Parallel Exploration

Fire search agents in parallel. Never wait sequentially when searches are independent.

Tool Selection

| Tool | Cost | When to Use | |------|------|-------------| | grep, glob, lsp_*, ast_grep | FREE | Scope clear, single pattern, known location | | tracer agent | FREE | Multiple search angles, unfamiliar modules, cross-layer patterns | | rocket agent | CHEAP | External docs, GitHub examples, OSS reference | | oracle agent | EXPENSIVE | Architecture decisions, debugging after 2+ failures |

Tracer = Contextual Grep (Internal)

Use for searching YOUR codebase:

| Use Direct Tools | Use Tracer | |------------------|------------| | Exact pattern known | Multiple search angles needed | | Single keyword suffices | Unfamiliar module structure | | Known file location | Cross-layer pattern discovery |

Rocket = Reference Grep (External)

Use for searching EXTERNAL resources:

• Official API documentation
• Library best practices
• OSS implementation examples
• GitHub examples

Trigger phrases (fire rocket immediately):

• "How do I use [library]?"
• "What's the best practice for [framework feature]?"
• Working with unfamiliar packages

Parallel Execution Pattern

// CORRECT: Fire and continue
background_task(agent="tracer", prompt="Find auth implementations...")
background_task(agent="tracer", prompt="Find error handling patterns...")
background_task(agent="rocket", prompt="Find JWT best practices...")
// Continue working immediately

// WRONG: Sequential blocking
result = task(...)  // Never wait synchronously

Result Collection

1. Launch parallel agents → receive task_ids
2. Continue immediate work
3. When results needed: background_output(task_id="...")
4. BEFORE final answer: background_cancel(all=true)

Stop Conditions

STOP searching when:

• Enough context to proceed confidently
• Same information appearing across multiple sources
• 2 iterations yielded no new useful data
• Direct answer found

DO NOT over-explore. Time is precious.