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Agent skill

Skill To Subagent

by BlackBeltTechnology in BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard

Turn an existing pi skill into an isolated subagent and wire it into a project's implementation pipeline.

MITAuto-check passedAgent Workflows

Install Skill To Subagent

skills CLI
$ npx skills add BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard --skill skill-to-subagent -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard skill-to-subagent --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/packages/authoring-toolkit/.pi/skills/skill-to-subagent .claude/skills/skill-to-subagent && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
skill-to-subagent
GitHub stars
315
Token cost
~2k tokens
SKILL.md length
847 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
70
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Turn an existing pi skill into an isolated subagent and wire it into a project's implementation pipeline.

  • Works in 6 steps: DECIDE: subagent or inline skill? → BRIDGE: write the thin agent .md → ROUTE: pick the model by FUNCTION, via… → …
  • Tasks that involve Subagents
  • SKILL.md covers Overview, When to Use, Step 1 — DECIDE: subagent or… and Step 2 — BRIDGE: write the…, plus 6 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Skill To Subagent is an agent skill from BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard. Turn an existing pi skill into an isolated subagent and wire it into a project's implementation pipeline. Decides fitness first, writes the bridge agent, routes the model, tunes context inheritance, and wires a spawn checkpoint. Use on "wrap this skill as a subagent", "turn X into a subagent", "should this be a subagent or a skill", "subagentize this", "add a subagent to the pipeline".

Its SKILL.md is about 2k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Agent Workflows, covering Subagents. The repository describes itself as: Real-time web dashboard for pi coding-agent sessions. Multi-session view, live chat mirroring, integrated terminal, diff viewer, pi-flows execution, and mobile-first remote… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Subagents

Example prompts

  • “wrap this skill as a subagent”
  • “turn X into a subagent”
  • “should this be a subagent or a skill”
  • “/skill-to-subagent”

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. DECIDE: subagent or inline skill?
  2. BRIDGE: write the thin agent .md
  3. ROUTE: pick the model by FUNCTION, via role alias
  4. TUNE: inherit_context
  5. WIRE: spawn checkpoint into the pipeline
  6. VERIFY

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 7a2d171. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are yaml and markdown).

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Skill To Subagent loads about 2k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 102 tokens; SKILL.md has 847 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~102
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard at commit 7a2d171, republished under its MIT licence (© BlackBeltTechnology). 847 words, ~2,003 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/skill-to-subagent/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
skill-to-subagent
description
Turn an existing pi skill into an isolated subagent and wire it into a project's implementation pipeline. Decides fitness first, writes the bridge agent, routes the model, tunes context inheritance, and wires a spawn checkpoint. Use on "wrap this skill as a subagent", "turn X into a subagent", "should this be a subagent or a skill", "subagentize this", "add a subagent to the pipeline".
related_skills
skill-creator

Skill → Subagent

Overview

A skill is instructions loaded into the main agent's context (progressive disclosure: name+description always present, body on trigger). A subagent is a worker spawned beside the main agent in an isolated context window that returns a distilled report, then burns its context. They are orthogonal.

Converting a skill to a subagent is worth it when the skill's work is read-heavy or write-light, self-contained, and returns a distilled artifact — because running it inline would bloat the parent's context and degrade its reasoning. It is harmful when the work is coherence-critical (decisions later steps depend on), because a subagent only sees a compressed snapshot and can make conflicting assumptions.

This skill is the repeatable procedure for that conversion, plus wiring the result into a project's implementation loop. It is tech-stack independent (the target project can be any language) but pi-platform-specific.

When to Use

  • You have a skill whose work would bloat the main context if run inline
  • A phase of an implementation loop is read-heavy (audit, lookup, summarize) or write-light (docs) and self-contained
  • You are designing which parts of a pipeline should run isolated vs inline
  • Triggers: "wrap this skill as a subagent", "subagentize this", "should this be a subagent"

When NOT to use:

  • Authoring a brand-new skill from scratch → skill-creator
  • The work is coherence-critical (the builder/decider, review+fix, anything whose choices later steps depend on) → keep it an inline skill
  • A one-shot trivial task where spawn overhead > benefit

Step 1 — DECIDE: subagent or inline skill?

Apply the discriminator first. It is the whole game.

text
   Does the phase need shared coherence with the surrounding work?
   (i.e. do later steps depend on decisions made here?)

     YES ──▶ INLINE SKILL   (full context; review, fix, decide, mutate)
     NO, and it is read-heavy / write-light and returns a distilled
         artifact ──▶ SUBAGENT   (isolated, ≤2KB report)

Then confirm fitness — a subagent must clear all of these, or it is negative value:

  • Context-cost-if-inline is high — running it inline would meaningfully bloat the parent.
  • Clear input→distilled-output contract — you can name the inputs and the ≤2KB output shape.
  • Low interactivity — it does not need ask_user loops mid-task (those belong in the parent).
  • Self-contained — it does not mutate shared state the parent must then reconcile.
  • Clears the token bar — multi-agent runs burn ~15× the tokens of a single chat; the context it saves must exceed the tokens it spends.

If it fails any, keep it an inline skill. Most "writer" and "reviewer" phases fail the coherence test and should stay inline.

Step 2 — BRIDGE: write the thin agent .md

The skill stays the single source of truth. The agent is a thin spawn shell that loads it. Write to <project>/.pi/agents/<Name>.md (project tier) or a package's agents/ dir (shipped tier).

yaml
---
description: <when the parent should spawn this>. Wraps /skill:<name>. Returns a distilled report, never raw dumps.
model: "@research"          # role ALIAS, resolved at spawn (see Step 3)
inherit_context: false      # see Step 4
tools: [read, grep, find, ls, bash]   # least-privilege; add write/edit only if it emits files
---

You are the <Name> subagent. Load and follow `/skill:<name>`.

Your single job: <one scoped task>, return a short structured report, then burn
this context so the parent stays sharp.

INPUTS the parent MUST supply in the spawn prompt (inherit_context is false —
you get no parent chatter; work only from these):
  • <input 1 — e.g. the diff scope / file paths>
  • <input 2 — the intent, 1-2 lines>

OUTPUT CONTRACT (≤ 2000 tokens):
## <Result heading>
<distilled findings — cite path + line ranges, quoted code ≤ 10 lines>
## Notes  (what you did not check)

Do NOT paste whole files. Cite path + heading. Then stop.

Step 3 — ROUTE: pick the model by FUNCTION, via role alias

Use role aliases, never literal model ids — the agent then tracks the operator's role config and stays portable across machines.

FunctionRoleWhy
Deterministic pipeline / glue / lookup / exploration@fastCheap, fast; cost dominates
Long-context synthesis (transcripts, big docs)@researchStrong synthesis / long window
Reasoning-heavy analysis (security audit, root-cause)@research (or a reasoning model role)Careful step-by-step over code
Map-reducechunk workers @fast, merge @compact/@researchCheap per chunk, strong merge
Mechanical writing (doc rows, merges)@compactCheap-but-capable
Visual / screenshot review@visionMultimodal
Show full SKILL.md (351 more words)Show less

Step 4 — TUNE: inherit_context

  • false + explicit inputs (default, most reliable). The child starts clean; the parent passes every input in the spawn prompt. Dodges the compression-drop trap. Use for self-contained batch/analysis jobs.
  • true only when the child's judgement genuinely needs the surrounding decision context — and even then, still pass exact paths + intent in the prompt, because the inherited snapshot is compressed and can drop the one detail the specialist needs.

Step 5 — WIRE: spawn checkpoint into the pipeline

pi has no automatic delegation — a subagent runs only on an explicit Agent tool call. Make delegation mechanical by adding a checkpoint table to the project's implementation skill (and/or AGENTS.md): map an observable signal in the diff/task to a spawn, so the main agent reaches for it without needing to remember.

markdown
| Signal in the task / diff | Spawn |
|---|---|
| touches auth / secrets / PII / untrusted input / perf budget | `Audit` (fix inline) |
| a change landed and docs/ prose needs updating | `DocScribe` |

Keep the builder/decider inline in that table's preamble — only read/write-light phases get spawned.

Step 6 — VERIFY

Spawn on a real task and check the output, do not trust it blind.

Pitfalls

  • YAML ": " trap — an unquoted description containing an inner ": " (colon-space) parses as a nested mapping and the loader silently drops the agent. Quote the whole value, or reword to remove the ": ".
  • Compression-drop — inherit_context: true gives a lossy snapshot; never rely on it to carry a specific path/snippet. Pass inputs explicitly.
  • Fresh ResourceLoader — a spawned subagent re-discovers skills from disk (its own loader), so the wrapped skill must be discoverable on disk, not just loaded in the parent.
  • Telephone game — cap output at ≤2KB and cite paths; a subagent that dumps raw files defeats its own purpose.
  • Over-privilege — least-privilege tools; add write/edit only if the subagent legitimately emits files.
  • Isolating coherence — never subagent the builder, the review+fix loop, or any decider; that is the documented multi-agent failure mode.

Verification

  • The discriminator was applied — the phase is genuinely non-coherence-critical
  • The agent .md frontmatter parses (no ": " trap); model is a role alias
  • tools are least-privilege; inherit_context matches the input strategy
  • The prompt names every required input and a ≤2KB output contract
  • A spawn checkpoint (signal → spawn) exists in the pipeline so it is reached mechanically
  • A real spawn returned a distilled report, not raw dumps

© BlackBeltTechnology, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in packages/authoring-toolkit/.pi/skills/skill-to-subagent of BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 7a2d171

Compare with similar skills

Skill To Subagent next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Skill To Subagent compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Skill To Subagent this skillBlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard315—~2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Claude Code Agent Developmentanthropics/claude-plugins-official38k7 repos~2.8kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Subagent Driven DevelopmentAsvarox/allkaraoke26137 repos~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Dispatching Parallel Agentsultralisp/ultralisp25840 repos~1.5kAutomated safety check: PassNone
Paseo Advisor Second Opiniongetpaseo/paseo20k1 repos~756Automated safety check: PassCustom licence
Task Observerrebelytics/one-skill-to-rule-them-all3.2k1 repos~11kAutomated safety check: PassCC-BY-4.0

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Categories

Questions about Skill To Subagent

What does Skill To Subagent do?

Turn an existing pi skill into an isolated subagent and wire it into a project's implementation pipeline. Skill To Subagent is an agent skill from BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard. Turn an existing pi skill into an isolated subagent and wire it into a project's implementation pipeline.

When should I use Skill To Subagent?

Skill To Subagent fits situations like: tasks that involve Subagents.

How do I install Skill To Subagent in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard --skill skill-to-subagent -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (packages/authoring-toolkit/.pi/skills/skill-to-subagent in BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard) into .claude/skills/skill-to-subagent in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Skill To Subagent in Codex?

Run `npx skills add BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard --skill skill-to-subagent -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (packages/authoring-toolkit/.pi/skills/skill-to-subagent in BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard) into .agents/skills/skill-to-subagent in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Skill To Subagent in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard --skill skill-to-subagent -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/skill-to-subagent, .gemini/skills/skill-to-subagent, .github/skills/skill-to-subagent and .opencode/skills/skill-to-subagent in your project.

What does Skill To Subagent need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Skill To Subagent is instructions for the agent only.

Does Skill To Subagent access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Skill To Subagent safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Skill To Subagent use?

Skill To Subagent is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Skill To Subagent use?

About 2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 8k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Skill To Subagent?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Skill To Subagent: Claude Code Agent Development (anthropics/claude-plugins-official, 38k stars), Subagent Driven Development (Asvarox/allkaraoke, 261 stars), Dispatching Parallel Agents (ultralisp/ultralisp, 258 stars) and Paseo Advisor Second Opinion (getpaseo/paseo, 20k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Skill To Subagent?

BlackBeltTechnology (a GitHub organization) maintains it in BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard, which has 315 GitHub stars. The repository holds 70 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 10, 2026.

Source: BlackBeltTechnology/pi-agent-dashboard on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.