Claude Code Agent Teams Reference

A shared reference for Claude Code's Agent Teams features. Load this skill when building skills or agents that create teams, spawn teammates, coordinate multi-agent workflows, or integrate with team hooks.

This skill covers team lifecycle, tool parameters, spawning mechanics, and file structure. For deeper topics, load the reference files listed in Loading Reference Files.

Cross-reference: For Claude Code Tasks (TaskCreate, TaskGet, TaskUpdate, TaskList), see the companion skill: Read ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/claude-code-tasks/SKILL.md

TeamCreate Tool

Creates a new named team and registers the caller as team lead.

Return behavior: Returns a confirmation with the team name. The team is immediately ready for member spawning after creation. Teams have a 1:1 correspondence with task lists — creating a team also creates a task list at ~/.claude/tasks/{team-name}/. A config.json file is created at ~/.claude/teams/{team-name}/config.json with team metadata including lead identity, description, and a members array where each member has name, agentId, and agentType.

Constraints:

• Team names must be unique across all active teams
• The creating agent becomes team lead automatically
• Only team leads can send shutdown requests to members

TeamDelete Tool

Deletes a team and cleans up its resources. Takes no parameters — the team name is determined from the current session's team context.

Prerequisites: All team members must be shut down before deletion. Attempting to delete a team with active members will fail.

Cleanup behavior: Removes the team directory (~/.claude/teams/{team-name}/) and the task directory (~/.claude/tasks/{team-name}/), clears inbox directories, and deregisters the team.

Team Lifecycle

The full lifecycle of an agent team follows seven steps:

Create Team --> Create Tasks --> Spawn Teammates --> Assign Tasks --> Work --> Shutdown --> Cleanup

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Created: TeamCreate
    Created --> TasksReady: TaskCreate
    TasksReady --> Spawning: Agent tool (team_name, name)
    Spawning --> Assigning: TaskUpdate (owner)
    Spawning --> Spawning: Spawn more members
    Assigning --> Working: Teammates active
    Working --> Assigning: More tasks to assign
    Working --> ShuttingDown: All work complete
    ShuttingDown --> Cleanup: All members stopped
    Cleanup --> [*]: TeamDelete

    classDef active fill:#e8f5e9,color:#000
    classDef transition fill:#fff3e0,color:#000
    class Created,TasksReady,Cleanup transition
    class Spawning,Assigning,Working,ShuttingDown active

Step Details

1. Create team: Team lead calls TeamCreate with a name. The team config file is written, a task list is created, and the lead is registered.

2. Create tasks: Team lead uses TaskCreate to add tasks. Tasks auto-use the team's task list at ~/.claude/tasks/{team-name}/.

3. Spawn teammates: Team lead uses the Agent tool with team_name and name parameters to spawn teammates. Each teammate runs as an isolated Claude Code session. Members can be spawned incrementally as work demands change.

4. Assign tasks: Team lead uses TaskUpdate with owner to assign tasks to specific teammates.

5. Teammates work: Members complete assigned tasks, communicate via SendMessage, and report results. The team lead monitors progress, assigns new work, and handles issues. Members go idle between turns — this is normal, not an error.

6. Shutdown: When all work is complete, the team lead sends shutdown_request messages to each member. Members acknowledge with shutdown_response and terminate. The lead waits for all members to confirm shutdown.

7. Cleanup: After all members have stopped, the team lead calls TeamDelete to remove the team and task directories.

Teammate Spawning

Teammates are spawned using the Agent tool with the team_name parameter. Each teammate runs as a separate Claude Code session.

Plugin tool name: In Claude Code plugin frontmatter (allowed-tools in skills, tools in agents), the Agent tool is listed as Task. Both names refer to the same spawning capability with identical parameters (prompt, team_name, name, description, subagent_type, run_in_background). Use Task in frontmatter definitions and Agent or Task in skill/agent body instructions.

Spawn Parameters

Subagent Type Selection

Isolation

Each teammate runs in its own Claude Code session with:

• Independent context window (no shared memory with other teammates)
• Own tool permissions and approval state
• Own working directory (same project root)
• Communication only through SendMessage (file-based inbox delivery)

Background Spawning Pattern

For parallel teammates, spawn all with run_in_background: true:

Task(prompt="Analyze module A", team_name="analysis-team", name="analyzer-1",
     description="Analyze module A", run_in_background=true)
Task(prompt="Analyze module B", team_name="analysis-team", name="analyzer-2",
     description="Analyze module B", run_in_background=true)
Task(prompt="Analyze module C", team_name="analysis-team", name="analyzer-3",
     description="Analyze module C", run_in_background=true)

Note: In skill/agent instructions, this tool may be referenced as either Task or Agent. Both are equivalent.

The team lead continues running and can coordinate via messages while teammates work.

Idle State Semantics

Understanding idle state is critical for correct team coordination.

Idle is normal, not an error. When a teammate finishes its current task and has no pending messages, it enters an idle state. This is expected behavior between work assignments.

Key rules:

• Idle teammates can still receive and process messages
• Claude Code sends automatic idle notifications to the team lead when a teammate becomes idle
• Do NOT interpret idle as "broken" or "stuck" — it means the teammate is waiting for work
• Do NOT react to idle notifications unless you have new work to assign
• Send new work to idle teammates via SendMessage when ready
• Only send shutdown_request when the teammate's role is fully comp