team-composition-patterns

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Design optimal agent team compositions with sizing heuristics, preset configurations, and agent type selection. Use this skill when deciding team size, selecting agent types, or configuring team presets for multi-agent workflows.

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SKILL.md Content

Team Composition Patterns

Best practices for composing multi-agent teams, selecting team sizes, choosing agent types, and configuring display modes for Claude Code's Agent Teams feature.

When to Use This Skill

  • Deciding how many teammates to spawn for a task
  • Choosing between preset team configurations
  • Selecting the right agent type (subagent_type) for each role
  • Configuring teammate display modes (tmux, iTerm2, in-process)
  • Building custom team compositions for non-standard workflows

Team Sizing Heuristics

ComplexityTeam SizeWhen to Use
Simple1-2Single-dimension review, isolated bug, small feature
Moderate2-3Multi-file changes, 2-3 concerns, medium features
Complex3-4Cross-cutting concerns, large features, deep debugging
Very Complex4-5Full-stack features, comprehensive reviews, systemic issues
Rule of thumb: Start with the smallest team that covers all required dimensions. Adding teammates increases coordination overhead.

Preset Team Compositions

Review Team

  • Size: 3 reviewers
  • Agents: 3x 
    team-reviewer
  • Default dimensions: security, performance, architecture
  • Use when: Code changes need multi-dimensional quality assessment

Debug Team

  • Size: 3 investigators
  • Agents: 3x 
    team-debugger
  • Default hypotheses: 3 competing hypotheses
  • Use when: Bug has multiple plausible root causes

Feature Team

  • Size: 3 (1 lead + 2 implementers)
  • Agents: 1x 
    team-lead
    + 2x 
    team-implementer
  • Use when: Feature can be decomposed into parallel work streams

Fullstack Team

  • Size: 4 (1 lead + 3 implementers)
  • Agents: 1x 
    team-lead
    + 1x frontend 
    team-implementer
    + 1x backend 
    team-implementer
    + 1x test 
    team-implementer
  • Use when: Feature spans frontend, backend, and test layers

Research Team

  • Size: 3 researchers
  • Agents: 3x 
    general-purpose
  • Default areas: Each assigned a different research question, module, or topic
  • Capabilities: Codebase search (Grep, Glob, Read), web search (WebSearch, WebFetch)
  • Use when: Need to understand a codebase, research libraries, compare approaches, or gather information from code and web sources in parallel

Security Team

  • Size: 4 reviewers
  • Agents: 4x 
    team-reviewer
  • Default dimensions: OWASP/vulnerabilities, auth/access control, dependencies/supply chain, secrets/configuration
  • Use when: Comprehensive security audit covering multiple attack surfaces

Migration Team

  • Size: 4 (1 lead + 2 implementers + 1 reviewer)
  • Agents: 1x 
    team-lead
    + 2x 
    team-implementer
    + 1x 
    team-reviewer
  • Use when: Large codebase migration (framework upgrade, language port, API version bump) requiring parallel work with correctness verification

Agent Type Selection

When spawning teammates with the Task tool, choose 
subagent_type
based on what tools the teammate needs:
Agent TypeTools AvailableUse For
general-purpose
All tools (Read, Write, Edit, Bash, etc.)Implementation, debugging, any task requiring file changes
Explore
Read-only tools (Read, Grep, Glob)Research, code exploration, analysis
Plan
Read-only toolsArchitecture planning, task decomposition
agent-teams:team-reviewer
All toolsCode review with structured findings
agent-teams:team-debugger
All toolsHypothesis-driven investigation
agent-teams:team-implementer
All toolsBuilding features within file ownership boundaries
agent-teams:team-lead
All toolsTeam orchestration and coordination
Key distinction: Read-only agents (Explore, Plan) cannot modify files. Never assign implementation tasks to read-only agents.

Display Mode Configuration

Configure in 
~/.claude/settings.json
:
json
{
  "teammateMode": "tmux"
}
ModeBehaviorBest For
"tmux"
Each teammate in a tmux paneDevelopment workflows, monitoring multiple agents
"iterm2"
Each teammate in an iTerm2 tabmacOS users who prefer iTerm2
"in-process"
All teammates in same processSimple tasks, CI/CD environments

Custom Team Guidelines

When building custom teams:
  1. Every team needs a coordinator — Either designate a 
    team-lead
    or have the user coordinate directly
  2. Match roles to agent types — Use specialized agents (reviewer, debugger, implementer) when available
  3. Avoid duplicate roles — Two agents doing the same thing wastes resources
  4. Define boundaries upfront — Each teammate needs clear ownership of files or responsibilities
  5. Keep it small — 2-4 teammates is the sweet spot; 5+ requires significant coordination overhead