Generic Parallel Dispatch

Dispatch parallel agents for a list of independent problems. Verify independence, dispatch via Task tool, merge results, and flag conflicts.

Input

Problem list from $ARGUMENTS (newline or comma separated).

If $ARGUMENTS is empty, ask via AskUserQuestion:

yaml

- question: "List the independent problems to investigate (one per line):"
  options:
    - "Enter problems separated by newlines"
    - "Enter problems separated by commas"

Step 1: Parse and Validate Independence

Parse the problem list. For each pair of problems, check for dependencies:

Dependency Type	Detection	Action
Shared state	Both reference same variable/config	Flag as dependent
Shared files	Both modify same file	Flag as dependent
Ordering	One problem's output is another's input	Flag as dependent
Conceptual	Related but no data dependency	Allow parallel

If dependencies found, present them via AskUserQuestion:

yaml

- question: "These problems have dependencies. How should I proceed?"
  options:
    - "Run sequentially in dependency order"
    - "Split into independent sub-problems"
    - "Proceed anyway (I accept potential conflicts)"

Step 2: Cap and Group

Maximum 5 parallel agents. If more than 5 problems:

•Group related problems by topic similarity
•Present grouping via AskUserQuestion for approval:

yaml

- question: "I grouped {N} problems into {M} groups. Approve grouping?"
  options:
    - "Approve grouping"
    - "Show me the groups first"
    - "Run first 5 only, queue the rest"

Step 3: Dispatch Agents

For each problem, spawn a Task agent with:

•Clear scope: One problem, one output
•Agent type appropriate to the problem:

Problem Type	Agent Approach
Codebase question	Use Glob, Grep, Read tools for exploration
Command/script task	Use Bash tool for execution
Mixed investigation	Use all available tools

•Output format: Structured markdown with findings

Task prompt template:

text

Investigate the following problem independently.

Problem: {problem statement}
Project root: {project path}

Produce structured findings in markdown:
## Problem: {problem statement}
### Findings
{detailed findings with file:line citations where applicable}
### Conclusion
{direct answer to the problem}

Step 4: Collect Results

Wait for all Task agents to complete. Track status:

Agent	Problem	Status
1	{problem}	complete / failed / timeout
2	{problem}	complete / failed / timeout

For failed agents, include the failure reason in the merged output.

Step 5: Flag Conflicts

Compare results across agents. Flag conflicts when:

•Two agents report contradictory findings about the same code
•Two agents reach different conclusions about the same behavior
•File citations disagree on what code does

Present conflicts clearly:

text

## Conflict Detected

Agent 1 (Problem: X) says: {finding}
Agent 2 (Problem: Y) says: {contradictory finding}

Both reference: path/to/file.py:42

Step 6: Merge Results

Combine all agent outputs into a single document:

text

## Dispatch Results

### Problem 1: {statement}
{agent output}

### Problem 2: {statement}
{agent output}

### Conflicts (if any)
{conflict details}

Step 7: Present and Resolve

Present merged results. If conflicts exist, ask user to resolve:

yaml

- question: "Conflicts detected between agents. How should I resolve?"
  options:
    - "Keep Agent 1's finding"
    - "Keep Agent 2's finding"
    - "Investigate further"
    - "Keep both with caveat"

Rules

Rule	Rationale
Max 5 parallel agents	Resource and context limits
Verify independence first	Dependent parallel tasks produce corrupt results
Never dispatch dependent problems in parallel	Ordering matters for dependent work
Each agent gets fresh context	No shared state between agents
Flag all conflicts	Silent resolution hides important disagreements
Include failure reasons	Failed agents still provide useful signal

Output

Present the final merged result:

text

## Dispatch Complete

Problems: {total} dispatched, {successful} successful, {failed} failed
Conflicts: {count}

{merged results document}