OpenCode Ensemble

Use OpenCode Ensemble as a coordination system, not a shortcut for avoiding judgment. Parallel agents work best when the lead owns decomposition, sequencing, review, merge, and verification.

Core Principle

Spawn teammates only for independent, verifiable work. A good Ensemble team has narrow task ownership, clear dependencies, and a lead that integrates results deliberately.

Use Ensemble When

• Work can be split into independent research, implementation, test, or review slices.
• A read-only scout can map unfamiliar code before edits begin.
• Multiple files or subsystems can be changed without overlapping ownership.
• A risky change benefits from plan_approval: true before edits.
• A final reviewer can inspect merged changes without creating another branch.

Do Not Use Ensemble When

• The task is small enough for one agent to finish quickly.
• The work is tightly coupled and every teammate would need the same files.
• The lead cannot describe each teammate's output and success criteria.
• The user needs one coherent design decision rather than parallel exploration.
• You are tempted to spawn agents because the task feels hard but not divisible.

Lead Workflow

1. Decide whether parallelism is justified.
2. Create a team with team_create.
3. Add tasks with team_tasks_add; use depends_on for sequencing.
4. Spawn teammates one at a time with team_spawn.
5. Use worktree: false for read-only explore teammates.
6. Use plan_approval: true for risky implementation work.
7. Wait for teammate messages instead of polling status repeatedly.
8. Read full results with team_results when messages are truncated or consequential.
9. Shut down completed teammates with team_shutdown.
10. Merge branches with team_merge; inspect the diff before trusting it.
11. Run project verification before team_cleanup and before claiming done.

Role Defaults

Start with two or three teammates. Add more only when the work has more independent slices than active teammates.

Load References As Needed

• Need a team shape? Read references/coordination-patterns.md.
• Need prompts? Read references/prompt-recipes.md.
• Need a pre-spawn, merge, cleanup, or verification gate? Read references/lead-checklists.md.
• Something feels off or too chatty? Read references/anti-patterns.md.
• Creating or improving this skill? Read references/eval-scenarios.md.

Hard Rules

• Do not invent task IDs. team_tasks_add generates IDs; use the IDs returned by earlier calls when setting depends_on or claim_task.
• Keep teammate prompts short. The plugin already injects team role, allowed tools, worktree context, and the required task-result format.
• Do not give teammates vague prompts like "fix the bug" or "work on tests".
• Do not ask teammates to use lead-only tools such as team_spawn, team_shutdown, team_merge, team_cleanup, or team_view.
• Do not tell teammates to report only in plain text. They must use team_message.
• Do not merge a teammate branch without reading its result and inspecting the diff.
• Do not call the work complete until the repository's verification commands pass or you have clearly reported the blocker.

Minimal Example

team_create({ name: "checkout-idempotency" })

team_tasks_add({
  tasks: [
    { content: "Map checkout webhook flow and risky files", priority: "high" },
    { content: "Implement duplicate-webhook idempotency guard", priority: "high" },
  ],
})
// Record returned IDs, for example: task_abc123 for scout and task_def456 for builder.

team_tasks_add({
  tasks: [
    { content: "Add duplicate-webhook regression tests", priority: "high", depends_on: ["task_def456"] },
  ],
})
// Record returned QA task ID, for example: task_ghi789.

team_tasks_add({
  tasks: [
    { content: "Review merged diff for correctness and missed tests", priority: "medium", depends_on: ["task_def456", "task_ghi789"] },
  ],
})

team_spawn({
  name: "scout",
  agent: "explore",
  worktree: false,
  model: "openai/gpt-5.3-codex-spark",
  claim_task: "task_abc123",
  prompt: "Trace the checkout webhook flow. Report files, data model, existing tests, risks, and a smallest-safe-change plan. Do not edit files.",
})

team_spawn({
  name: "api-dev",
  agent: "build",
  model: "anthropic/claude-opus-4-7",
  plan_approval: true,
  claim_task: "task_def456",
  prompt: "Use scout's findings to implement only the idempotency guard. Commit your work and send a task-result message with files changed and tests run.",
})