vc-agent-strategy-compare

vc-agent-strategy-compare

Output style: Follow process/development-protocols/communication-standards.md — answer-first, plain language, no unexplained jargon, TL;DR on long responses.

Evaluate 4 execution strategies for any RIPER-5 phase or fan-out task. Computes the 7-signal score, shows explicit agent count math, applies cost guards, and outputs a ranked strategy recommendation.

All strategies use the existing vc-system agents and skills. The question is only how they are orchestrated.

Model Selection Policy

Every spawned agent — across ALL four strategies (sequential, parallel subagents, dynamic workflow, agent team) — defaults to sonnet. Spawn opus ONLY when the agent is carrying out real source-code or build execution (writing/editing code, running builds, applying migrations). Planning, research, analysis, validation, review, and synthesis all run on sonnet.

Concrete rules:

• Default = sonnet for any teammate, parallel subagent, or agent() call in a workflow. State the model explicitly when spawning.
• opus ONLY for execution work: the agent that actually implements code (the vc-execute-agent leg, or a workflow agent() step whose job is to modify source / run a build). The RIPER-5 phase that runs on opus is EXECUTE; all other phases (RESEARCH, SPEC, INNOVATE, PLAN, VALIDATE, UPDATE PROCESS) run on sonnet.
• Agent-team members: assign sonnet to reviewers, researchers, validators, and planners; assign opus only to the teammate doing real code execution.
• Dynamic workflows: pass model: 'sonnet' on agent() calls by default; pass model: 'opus' only on the execution stage that writes code or runs builds.
• Parallel subagents: fan-out investigation/review subagents are sonnet; only an implementing subagent is opus.

Rationale: opus is reserved for the one place judgment-under-execution materially changes code quality. Everything upstream is sonnet-cheap without quality loss, and this keeps fan-outs (which multiply agent count) on the cost-efficient tier. This mirrors the live agent frontmatter: vc-execute-agent, vc-fast-mode-agent, and vc-quick-fix-agent are opus; every other vc-agent is sonnet.

Mode Selection

This skill runs in one of two modes. Choose based on context availability and decision stakes.

Simple Mode (default)

Score the 7 signals from information already present in the conversation context. No additional file scanning.

Use Simple Mode when:

• File count and blast radius are already clear from the current plan or research summary
• Test infrastructure status is already mentioned or irrelevant
• The strategy decision is not gating a phase program kickoff
• No signal is ambiguous given current context