
412dispatching. Adjudicate each open finding yourself — you hold the plan and
413the cross-task context the reviewer lacks:
414 
415- **The reviewer is wrong, or the point is contestable:** park it —
416 `Task <N>: parked — <finding> — Ruling: <why the code stands>`. The final
417 review sees both sides.
418- **Real, but nothing downstream builds on it:** park it the same way, with
419 a ruling that says it's real and deferred.
420- **Real and load-bearing** — a later task builds on it, or it reveals a
421 plan defect: rule on the smallest change that unblocks the dependent work,
422 ledger it as `Task <N>: Ruling: <finding> — <what you decided and why>`,
423 and carry it into the next task's dispatch. Parking a structural failure
424 silently lets every dependent task build on it. Stop only when the defect
425 leaves every path forward a guess.
426 
427Adjudicate only at the cap. Adjudicating earlier to end a loop is
428pre-judging with a different name. Every adjudication is a ledger entry —
429a silent discard is forbidden.
430 
431### 5. Complete the task
432 
433When the review comes back clean — or every open finding is parked with a
434ruling at the cap — append the completion line to the ledger in the same
435message as your other bookkeeping:
436 
437- `Task <N>: complete (commits <base7>..<head7>, review clean)`
438- `Task <N>: complete (commits <base7>..<head7>, <K> parked)` after a
439 tripped breaker
440 
441Then mark the todo complete and move on. Never move to the next task while
442the review has open Critical/Important issues that are neither fixed nor
443parked-with-ruling at the cap.
444 
445## Final Review
446 
447The final whole-branch review gets a package too: run
448`scripts/review-package PLAN_FILE MERGE_BASE HEAD` (MERGE_BASE = the commit the
449branch started from, e.g. `git merge-base main HEAD`) and include the
450printed path in the final review dispatch, so the final reviewer reads
451one file instead of re-deriving the branch diff with git commands. Dispatch
452on the most capable available model (see Model Selection), using
453superpowers:requesting-code-review's
454[code-reviewer.md](../requesting-code-review/code-reviewer.md). Point it at
455the ledger's deferred-minor and parked lines so it can triage which must be
456fixed before merge.
457 
458If the final whole-branch review returns findings, dispatch ONE fix subagent
459with the complete findings list — not one fixer per finding.
460Per-finding fixers each rebuild context and re-run suites; a real
461session's final-review fix wave cost more than all its tasks combined.
462Then run exactly one scoped re-review of the fix wave
463(`scripts/review-package PLAN_FILE FIX_BASE HEAD` over the fix range,
464[re-review-prompt.md](re-review-prompt.md)).
465Adjudicate any residual findings as in the task loop's breaker: park with
466rulings, or rule on the load-bearing ones and ledger what you decided. Only
467the four classes above stop you here. There is no second fix wave —
468residual load-bearing findings surface to your human partner when
469finishing-a-development-branch presents the options.
470 
471## Finish
472 
473Before you delete anything, collect every ledger line containing `Ruling:` —
474preflight rulings, parked findings, breaker adjudications, all of them — into
475your final message under "Rulings I made", in the order you made them, each
476with what it costs if wrong. The list is exhaustive: if the ledger holds a
477ruling, the list holds it. That list is the only place the decisions you
478took on your human partner's behalf reach them — they read it and rework
479whatever you got wrong. A ruling that dies with the workspace was a decision
480made in secret.
481 
482When the final whole-branch review is clean and its fixes are merged,
483delete this plan's workspace (`rm -rf <workspace>`) — the git history is
484the record now. Sibling directories belong to other plans; leave them
485alone.
486 
487Use superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch.
488 
489## Common Rationalizations
490 
491| Excuse | Reality |
492|--------|---------|
493| "Close enough on spec compliance" | Reviewer found spec gaps = not done. Fix or hit the cap and adjudicate — those are the only exits. |
494| "I'll fix it myself, dispatching is overhead" | Controller fixes pollute your context and skip review. Resume the implementer. |
495| "One more round will converge" | Past the cap, rounds don't converge — the failure is structural. Adjudicate and route. |
496| "The reviewer will just find something new anyway" | Scoped re-reviews verify fixes; they cannot wander. New findings on untouched code go to the ledger, not the loop. |
497| "This finding is obviously wrong, I'll drop it" | You adjudicate only at the cap, and every ruling is a ledger entry. Silent discards are forbidden. |
498| "The fix was small, skip the re-review" | Unreviewed fixes are how regressions land. Every round ends with a scoped re-review. |
499| "Reviews slow the loop down" | The loop without reviews is just unverified churn. Reviews are the loop's brakes and steering. |
500| "Ledger bookkeeping is overhead" | The ledger is what survives compaction. Controllers without one have re-dispatched entire completed task sequences. |
501| "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. |
502 
503## Example Workflow
504 
505```
506You: I'm using Subagent-Driven Development to execute this plan.
507 
508[Setup: worktree verified]
509[Read plan file once: docs/superpowers/plans/feature-plan.md]
510[Resolve workspace: scripts/sdd-workspace docs/superpowers/plans/feature-plan.md — no ledger inside, fresh start]
511[Create todos for all tasks]
512 
513Task 1: Hook installation script
514 
515[Run task-brief for Task 1; dispatch implementer with brief + report paths + context]
516 
517Implementer: "Before I begin - should the hook be installed at user or system level?"
518 
519You: "User level (~/.config/superpowers/hooks/)"
520 
521Implementer: [Later]
522 - Implemented install-hook command
523 - Added tests, 5/5 passing
524 - Self-review: Found I missed --force flag, added it
525 - Committed
526 
527[Run review-package PLAN_FILE BASE HEAD; dispatch task reviewer with the printed path]
528Task reviewer: Spec ✅ - all requirements met, nothing extra.
529 Strengths: Good test coverage, clean. Issues: None. Task quality: Approved.
530 
531[Ledger: Task 1: complete (commits a1b2c3d..d4e5f6a, review clean)]
532 
533Task 2: Recovery modes
534 
535[Run task-brief for Task 2; dispatch implementer with brief + report paths + context]
536 
537Implementer: [No questions]
538 - Added verify/repair modes
539 - 8/8 tests passing
540 - Committed
541 
542[Run review-package PLAN_FILE BASE HEAD; dispatch task reviewer with the printed path]
543Task reviewer: Spec ❌:
544 - Missing: Progress reporting (spec says "report every 100 items")
545 Issues (Important): Magic number (100)
546 
547[Fix round 1: resume the implementer with both findings]
548Implementer: Added progress reporting, extracted PROGRESS_INTERVAL constant.
549 Re-ran test/recovery.test.js — 10/10 passing. Fix report appended.
550 
551[Run review-package PLAN_FILE FIX_BASE HEAD; dispatch scoped re-review]
552Re-reviewer: Missing progress reporting — ADDRESSED (src/recovery.js:41).
553 Magic number — ADDRESSED (src/recovery.js:7). New breakage: none.
554 Verdict: all findings addressed.
555 
556[Ledger: Task 2: fix round 1/5 (2 addressed, 0 open; commits d4e5f6a..b7c8d9e)]
557[Ledger: Task 2: complete (commits d4e5f6a..b7c8d9e, review clean)]
558 
559...
560 
561[After all tasks]
562[Run review-package PLAN_FILE MERGE_BASE HEAD; dispatch final code-reviewer, most capable model]
563Final reviewer: All requirements met. Deferred minors triaged: none block merge.
564 
565[Delete this plan's workspace — the record now lives in git]
566 
567Done! Using superpowers:finishing-a-development-branch.
568```
569 
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Details

Updated
Sep 20, 2026
License
MIT
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obra/superpowers ↗
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obra · 14 listings
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