Chapter 06

Build with Agent Team

A Claude Code skill for building projects using Agent Teams — Anthropic's multi-agent collaboration feature where multiple Claude instances work in parallel, communicate with each other, and coordinate autonomously. Give it a plan document describing what you want to build, and it spawns a team of specialized agents in tmux split panes to build it together.

Once set up, it's as simple as:

bash

/build-with-agent-team [plan-path] [num-agents]

Prerequisites

1. Install tmux

Agent teams use tmux for split-pane visualization so you can see all agents working simultaneously.

macOS:

bash

brew install tmux

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):

bash

sudo apt update && sudo apt install tmux

Linux (Fedora/RHEL):

bash

sudo dnf install tmux

Windows (WSL required):

Agent teams require WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). Native Windows is not supported.

powershell

# 1. Install WSL from PowerShell (Admin)
wsl --install

# 2. Restart your computer

# 3. Open WSL and install tmux
sudo apt update && sudo apt install tmux

Verify installation:

bash

tmux -V

2. Enable Agent Teams

Agent teams are experimental and disabled by default. Enable by adding to ~/.claude/settings.json:

json

{
  "env": {
    "CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS": "1"
  }
}

Or export in your shell profile (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc):

bash

export CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1

tmux note: Starting a tmux session opens a new shell that does not inherit environment variables from your current terminal. If you enable agent teams via export, you must run that export inside the tmux session, or add it to your shell profile (~/.bashrc / ~/.zshrc) so it loads automatically. Enter tmux first, then set the variable and launch Claude from there. The settings.json approach avoids this issue entirely.

Installation

Copy the skill to your personal skills directory:

bash

cp -r build-with-agent-team ~/.claude/skills/

Or for project-level use:

bash

cp -r build-with-agent-team .claude/skills/

Create Your Plan

Write a markdown document describing what you want to build. This works for:

Greenfield projects: A new app, API, or system from scratch
Brownfield features: A new feature in an existing codebase

Your plan should be detailed enough that multiple agents could divide the work. Include:

What you're building and why
Tech stack and architecture
Project structure
Key components and how they interact
Data models or API contracts
Acceptance criteria

See example-plan/session-manager-plan.md for an example.

Usage

bash

/build-with-agent-team [plan-path] [num-agents]

Parameters:

Parameter	Required	Description
`plan-path`	Yes	Path to your plan markdown file
`num-agents`	No	Number of agents to spawn. If omitted, determined automatically based on the plan's complexity

Examples:

bash

# Let the skill determine team size
/build-with-agent-team ./plans/my-project.md

# Specify 3 agents
/build-with-agent-team ./plans/my-project.md 3

# Build a feature in existing codebase
/build-with-agent-team ./docs/new-auth-feature.md 2

The skill will:

Read your plan
Analyze it to determine agent roles (frontend, backend, database, etc.)
Spawn agents in tmux split panes
Coordinate collaboration between agents
Ensure agents communicate and challenge each other's work

Agent Teams vs Subagents

Claude Code has two ways to parallelize work. Choose based on whether your workers need to communicate:

	Subagents	Agent Teams
Context	Runs within main session	Each agent has its own session
Communication	Reports back to main agent only	Agents message each other directly
Coordination	Main agent manages all work	Shared task list, self-coordination
Visibility	Results summarized to main context	Each agent visible in tmux pane
Best for	Quick, focused tasks (research, exploration)	Complex builds requiring collaboration
Token cost	Lower (results summarized)	Higher (each agent is a separate instance)

Use subagents when:

Task is quick and isolated
You only need the result, not the process
Cost-sensitive

Use agent teams when:

Multiple components need to integrate (frontend + backend + database)
Agents need to agree on interfaces and contracts
You want to see parallel progress in real-time
Building something complex enough to warrant coordination overhead

Chapter 06

Build with Agent Team

Once set up, it's as simple as:

bash

/build-with-agent-team [plan-path] [num-agents]

Prerequisites

1. Install tmux

Agent teams use tmux for split-pane visualization so you can see all agents working simultaneously.

macOS:

bash

brew install tmux

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):

bash

sudo apt update && sudo apt install tmux

Linux (Fedora/RHEL):

bash

sudo dnf install tmux

Windows (WSL required):

Agent teams require WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux). Native Windows is not supported.

powershell

# 1. Install WSL from PowerShell (Admin)
wsl --install

# 2. Restart your computer

# 3. Open WSL and install tmux
sudo apt update && sudo apt install tmux

Verify installation:

bash

tmux -V

2. Enable Agent Teams

Agent teams are experimental and disabled by default. Enable by adding to ~/.claude/settings.json:

json

{
  "env": {
    "CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS": "1"
  }
}

Or export in your shell profile (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc):

bash

export CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1

tmux note: Starting a tmux session opens a new shell that does not inherit environment variables from your current terminal. If you enable agent teams via export, you must run that export inside the tmux session, or add it to your shell profile (~/.bashrc / ~/.zshrc) so it loads automatically. Enter tmux first, then set the variable and launch Claude from there. The settings.json approach avoids this issue entirely.

Installation

Copy the skill to your personal skills directory:

bash

cp -r build-with-agent-team ~/.claude/skills/

Or for project-level use:

bash

cp -r build-with-agent-team .claude/skills/

Create Your Plan

Write a markdown document describing what you want to build. This works for:

Greenfield projects: A new app, API, or system from scratch
Brownfield features: A new feature in an existing codebase

Your plan should be detailed enough that multiple agents could divide the work. Include:

What you're building and why
Tech stack and architecture
Project structure
Key components and how they interact
Data models or API contracts
Acceptance criteria

See example-plan/session-manager-plan.md for an example.

Usage

bash

/build-with-agent-team [plan-path] [num-agents]

Parameters:

Parameter	Required	Description
`plan-path`	Yes	Path to your plan markdown file
`num-agents`	No	Number of agents to spawn. If omitted, determined automatically based on the plan's complexity

Examples:

bash

# Let the skill determine team size
/build-with-agent-team ./plans/my-project.md

# Specify 3 agents
/build-with-agent-team ./plans/my-project.md 3

# Build a feature in existing codebase
/build-with-agent-team ./docs/new-auth-feature.md 2

The skill will:

Read your plan
Analyze it to determine agent roles (frontend, backend, database, etc.)
Spawn agents in tmux split panes
Coordinate collaboration between agents
Ensure agents communicate and challenge each other's work

Agent Teams vs Subagents

Claude Code has two ways to parallelize work. Choose based on whether your workers need to communicate:

	Subagents	Agent Teams
Context	Runs within main session	Each agent has its own session
Communication	Reports back to main agent only	Agents message each other directly
Coordination	Main agent manages all work	Shared task list, self-coordination
Visibility	Results summarized to main context	Each agent visible in tmux pane
Best for	Quick, focused tasks (research, exploration)	Complex builds requiring collaboration
Token cost	Lower (results summarized)	Higher (each agent is a separate instance)

Use subagents when:

Task is quick and isolated
You only need the result, not the process
Cost-sensitive

Use agent teams when:

Multiple components need to integrate (frontend + backend + database)
Agents need to agree on interfaces and contracts
You want to see parallel progress in real-time
Building something complex enough to warrant coordination overhead