Concurrent investigation pattern - dispatches multiple AI agents to investigate and fix independent problems simultaneously.
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name: dispatching-parallel-agents description: | Concurrent investigation pattern - dispatches multiple AI agents to investigate and fix independent problems simultaneously.
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When you have multiple unrelated failures (different test files, different subsystems, different bugs), investigating them sequentially wastes time. Each investigation is independent and can happen in parallel.
Core principle: Dispatch one agent per independent problem domain. Let them work concurrently.
Decision flow: Multiple failures? → Are they independent? (No → single agent) | Independent? → Can work in parallel? (No/shared state → sequential) | Yes → Parallel dispatch
Use when: 3+ test files with different root causes | Multiple subsystems broken independently | Each problem understood without others | No shared state
Don't use when: Failures related (fix one might fix others) | Need full system state | Agents would interfere
1. Identify Independent Domains: Group failures by what's broken (File A: approval flow, File B: batch behavior, File C: abort). Each domain independent.
2. Create Focused Agent Tasks: Each agent gets: specific scope (one file/subsystem), clear goal (make tests pass), constraints (don't change other code), expected output (summary of findings/fixes).
3. Dispatch in Parallel: Task("Fix agent-tool-abort.test.ts") + Task("Fix batch-completion.test.ts") + Task("Fix tool-approval-races.test.ts") - all concurrent.
4. Review and Integrate: Read summaries → verify no conflicts → run full test suite → integrate all changes.
Good prompts are: Focused (one problem domain), Self-contained (all context included), Specific output (what to return).
Example: "Fix 3 failing tests in agent-tool-abort.test.ts: [list tests + expected behavior]. Timing/race issues. Read tests → identify root cause → fix (event-based waiting, not timeout increases). Return: Summary of findings and fixes."
| ❌ Bad | ✅ Good |
|---|---|
| Too broad: "Fix all tests" | Specific: "Fix agent-tool-abort.test.ts" |
| No context: "Fix race condition" | Context: Paste error messages + test names |
| No constraints: Agent refactors everything | Constraints: "Do NOT change production code" |
| Vague output: "Fix it" | Specific: "Return summary of root cause and changes" |
Related failures (fix one might fix others) | Need full context | Exploratory debugging | Shared state (same files/resources)
Scenario: 6 failures across 3 files after refactoring. Decision: Independent domains → parallel dispatch. Results: Agent 1 (timeouts → events), Agent 2 (event structure bug), Agent 3 (async wait). All independent, no conflicts, suite green. 3 problems solved in time of 1.
Parallelization (simultaneous) | Focus (narrow scope) | Independence (no interference) | Speed (3 → 1 time unit)
After agents return: Review summaries → check for conflicts → run full suite → spot check for systematic errors.