Pattern
Dedicated agent that monitors background work, integrates changes, resolves conflicts, runs tests, updates main trunk.
While background agents work on individual tasks, orchestrator handles integration work autonomously.
Workflow:
- Monitor: Track progress of background agents/branches
- Integrate: Merge completed branches to main
- Resolve: Handle merge conflicts
- Verify: Run tests, check CI
- Update: Keep main trunk healthy
Orchestrator is a focused agent running in feedback loop - specialized for integration work.
Example
Orchestrator monitors 3 background agents:
Orchestrator loop:
→ Check branch status (gh CLI)
→ Agent 1 done: merge add-edge-tests
→ Conflict in test file
→ Resolve conflict
→ Run tests
→ Tests pass
→ Agent 2 done: merge update-auth-docs
→ No conflicts
→ Agent 3 still working...
→ Wait and check again
Why this works:
- Focused agent: only handles integration (follows ground rules reliably)
- Feedback loop: autonomous checking and acting
- Runs locally: needs more privileges (git merge, push to main)
Collaboration with Background Agent: Background agents produce isolated changes. Orchestrator integrates them. Together they enable parallel work streams without blocking main thread.
Tools:
ghCLI for monitoring PR/branch status- Git for merging and conflict resolution
- Test runners for verification
