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FLEET: Optional fork-like context inheritance for subagents #2276

@chinawrj

Description

@chinawrj

Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve

The current /fleet and subagent model is already very useful. Task-scoped delegation helps reduce noise and makes parallel work practical.

That said, I’d like an optional fork-like mode where a subagent can inherit a richer view of the parent task’s global context before focusing on a specific domain.

This would help in workflows where a generalist is solving a broad problem, temporarily switches into a specialist mode for one part of it, and then returns with a solution that is still aligned with the overall goal.

Today, task-scoped delegation can sometimes increase communication overhead or lead to small mismatches in goals, constraints, or architectural intent.

Proposed solution

Add an optional context inheritance mode for /fleet subagents.

For example:

  • minimal: current task-scoped behavior
  • balanced: task context plus parent goals, constraints, and prior decisions
  • forked / full: a richer inheritance of the parent task context before specializing

This would preserve the strengths of the current model while giving users a better option for subtasks that still need strong global awareness.

Conceptually, this is similar to a strong full-stack engineer working on a broad problem, temporarily switching into a more specialized mode for one part of it, and then returning with a result that is still aligned with the bigger picture.

The main benefit is reducing:

  • communication cost
  • goal-misalignment cost
  • local optimizations that are correct in isolation but weaker in the broader task context

Example prompts or workflows

  1. Refactor an API across backend, frontend, tests, and docs while preserving backward compatibility.

  2. Split a migration into schema, app, test, and doc subtasks, while keeping rollout and rollback constraints aligned.

  3. Investigate a bug across multiple layers, delegate one area deeply, then merge the result back into the broader solution.

  4. Tackle a large cross-cutting cleanup where each subtask still depends on shared architectural intent.

  5. Work on a broad product or engineering task as a generalist, then temporarily delegate one part to a more domain-focused subagent without losing alignment with the parent task’s overall direction.

Additional context

I’m not suggesting that the current /fleet behavior should change by default. I think the current /fleet and subagent model is good.

This request is specifically for an additional fork-like mode that helps when a subtask benefits from temporarily carrying more of the parent task’s full context.

A possible UX could be something like:

  • /fleet --context=minimal
  • /fleet --context=balanced
  • /fleet --context=forked

or another mechanism that expresses the same idea.

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