# Implement with subagents > Use when a queue of tickets is being implemented by separate subagents. Use when implementing or reviewing the orchestration of supplied tickets or plan tasks through separate implementation subagents, including queue atomicity, task-scoped commit acceptance, and repair ownership. ## Facts - Type: Agent skill - Discipline: Engineering - Author: Chris Banes (https://github.com/chrisbanes) - Upstream: https://github.com/chrisbanes/skills/blob/main/skills/implement-with-subagents/SKILL.md - Source file: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chrisbanes/skills/main/skills/implement-with-subagents/SKILL.md (3910 bytes, sha256:a5a868992b0f1587cab2d0ba0395d9177b178cdb56451a1497ae4c3dc849b208) - Licence: Apache-2.0 - Upstream copy last changed: 2026-09-23 - Status: listed, not yet ruled on by the curator ## Use it I want to use the Implement with subagents skill by Chris Banes. This is what it does, in the author's own words: Use when implementing or reviewing the orchestration of supplied tickets or plan tasks through separate implementation subagents, including queue atomicity, task-scoped commit acceptance, and repair ownership. Download the whole folder at https://github.com/chrisbanes/skills/tree/main/skills/implement-with-subagents, SKILL.md and every file beside it, into your skills directory: ~/.claude/skills/implement-with-subagents/ for Claude Code, ~/.agents/skills/implement-with-subagents/ for Codex, ~/.cursor/skills/implement-with-subagents/ for Cursor. Get it from the author's repo, not from startupskills.dev. Then tell me the path you installed it to and how to invoke it. Nothing here is vendored: install from the author's repo, not from this site. A verbatim copy of the author's file follows for reading, under the licence reproduced after it; the current file is in the author's repo. ## Links - Page: https://startupskills.dev/chrisbanes/implement-with-subagents - Author: https://startupskills.dev/chrisbanes - Index: https://startupskills.dev/llms.txt ## The file itself --- name: implement-with-subagents description: Use when implementing or reviewing the orchestration of supplied tickets or plan tasks through separate implementation subagents, including queue atomicity, task-scoped commit acceptance, and repair ownership. compatibility: "Review mode has no external skill dependency. Implementation mode requires Matt Pocock's separately installed `implement` workflow; its current contract also invokes `tdd` and `code-review`." disable-model-invocation: true --- # Implement with subagents Keep orchestration and implementation ownership separate: the controller schedules, and one implementation subagent owns each work item through completion. Validate task dependencies before dispatch. Run only ready, independent tasks concurrently in isolated worktrees; integrate accepted commits in dependency order and recheck affected evidence at the integrated head. Use serial execution when safe isolation or capacity is unavailable. Return failed acceptance evidence to the same owner, never repair it in the controller. ## Check the prerequisite Review mode has no external dependency. Implementation mode requires the `implement` skill from [Matt Pocock's skill set](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills). It is not bundled here. Never install it implicitly; report `npx skills add mattpocock/skills` and require the user to select `implement`, `tdd`, and `code-review` when it is absent. ## Select the mode - Use `review` only to assess supplied orchestration without running it. - Use `implement` only to execute supplied tickets or plan tasks. ## Review procedure 1. Inspect only permitted repository and orchestration state. Do not start an agent, edit, commit, or contact a remote service. 2. Assess queue atomicity, dependency order, implementation ownership, task-scoped acceptance, repair ownership, and controller mutation boundaries. Acceptance requires a task-scoped commit, independent inspection of its full diff, and requested validation evidence before advancing. Return failed acceptance to the same owner; reuse passing checks only when their inputs and environment remain unchanged. An accepted item is complete, not assignable again. 3. Report the next action (or no action), evidence, and any acceptance gap. Stop before implementation. ## Implementation mode Before delegation, read [the implementation-mode procedure](references/implementation-mode.md) completely. It is mandatory for implementation mode and owns queue construction, runtime selection, owner packets, independent acceptance, integration, repairs, and final validation. Stop when its dependency, task-scoped commit, or capability gate cannot be satisfied; never implement an item in the controller. ## Runtime mapping Select an implementation-capable owner and apply the implementation procedure's capability checks: | Runtime | Implementation owner | | --- | --- | | [Codex](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/agent-configuration/subagents) | `worker` | | [Claude Code](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/sub-agents) | `general-purpose` | | [OpenCode](https://opencode.ai/docs/agents) | `general` subagent; `build` is primary | | [Pi](https://github.com/earendil-works/pi/tree/main/packages/coding-agent) | No built-in role; inspect its delegation extension and agent definitions. A bare or non-resumable Pi cannot own an item: stop and report it. | | Other runtimes | An exposed implementation-capable subagent that passes the checks | ## Finish gate In `review`, finish only with the non-mutating assessment, evidence, and any acceptance gap. In `implement`, finish only when every queued item has a task-scoped, reviewed, verified commit, the final worktree matches the recorded pre-existing state, and no owner-reported blocker remains. Report the item-to-commit mapping and final validation; otherwise finish blocked at the first incomplete gate. ## Licence of the file above The file above is https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chrisbanes/skills/main/skills/implement-with-subagents/SKILL.md, by Chris Banes, reproduced without changes. - Source: https://github.com/chrisbanes/skills/blob/main/skills/implement-with-subagents/SKILL.md - Licence: Apache-2.0, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chrisbanes/skills/main/LICENSE The repo's licence file, verbatim from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chrisbanes/skills/main/LICENSE: Apache License Version 2.0, January 2004 http://www.apache.org/licenses/ TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION 1. Definitions. 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