Agents Overview

This page maps every agent in the framework: what it does, when it activates, and how agents collaborate. Use the table below to find the right agent for your task.

The DevSquad framework exposes 13 user-visible agents: the devsquad conductor plus 12 specialist agents. Complex specialists can also act as coordinators and delegate to hidden worker sub-agents with isolated context.

Agent Flow

flowchart LR
  user["User"] --> conductor["devsquad<br>(conductor)"]
  user -.->|"direct invocation"| agents

  conductor -->|"delegates<br/>by phase"| agents

  subgraph agents["Specialist Agents"]
    subgraph agents-row1[" "]
      direction LR
      init["init"]
      envision["envision"]
      kickoff["kickoff"]
      specify["specify"]
    end
    subgraph agents-row2[" "]
      direction LR
      plan[["plan"]]
      decompose["decompose"]
      implement[["implement"]]
      sprint["sprint"]
    end
    subgraph agents-row3[" "]
      direction LR
      review[["review"]]
      refine[["refine"]]
      security["security"]
      extend["extend"]
    end
  end

Note

Coordinator agents use double borders in the diagram. Their worker sub-agents are internal and require chat.subagents.allowInvocationsFromSubagents when running in VS Code.

Agent Summary

Agent	Purpose	Produces	Next
devsquad	Conductor	Context and phase detection	Any sub-agent
devsquad.init	Initialize project	Framework files and templates	envision
devsquad.envision	Capture strategic vision	docs/envisioning/README.md	kickoff
devsquad.kickoff	Structure project hierarchy	Board structure + structure.md	specify or plan
devsquad.specify	Write feature specs	docs/features/*/spec.md	plan or decompose
devsquad.plan	Technical planning	ADRs + plan.md	decompose or security
devsquad.decompose	Decompose to tasks	tasks.md + work items	implement
devsquad.implement	Execute code	Source code + PR	review
devsquad.review	Validate implementation	Review log with findings	implement or plan
devsquad.security	Security assessment	Security report	implement or review
devsquad.sprint	Sprint planning	sprint-N.md + scope options	plan or decompose
devsquad.refine	Backlog health	Analysis report + fixes	specify or kickoff
devsquad.extend	Framework extension	Custom components	varies

Coordinator Agents

Coordinator	Worker delegation
devsquad.plan	Loads context and architecture analysis in workers before design artifact authoring. Can invoke devsquad.security as a nested specialist.
devsquad.implement	Delegates validation, coding execution, verification, and finalization to focused workers. Invokes devsquad.review for nested validation.
devsquad.review	Runs parallel workers for spec, ADR, code, security, and tests checks before merging findings.
devsquad.refine	Splits artifact checks and backlog health analysis into parallel workers.

By Category

Conductor The central orchestrator that detects intent and delegates to specialists.

Lifecycle Agents init, envision, kickoff, specify, plan, decompose, implement: the main delivery pipeline.

Support Agents review, security, sprint, refine, extend: quality, planning, and extensibility.

---

What to Read Next

• Conductor for the main entry point
• Getting Started to install and run your first workflow