← All IntelClip / EducationSubagent versus skill: decide on context isolation
From Full Walkthrough: Writing & Using Skills — Nick Nisi and Zack Proser · ≈32:18
“do I want it to have its own standalone context so that it can go do like a bunch of work on on something and then that's not eating the context window of like the main task job that that we're doing”
“Like I want it to prove to me without me having to go look at the code that it's it did the work that I expected it to do.”
“I kick off a sub agent to go do those reviews and then it just reports back like there I found these problems. And then it just has a list of those problems and then it can feed back to itself to do it again. So I'm not eating that full context window every time.”
What’s in it
- Gives a clean decision criterion for a confusing three-way choice (skill, subagent, CLI), illustrated with a review loop delegated to a subagent that reports back only the problem list.
Clip transcript
>> Um I had a question on um how do you decide when to create a sub agent versus a skill? And can you reuse a skill into a sub agent? And there's just sometimes that um I'm going to create a skill and then I'm going to like uh maybe I should have written um a CLI cuz why did I even make a skill in the first place? And I I struggled between these three things. >> That's a great question. On the can skills can sub agents use skills? I actually I'm like blanking on that. So I'm asking Claude. And you can see that it loaded the Claude code guide skill to go check that. So this is a great example of doing that and we'll get the answer here in a moment. But that's a great question. Sub agents is something that we don't cover a ton in this workshop, but it is something that's super valuable. And the the number one thing that I think is think of like when I think of what when to run a sub agent versus a skill is do I want it to have its own standalone context so that it can go do like a bunch of work on on something and then that's not eating the context window of like the main task job that that we're doing. And then that way it can just like do a check in on that. And so for example, I have this ideation plugin. It's kind of like a a planner or a superpowers type thing that I like doing. And as part of that like I'm really like focused in on feedback loops to itself so that it doesn't have to bother me all the time about hey, you know, does this look correct? Or like tell me oh, it's done and it's totally not done. Like I want it to prove to me without me having to go look at the code that it's it did the work that I expected it to do. And often times that's feeding the information that I would look for back into it and making it just go in a loop over and over. I hear there's a Ralph loops workshop after this. So you should check that out. But it's uh like in that case like when it's doing those reviews, those can like muddy it up and so like I kick off a sub agent to go do those reviews and then it just reports back like there I found these problems. And then it just has a list of those problems and then it can feed back to itself to do it again. So I'm not eating that full context window every time. Yeah. >> Now also further confused by agent
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