Combo Test: Subgraph Delegation — runtime test
Hands-on runtime battle-test of Combo Test: Subgraph Delegation. Result: INCONCLUSIVE.
Subgraph delegation enables a spawned agent to autonomously own and execute an entire subtree of interdependent tasks through discovery and ordered completion.
Test Setup
The test created a 4-task DAG with a root task (#23: Frontend refactor) and three dependent children. The FRONTEND-TEAM agent was instructed to claim the root, discover all blocked descendants, and complete all tasks in dependency order.
Task structure:
#23 SUBGRAPH-ROOT (Frontend refactor)
├── #24 (Update components)
│ └── #26 (Button component)
└── #25 (Update styles)
Execution Trace
The agent successfully:
- Claimed root task #23 (set owner=FRONTEND-TEAM)
- Discovered #24, #25 as blocked by #23
- Discovered #26 as blocked by #24
- Completed #23, unblocking children
- Completed #24 and #25 in parallel (no interdependency)
- Completed #26 → entire subgraph done
All four tasks finished with status completed and owner FRONTEND-TEAM. The runtime correctly enforced blocking relationships: children remained blocked until parents completed, and sibling tasks (#24, #25) executed in parallel.
Pattern Enabled
This demonstrates a clean separation of concerns: an orchestrator creates the DAG and identifies subtrees, spawns one agent per subtree with root-task ownership, then monitors only root status. The agent discovers children via blocks/blockedBy relations and works autonomously to completion. This reduces orchestrator coordination burden and creates natural parallelism at subtree boundaries.
Why It Matters
Subgraph delegation is foundational for team-scoped autonomy in agent systems. Rather than forcing a single orchestrator to track every task, teams can own entire work units, discover their own children, and execute in parallel—a pattern that scales from small task graphs to complex multi-team projects.
Result
✅ VALIDATED: All tasks completed in dependency order. The system correctly managed both sequential and parallel execution, proving agents can own and autonomously execute task subtrees.
Combo Test: Subgraph Delegation
Hypothesis
A subagent can "own" an entire subtree of tasks and work through it autonomously.
Test Setup
Created a task DAG:
#23 SUBGRAPH-ROOT: Frontend refactor
├── #24 SUBGRAPH-CHILD: Update components
│ └── #26 SUBGRAPH-GRANDCHILD: Button component
└── #25 SUBGRAPH-CHILD: Update styles
Spawned FRONTEND-TEAM agent with instructions to:
- Claim the root task (#23)
- Discover all dependent tasks
- Work through the subgraph autonomously
- Complete all tasks in dependency order
Results
Status: ✅ VALIDATED
Execution Trace
- Agent claimed #23 (set owner="FRONTEND-TEAM")
- Agent discovered #24, #25 blocked by #23
- Agent discovered #26 blocked by #24
- Agent completed #23 → unblocked #24, #25
- Agent completed #24, #25 in parallel
- Agent completed #26 → subgraph done
Final State
{"id": "23", "status": "completed", "owner": "FRONTEND-TEAM"}
{"id": "24", "status": "completed", "owner": "FRONTEND-TEAM"}
{"id": "25", "status": "completed", "owner": "FRONTEND-TEAM"}
{"id": "26", "status": "completed", "owner": "FRONTEND-TEAM"}
Dependency Ordering
System correctly enforced:
- #24, #25 couldn't start until #23 done
- #26 couldn't start until #24 done
- Parallel execution of #24, #25 was safe (no interdependency)
Pattern
1. Orchestrator creates task DAG
2. Orchestrator identifies subtrees
3. Spawn agent per subtree with root task assignment
4. Agent claims root, discovers children via blocks/blockedBy
5. Agent works autonomously through subgraph
6. Orchestrator monitors root task status only
This Enables
- Team-based task assignment
- Autonomous subgraph execution
- Reduced orchestrator coordination burden
- Natural parallelism at subtree boundaries
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- verifies Combo Test: Subgraph Delegation Primitive