parallel-slots
Use when the user wants to dispatch parallel Claude Code agents across slot clones of a repo, asks to "fan out", "run N in parallel", "use the slots", or wants to coordinate multiple isolated working copies of the same repo. Explains the slot directory layout, when to fan out vs. stay in primary, and the `gh`-driven workflow that ties slots together.
What this skill does
# Parallel slots The slot pattern lets you run independent Claude Code sessions on the same repo without stepping on each other. Mirrors Boris Cherny's "5 terminal tabs, each a separate git checkout" workflow. ## Layout ``` ~/code/<scope>/<repo>-repos/ <repo>-primary/ # interactive work <repo>-slot-1/ # parallel agent slot <repo>-slot-2/ <repo>-slot-3/ <repo>-slot-4/ <repo>-slot-5/ ``` Each slot is a full clone of the same GitHub remote, not a worktree. They check out branches independently. Use the `gh` CLI for all GitHub-side operations (issue → branch, PR create, PR merge, status). If the repo ships a tmux sidebar (e.g. AgentBoard in towles-tool), it watches every slot and surfaces completion via the stop-hook sweep. ## When to fan out Fan out (use slots) when: - Three or more independent tasks would benefit from running simultaneously (e.g. one PR, one bug, one refactor). - A task is risky and you want a clean, throwaway slot that won't pollute primary's working tree. - You're iterating on the agent harness itself and want to leave primary stable. Stay in primary when: - The work is sequential or all the changes need to land in the same commit. - You're reading/exploring; spinning a slot just adds overhead. ## Dispatch flow 1. Pick a free slot (any slot whose sidebar pane is idle). 2. `cd` into it and confirm the working tree is clean. 3. Branch off from a GitHub issue: `gh issue develop <issue-number> --checkout` — creates a remote branch tied to the issue and switches the slot to it. If there's no issue, name the branch and use `gh pr checkout <pr>` later if you need to hop onto a colleague's PR. 4. Hand the task to Claude in that slot — either via the repo's sidebar TUI or by running `tt auto-claude` with a prompt. 5. Watch the sidebar pane for completion. The stop-hook prints results back to it. ## Coordination rules - Never run two agents on the _same_ branch in two slots — push/pull races destroy work. - Branch names should be unique per slot for the duration of the run. - If a slot's working tree is dirty when you arrive, treat it as in-progress work — investigate before resetting. - Pre-commit hooks (format + lint + typecheck) run in every slot, so `--no-verify` is forbidden. ## Verifying a slot's output Before merging from a slot, run that repo's verify command (`/verify` in towles-tool) inside it. Don't trust the slot's own self-report; the agent that wrote the change is not the right reviewer. ## Shipping from a slot Open the PR with `gh pr create` (use `--fill` to seed title/body from commits, or pass `--title`/`--body` explicitly). Merge with `gh pr merge --rebase --admin` — the standard merge style. ## Cleanup After a slot's branch is merged: confirm with `gh pr status` that the slot's PR is merged, then prune the local branch. Use `compound-engineering:ce-clean-gone-branches` to bulk-prune across multiple slots in one pass. ## Anti-patterns - Spinning all 5 slots on the same task "for redundancy". You'll spend the time merging conflicts. - Treating slots as long-lived workspaces. They are scratch checkouts — keep them transient. - Editing files in primary while a slot has them open. Stay in one or the other for any given file.
Related in AI Agents
skill-development
IncludedComprehensive meta-skill for creating, managing, validating, auditing, and distributing Claude Code skills and slash commands (unified in v2.1.3+). Provides skill templates, creation workflows, validation patterns, audit checklists, naming conventions, YAML frontmatter guidance, progressive disclosure examples, and best practices lookup. Use when creating new skills, validating existing skills, auditing skill quality, understanding skill architecture, needing skill templates, learning about YAML frontmatter requirements, progressive disclosure patterns, tool restrictions (allowed-tools), skill composition, skill naming conventions, troubleshooting skill activation issues, creating custom slash commands, configuring command frontmatter, using command arguments ($ARGUMENTS, $1, $2), bash execution in commands, file references in commands, command namespacing, plugin commands, MCP slash commands, Skill tool configuration, or deciding between skills vs slash commands. Delegates to docs-management skill for official documentation.
reprompter
IncludedTransform messy prompts into well-structured, effective prompts — single or multi-agent. Use when: "reprompt", "reprompt this", "clean up this prompt", "structure my prompt", rough text needing XML tags and best practices, "reprompter teams", "repromptception", "run with quality", "smart run", "smart agents", multi-agent tasks, audits, parallel work, anything going to agent teams. Don't use when: simple Q&A, pure chat, immediate execution-only tasks. See "Don't Use When" section for details. Outputs: Structured XML/Markdown prompt, quality score (before/after), optional team brief + per-agent sub-prompts, agent team output files. Success criteria: Single mode quality score ≥ 7/10; Repromptception per-agent prompt quality score 8+/10; all required sections present, actionable and specific.
adaptive-compaction
IncludedAdaptive add-on policy and recovery layer that decides WHEN to compact, prune, snapshot, or fork -- replacing fixed-percent auto-compaction across Claude Code, Codex, and MCP-capable hosts. Trigger on auto-compact timing or damage: "when should I compact", "is it safe to compact now or start a fresh session", "auto-compact fires too early/mid-task", "switching to an unrelated task but the window still has space", "context rot", "answers get worse the longer the session runs", "the agent forgot the plan or my decisions after it summarized", "add a layer on top that manages context without changing the agent", raising autoCompactWindow to give the policy room, or installing/tuning a cross-tool compaction policy or PreCompact hook -- even when "compaction" is never said but the problem is context-window pressure or post-summarization memory loss. Do NOT use to summarize a conversation, build RAG, write a summarization prompt (decides WHEN not HOW), or answer max-context-length trivia.
agent-skill-creator
IncludedCreate cross-platform agent skills from workflow descriptions. Activates when users ask to create an agent, automate a repetitive workflow, create a custom skill, or need advanced agent creation. Triggers on phrases like create agent for, automate workflow, create skill for, every day I have to, daily I need to, turn process into agent, need to automate, create a cross-platform skill, validate this skill, export this skill, migrate this skill. Supports single skills, multi-agent suites, transcript processing, template-based creation, interactive configuration, cross-platform export, and spec validation.
llm-wiki
IncludedUse when building or maintaining a persistent personal knowledge base (second brain) in Obsidian where an LLM incrementally ingests sources, updates entity/concept pages, maintains cross-references, and keeps a synthesis current. Triggers include "second brain", "Obsidian wiki", "personal knowledge management", "ingest this paper/article/book", "build a research wiki", "compound knowledge", "Memex", or whenever the user wants knowledge to accumulate across sessions instead of being re-derived by RAG on every query.
skill-master
IncludedAgent Skills authoring, evaluation, and optimization. Create, edit, validate, benchmark, and improve skills following the agentskills.io specification. Use when designing SKILL.md files, structuring skill folders (references, scripts, assets), ingesting external documentation into skills, running trigger evals, benchmarking skill quality, optimizing descriptions, or performing blind A/B comparisons. Keywords: agentskills.io, SKILL.md, skill authoring, eval, benchmark, trigger optimization.