subagents best practice added
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Shayan Rais
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# Claude Code: Subagents Reference
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Complete reference for Claude Code subagents — built-in agent types, custom agent definitions, and frontmatter fields.
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<table width="100%">
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<tr>
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<td><a href="../">← Back to Claude Code Best Practice</a></td>
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<td align="right"><img src="../!/claude-jumping.svg" alt="Claude" width="60" /></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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---
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## Frontmatter Fields
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| Field | Type | Required | Description |
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|-------|------|----------|-------------|
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| `name` | string | Yes | Unique identifier using lowercase letters and hyphens |
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| `description` | string | Yes | When to invoke. Use `"PROACTIVELY"` for auto-invocation by Claude |
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| `tools` | string/list | No | Comma-separated allowlist of tools (e.g., `Read, Write, Edit, Bash`). Inherits all tools if omitted. Supports `Task(agent_type)` syntax to restrict spawnable subagents |
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| `disallowedTools` | string/list | No | Tools to deny, removed from inherited or specified list |
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| `model` | string | No | Model alias: `haiku`, `sonnet`, `opus`, or `inherit` (default: `inherit`) |
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| `permissionMode` | string | No | Permission mode: `default`, `acceptEdits`, `dontAsk`, `bypassPermissions`, or `plan` |
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| `maxTurns` | integer | No | Maximum number of agentic turns before the subagent stops |
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| `skills` | list | No | Skill names to preload into agent context at startup (full content injected, not just made available) |
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| `mcpServers` | list | No | MCP servers for this subagent — server name strings or inline `{name: config}` objects |
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| `hooks` | object | No | Lifecycle hooks scoped to this subagent: `PreToolUse`, `PostToolUse`, `Stop` (converted to `SubagentStop` at runtime) |
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| `memory` | string | No | Persistent memory scope: `user`, `project`, or `local` |
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| `background` | boolean | No | Set to `true` to always run as a background task (default: `false`) |
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| `isolation` | string | No | Set to `"worktree"` to run in a temporary git worktree (auto-cleaned if no changes) |
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| `color` | string | No | CLI output color for visual distinction (e.g., `green`, `magenta`). Functional but absent from official frontmatter table — documented in interactive quickstart only |
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---
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## Memory Scopes
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| Scope | Storage Location | Shared | Version Controlled |
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|-------|-----------------|--------|--------------------|
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| `user` | `~/.claude/agent-memory/<name>/` | No | No |
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| `project` | `.claude/agent-memory/<name>/` | Yes | Yes |
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| `local` | `.claude/agent-memory-local/<name>/` | No | No |
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See [claude-agent-memory.md](../claude-agent-memory.md) for full details.
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---
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## Invocation
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Agents are invoked via the **Task tool**, never via bash commands:
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```
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Task(subagent_type="agent-name", description="...", prompt="...", model="haiku")
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```
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Other invocation and management methods:
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| Method | Description |
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|--------|-------------|
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| `--agents '{...}'` CLI flag | Define session-scoped agents via JSON (accepts `description`, `prompt`, `tools`, `model`, etc.) |
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| `claude agents` CLI command | List all configured agents grouped by source (added v2.1.51) |
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| `/agents` interactive command | Create, edit, and manage agents interactively |
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| Command delegation | A command file (`.claude/commands/`) can delegate to an agent |
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| Agent resumption | Completed subagents can be resumed with their agent ID for follow-up work |
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---
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## Example: Minimal Agent
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```yaml
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---
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name: code-reviewer
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description: Reviews code for quality issues
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tools: Read, Grep, Glob
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model: haiku
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---
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Review the code for quality issues and report findings.
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```
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## Example: Full-Featured Agent (All Fields)
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```yaml
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---
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name: deploy-manager
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description: Use this agent PROACTIVELY for deployment pipelines and release management
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tools: Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Grep, Glob, Task(monitor, rollback)
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disallowedTools: NotebookEdit
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model: sonnet
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permissionMode: acceptEdits
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maxTurns: 25
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skills:
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- deploy-checklist
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- rollback-procedures
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mcpServers:
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- slack
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- name: pagerduty
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command: npx
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args: ["-y", "@pagerduty/mcp-server"]
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hooks:
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PreToolUse:
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- matcher: "Bash"
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hooks:
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- type: command
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command: "./scripts/validate-deploy-command.sh"
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PostToolUse:
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- matcher: "Write"
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hooks:
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- type: command
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command: "./scripts/log-file-changes.sh"
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Stop:
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- hooks:
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- type: command
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command: "./scripts/notify-deploy-complete.sh"
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memory: project
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background: false
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isolation: worktree
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color: blue
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---
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You are a deployment manager. Follow the deploy-checklist skill for
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pre-flight checks and use rollback-procedures if any step fails.
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Notify the team via Slack when deployment completes.
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```
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---
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## Scope and Priority
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When multiple subagents share the same name, the higher-priority location wins:
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| Location | Scope | Priority |
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|----------|-------|----------|
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| `--agents` CLI flag | Current session | 1 (highest) |
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| `.claude/agents/` | Current project | 2 |
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| `~/.claude/agents/` | All your projects | 3 |
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| Plugin's `agents/` directory | Where plugin is enabled | 4 (lowest) |
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---
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## Claude Agents
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### Official Claude Agents
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Built-in agent types available via `subagent_type` in the Task tool:
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| Agent | Model | Tools | Description |
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|-------|-------|-------|-------------|
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| `general-purpose` | inherit | All | Complex multi-step tasks — the default agent type for research, code search, and autonomous work |
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| `Explore` | haiku | Read-only (no Write, Edit) | Fast codebase search and exploration — optimized for finding files, searching code, and answering codebase questions |
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| `Plan` | inherit | Read-only (no Write, Edit) | Pre-planning research in plan mode — explores the codebase and designs implementation approaches before writing code |
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| `claude-code-guide` | inherit | Glob, Grep, Read, WebFetch, WebSearch | Answers questions about Claude Code features, hooks, slash commands, MCP servers, settings, IDE integrations, and keyboard shortcuts |
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| `statusline-setup` | inherit | Read, Edit | Configures the user's Claude Code status line setting |
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### Agents in This Repository
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Custom agents defined in `.claude/agents/` for this project:
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| Agent | Model | Color | Tools | Skills | Memory |
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|-------|-------|-------|-------|--------|--------|
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| [`presentation-curator`](../.claude/agents/presentation-curator.md) | sonnet | magenta | Read, Write, Edit, Grep, Glob | presentation/vibe-to-agentic-framework, presentation/presentation-structure, presentation/presentation-styling | — |
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| [`weather`](../.claude/agents/weather.md) | sonnet | green | WebFetch, Read, Write | weather-fetcher, weather-transformer | project |
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| [`workflow-changelog-claude-subagents-agent`](../.claude/agents/workflows/reports/workflow-changelog-claude-subagents-agent.md) | opus | blue | All (inherited) | — | — |
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---
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## Sources
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- [Create custom subagents — Claude Code Docs](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/sub-agents)
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- [CLI reference — Claude Code Docs](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/cli-reference)
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- [Claude Code CHANGELOG](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md)
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