Orchestrating parallel agents

Orchestrating Parallel Agents

Spawn multiple Claude agents to work on related issues concurrently using git worktrees.

Philosophy

• Issues ARE the prompts - Write issues with enough context for autonomous work
• Maximize parallelism - Group independent work into waves
• Fail fast - Complete git/PR manually if agents can't
• Trust but verify - Review diffs, resolve conflicts manually

Workflow Checklist

Copy and track progress:

Parallel Agent Orchestration:
- [ ] 1. Break feature into issues (1-3 files each)
- [ ] 2. Organize into waves (independent → dependent)
- [ ] 3. Pre-approve git permissions in settings.local.json
- [ ] 4. Spawn wave with --print flag
- [ ] 5. Monitor progress
- [ ] 6. Complete stragglers manually
- [ ] 7. Merge PRs (rebase between same-file conflicts)
- [ ] 8. Cleanup worktrees

Issue Template

Each issue should be completable in isolation:

## Problem
What's broken or missing.

## Solution
High-level approach.

## Files to Modify
- `path/to/file` - what changes

## Implementation
Code snippets or pseudocode.

## Acceptance Criteria
- [ ] Testable outcomes

Key: Include file paths and code examples. Agents work best with concrete starting points.

Wave Organization

Wave 1: Independent changes (no shared files)
Wave 2: Changes that may touch same files (expect conflicts)
Wave 3: Integration/testing (depends on all above)

Rule: Same-file issues go in different waves OR same agent.

Pre-approve Permissions

Add to .claude/settings.local.json for non-interactive --print mode:

"Bash(git -C /absolute/path/to/worktree add:*)",
"Bash(git -C /absolute/path/to/worktree commit:*)",
"Bash(git -C /absolute/path/to/worktree push:*)"

Spawn Agents

for issue in 101 102 103; do
  (claude --print "/worktree-issue $issue" > "issue-${issue}.log" 2>&1) &
done

Monitor

ps aux | grep "claude.*worktree" | wc -l  # Running agents
git worktree list                          # Worktrees created
tail -f issue-*.log                        # Live logs

Complete Stragglers

If agent finishes code but fails on git:

git -C <worktree> add -A
git -C <worktree> commit -m "feat: description"
git -C <worktree> push -u origin <branch>
gh pr create --head <branch> --title "..." --body "Closes #N"

Merge with Conflicts

gh pr merge N --squash --delete-branch

If conflicts after prior merges:

cd <worktree> && git fetch origin main && git rebase origin/main
# resolve conflicts
git push --force-with-lease

Cleanup

git worktree remove <path>
git branch -D <branch>
git worktree prune

Quick Reference

Tip	Why
1-3 files per issue	Higher success rate
Include "Files to Modify"	Agents find code faster
Backend-first waves	Fewer frontend conflicts
Merge same-file PRs sequentially	Rebase between each

Problem	Solution
Agent stuck on permissions	Complete git manually
Merge conflict	Rebase, resolve, force-push
Agent went off-scope	Reject PR, clarify issue
Too many conflicts	Smaller waves, sequential merge