The six agents
The Claude Code subagents AutoMode ships, explorer, architect, implementer, verifier, reviewer and diagnoser, with each one's model, tools and job.
The workflow and the rescue path run six small agents. Each has one job and the fewest tools it needs.
| Agent | Model | Tools | Job |
|---|---|---|---|
explorer | Haiku | Read, Grep, Glob | Finds files, interfaces and tests. Read only. |
architect | Opus | Read, Grep, Glob | One bounded planning pass. Read only. |
implementer | Sonnet | Read, Edit, Write, Grep, Glob, Bash | Builds one workstream. Edits only the files it owns. |
verifier | Sonnet | Read, Edit, Write, Grep, Glob, Bash | Runs tests, type check and build. Fixes defects the change introduced. |
reviewer | Opus | Read, Grep, Glob, Bash (git diff only) | Evidence-first review against the task. |
diagnoser | Haiku, Sonnet when the task carries risk | Read, Grep, Glob | Reads a failing run and finds the cause. Changes nothing. |
A seventh definition, builder, is the fresh rescue builder. It takes one task from a brief after a failed attempt, implements it, and runs the checks until they pass or a real blocker stops it. The caller sets its model.
The definitions are in agents/.
Built-in subagents
With subagentsEverySession on, as shipped, AutoMode also routes Claude Code's own subagents in every session: Explore runs on Haiku, and general-purpose runs on Sonnet under an Opus session. A subagent with an explicit model always keeps it.
What subagents may not do
With blockGitWritesWhenActive on, as shipped, the guardian denies git writes and rm -rf from subagents. The main session can still commit when you ask. The agent.spawn hook sets a subagent's model and effort. It does not change a permission mode.
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The workflow
AutoMode's plan, build, verify and review workflow for open-ended Claude Code work: risk bands S0 to S3, stage models, the S3 rule, and how to start it.
The guardian
The AutoMode guardian redacts secrets, pauses turns that stop converging, shortens long output, saves checkpoints and guards subagents. Its five modes.