Fan out N parallel workers, drain them, and return one report. Use for /swarm, 'swarm this', or parallel coverage, races, gauntlets, and exploration.
npx skills add https://github.com/backnotprop/pstack --skill swarm
Open a todolist with one entry per phase before launching anything.
first pass, rank all, or best-of before spawning.swarm workers line in the pstack settings file (~/.cursor/rules/pstack-models.mdc in Cursor, ~/.claude/rules/pstack-models.md in Claude Code, ~/.agents/pstack-models.md in other harnesses). If the file or that line is missing, use grok-4.7-xhigh-fast. For auto or inherit-parent, omit model so the workers run on the parent model. If your subagent tool rejects a slug, use the default and say so. If it rejects the default, use the closest valid slug of the same family from its error message or your harness's model list. For a model race, name each arm's model up front. Pick each subagent's reasoning level and fast or standard speed for the job, per the Subagents section of the poteto-mode skill.Spawn all N workers in one message with subagent_type: generalPurpose, environment: "cloud", run_in_background: true, and the step 3 model, left unset for auto or inherit-parent. Use environment: "local" only when the worker needs access to something on the user's computer.
When a worker must start from a non-default pushed branch, pass cloud_base_branch.
Other harnesses. These parameters belong to Cursor's Task tool, and environment: "cloud" runs a Cursor cloud agent. In another harness, use its subagent tool: Agent in Claude Code (subagent_type: general-purpose), task in OpenCode (subagent_type: general), spawn_agent in Codex. Workers run locally there, so give each one its own worktree or output path. Keep the brief and the model. Drop parameters your tool doesn't have. If your harness has no subagent tool, as in Pi without an extension, run the workers yourself, one after another.
Every brief stands alone. Include the goal, scope, exact slice or race arm, how to verify, and what to report. Reports use PASS, ISSUES, or BLOCKED with evidence. A worker that can prove a defect reports ISSUES and lists every issue it can prove, not only the first.
If a worker drops out, proceed with N-1 and note it.
Read the terminal results. Drop a result that does not record the SHAs and method its brief names, and respawn that worker once. After a second miss, record a gap. A gap does not count as a pass. For coverage, every required slice needs a result. For a race, apply the selection rule declared up front. Use first pass, rank all, or best-of. Do not paste raw worker dumps.
Return one consolidated in-chat report with a result table, issue one-liners, gaps or dropouts, and the race rule when used.
Take backnotprop/swarm from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.