Before Spawning Task
STOP: You're about to use the Task tool.
Check for Specialized Agents First
Don't use generic subagent_type values. We have specialized agents:
| Task Type | Use This subagent_type |
|---|---|
| Finding files/components | codebase-locator |
| Understanding code | codebase-analyzer |
| Finding similar patterns | codebase-pattern-finder |
| Finding documentation | thoughts-locator |
| Analyzing documents | thoughts-analyzer |
| Web research | web-search-researcher |
Examples
❌ Wrong:
code
Task(subagent_type="general-purpose", prompt="Find auth files") Task(subagent_type="Explore", prompt="How does login work?")
✅ Correct:
code
Task(subagent_type="codebase-locator", prompt="Find all authentication-related files") Task(subagent_type="codebase-analyzer", prompt="Analyze how the login flow works")
When Generic Agents Are OK
Only use generic agents (general-purpose, Explore) when:
- •No specialized agent matches the task
- •Task requires mixed capabilities (search + analysis + web)
- •User explicitly requests a specific agent type
Always prefer specialized agents when available.