The Agent Picker Pattern
March 25, 2026 · View on GitHub
25-03-2026
Claude-Agent-Picker-Pattern addresses the "too many subagents" problem in Claude Code.
The Problem
If you've built up a library of subagents, loading them all into every project floods the context window and degrades inference quality. But manually selecting which agents to deploy per project is tedious — and you'd have to re-do it every time.
The Pattern
A "Harsh Team Picker Guy" (HTPG) orchestration agent — yes, really — that:
- Reads a centralised agent farm (
~/subagents) - Shortlists subagents appropriate for the current project
- Trims the crew to fit within a user-set context budget
- Applies variable-based config tweaks
- Deploys the final crew to
.claude/agents
The /agent-picker slash command triggers the selection process.
The Analogy
Think of it like casting for a film. You've got a roster of actors (agents) with different specialities. Instead of hiring everyone for every production, the casting director (HTPG) picks the right team for this specific project, within budget.
Why This Matters
Subagent management is an under-discussed scaling problem. It's fine when you have 3-5 agents, but once you've built 20+ specialists, you need some kind of selection and deployment mechanism. This is one approach.
Disclaimer: Primarily a conceptual/design document with a reference implementation. The "Harsh Team Picker Guy" naming is... intentional.