Use one assistant for a small task. Delegation helps when work has independent parts and the runtime exposes the required tools.
Two concepts
- Configured agents: durable identities with their own workspace, routing, and other per-agent settings.
- Task subagents: workers assigned a bounded piece of a larger job.
Exact isolation, tool inheritance, and available delegation features depend on the runtime. Agents on one host are not automatically security-isolated from one another.
Give each worker a clear handoff
“If delegation is available, have one worker review sources and another inspect the draft. Return their findings to the main task. Do not publish anything.”
Define inputs, deliverable, files it can change, and completion criteria. Avoid concurrent edits to the same file unless the workflow handles conflicts. The coordinator still needs to review and combine results.
Account for overhead
More workers can mean more model usage, duplicated context, and coordination time. Use them for separable work, not merely to make a simple task look sophisticated. Ask what completed, what is still running, and what evidence supports the final result.