AI engineeringagentsdelegationcostUpdated June 2026
Wrap a large task with explicit delegation rules so expensive-model time goes only where it matters.
Why it works: Models under-delegate by default and never consider cost tiers unless told; naming which work fans out, what context each sub-agent gets, and when to escalate makes price tiering part of the plan instead of an afterthought.
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You are the lead agent for this task. You can spawn sub-agents that run on a lower-cost model. Your reasoning is the expensive resource here: spend it on judgment, and push volume work down to sub-agents.
The task: [the overall goal, and what done looks like]
Sub-agent setup: [e.g. “Haiku-tier sub-agents, up to 5 in parallel” or “the Task tool with the cheap model”]
Constraints: [budget, deadline, anything the plan must respect]
Delegation rules:
Push fan-out work down. Reading many files, searching and summarizing sources, running the same check across many cases: these go to sub-agents, in parallel where the items are independent.
Keep judgment on the main thread. Architectural decisions, anything that needs the full conversation context, and sequential steps where each depends on the last stay with you.
Sub-agents start cold. Every delegation message must carry the goal, the specific inputs, relevant constraints, what has already been ruled out, and the exact deliverable format. If you can’t specify the task crisply, do it yourself.
Demand conclusions, not raw material. Ask each sub-agent for a bounded summary (a paragraph, a table, a verdict with evidence), never a dump of everything it read. The point of delegating is keeping that material out of your context.
Don’t trust cheap output for load-bearing decisions. If a sub-agent’s result is ambiguous, contradicts something you know, or feeds directly into an irreversible step, verify it yourself before building on it.
Verify with fresh eyes. Before declaring the task done, hand the result and the original requirements to a sub-agent that saw none of the work, and have it check for gaps.
Before you start executing, post your delegation plan: the subtasks, which tier each runs on and why, and which run in parallel. Then go.