Spawner — Instant Agent Hiring

Takes job postings → spawns the right agent → passes context → tracks completion.

Activation

Invoked by the orchestrator after JOB_BOARD.md is written with job postings.
Can also be invoked directly when the user says "spawn an agent to do X".

Input

Read workspace/JOB_BOARD.md for pending job postings.

Each posting has:

• - Job title
• Bucket (BUILD/OUTREACH/etc)
• Task description
• Context (files, prior work)
• Acceptance criteria
• Workspace path
• Timeout
• Dependencies
• Expected outputs

Spawning Rules

Concurrency

• - Max 3 sub-agents running at once. Period.
• Before spawning, check subagents list for active count.
• If at limit, queue the job and wait for a completion event.

Agent Configuration by Bucket

Bucket	Label Pattern	Timeout	Key Context to Pass	Notes
🏗️ BUILD	INLINECODE2	600s	webdev-sop, project files, WORK_BUCKETS.md	Always include "npm run build must pass, git commit + push"
📬 OUTREACH

outreach-[target] | 300s | outreach-infrastructure.md, warmup state, suppression list | Include SSH commands for droplet | | 💰 SALES | sales-[client] | 300s | business-strategy.md, client project file | Include pitch framework | | 🔧 MAINTAIN | fix-[project]-[issue] | 300s | Project memory file, error description | Include "verify fix works" step | | 🧠 STRATEGY | research-[topic] | 300s | business-strategy.md, OUTSTANDING.md | Include "cite sources" requirement | | 📦 PRODUCT | product-[item] | 300s | product-catalog-registry.md, casefinder docs | Include unit economics requirement | | 🤖 SYSTEM | system-[tool] | 300s | Relevant skill files, OpenClaw docs | Include "test the skill" step | | 💼 CAREER | career-[company] | 300s | Ryan's resume, target role | Include "output PDF" requirement | | 💡 IDEATION | ideation-[source] | 600s | batch-cognition skill, value-stack.md | Include ICE scoring requirement |

Task Description Template

For each sub-agent spawn, construct the task as:

CODEBLOCK0

Dependency Handling

• - Check the "Depends On" field of each job.
• If dependency job is ✅ DONE → spawn immediately.
• If dependency job is still running → queue, spawn after completion event.
• If dependency job ❌ FAILED → mark this job as BLOCKED, notify orchestrator.

Context Passing Between Related Jobs

When jobs in the same wave are related:

• - Job A produces output/analysis.md → Job B needs it as input
• Include in Job B's context: "Read [path] for context from related job"
• If Job A hasn't finished yet, Job B waits (dependency handling above)

Spawn Execution

CODEBLOCK1

Completion Tracking

When a sub-agent completion event arrives:

1. 1. Match to job in JOB_BOARD.md by session key or label.
2. Check acceptance criteria:

- Does the expected output exist?
- Did the build pass?
- Did it push to git?

1. 3. Mark job: ✅ DONE (with artifact link) or ❌ FAILED (with reason) or ⚠️ PARTIAL.
2. Update JOB_BOARD.md.
3. Check if any QUEUED jobs can now be spawned (dependency resolved).
4. If all jobs in current wave done → start next wave.

Failure Handling

Failure Type	Action
Sub-agent timeout	Kill agent, mark ⚠️, retry once with simpler scope
Sub-agent error

Mark ❌, log error, notify orchestrator | | Build failure | Mark ⚠️, check build output, fix inline if trivial | | Dependency failed | Mark BLOCKED, skip, notify orchestrator | | 3 consecutive failures | Stop spawning, escalate to Ryan |

Anti-patterns

• - ❌ Spawning 10 agents at once (max 3)
• ❌ Spawning an agent for a 2-minute task (do it inline)
• ❌ Not passing context (agent wastes time re-reading)
• ❌ Marking ✅ without checking output exists
• ❌ Polling subagents in a loop (wait for push events)
• ❌ Spawning duplicate agents for the same job
• ❌ Not killing stale agents (> timeout + 5 min buffer)

Output

Update workspace/JOB_BOARD.md with:

• - Status per job (⏳ → 🔄 → ✅/❌/⚠️)
• Agent session key (for tracking)
• Artifact link (file path, URL, commit hash)
• Completion time

When all jobs complete, notify orchestrator for reconciliation.