From summarizer
Enforces precise handling of sub-agent results in orchestrators by preserving exact counts, failure reasons, and file references to prevent lossy summarization and data corruption. Activates on agent outputs, research relays, or multi-agent data passing.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/summarizer:agent-result-relayThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
Rules for how orchestrators MUST handle sub-agent results to prevent information corruption in the relay chain.
Rules for how orchestrators MUST handle sub-agent results to prevent information corruption in the relay chain.
When an orchestrator receives results from a sub-agent, three failure modes commonly corrupt information:
Failure 1: Lossy Re-Summarization
Agent output: "Found 7 items with details. 3 sources returned HTTP 403."
Orchestrator: "Research complete. Found some items, the rest don't exist."
^^^ CORRUPTED
Failure 2: Count Dropping
Agent output: "Analyzed 15 files: 12 pass validation, 2 have warnings, 1 has errors."
Orchestrator: "Most files pass validation."
^^^ COUNTS LOST
Failure 3: Status Escalation
Agent output: "Unable to access 3 URLs (connection timeout)."
Orchestrator: "3 URLs are not available."
^^^ "UNABLE TO ACCESS" ≠ "NOT AVAILABLE"
When an agent reports numbers, the orchestrator MUST relay those exact numbers.
| Agent Says | Orchestrator MUST Say | Orchestrator MUST NOT Say |
|---|---|---|
| "7 of 10 found" | "7 of 10 found" | "most found" |
| "3 errors, 2 warnings" | "3 errors, 2 warnings" | "several issues" |
| "12 files analyzed" | "12 files analyzed" | "files were analyzed" |
| "0 results" | "0 results found" | "nothing relevant" |
When an agent reports failures, the orchestrator MUST relay the specific reason.
| Agent Says | Orchestrator MUST Say | Orchestrator MUST NOT Say |
|---|---|---|
| "HTTP 403 Forbidden" | "access denied (HTTP 403)" | "not available" |
| "Connection timeout" | "connection timed out" | "doesn't exist" |
| "File not found at path X" | "file not found at X" | "no such file" |
| "Rate limited, try later" | "rate limited" | "unavailable" |
| "3 sources not accessible" | "3 sources not accessible" | "3 sources don't exist" |
When an agent wrote detailed results to a file, the orchestrator MUST reference the file rather than re-summarizing it.
Required pattern:
Research complete. 7 of 10 items documented. 3 sources were inaccessible (connection timeout).
Full results: ./research-output.md
Prohibited pattern:
Research complete. Here's a summary of the summary:
- Item 1 was about X
- Item 2 was about Y
[lossy re-interpretation of agent's already-summarized output]
When an agent returns structured output (STATUS, SUMMARY, ARTIFACTS, etc.), the orchestrator MUST preserve that structure.
Agent returns:
STATUS: DONE
SUMMARY: Validated 15 plugins. 12 pass, 2 warnings, 1 critical error.
ARTIFACTS:
- Report: ./validation-report.md
- Critical: plugin-X has invalid manifest
WARNINGS:
- plugin-Y: description exceeds 200 chars
- plugin-Z: missing homepage field
Orchestrator MUST relay:
Plugin validation complete. 12 of 15 pass, 2 warnings, 1 critical error.
Critical: plugin-X has invalid manifest.
Full report: ./validation-report.md
Orchestrator MUST NOT relay:
Validation done. Most plugins are fine, a couple have minor issues.
When an agent reports both observations and conclusions, the orchestrator MUST clearly distinguish between them.
Agent reports:
Observation: The config file does not contain a "timeout" field.
Conclusion: Using default timeout of 30s.
Orchestrator relays:
Config has no "timeout" field; agent reports default of 30s will be used.
Not:
Timeout is 30 seconds.
The distinction matters because the observation (no field) is verifiable, while the conclusion (default 30s) is the agent's interpretation.
The orchestrator MAY summarize agent output ONLY when:
Even when summarizing is appropriate, the orchestrator MUST:
Before relaying agent results, verify:
npx claudepluginhub jamie-bitflight/claude_skills --plugin summarizerUse when dispatching subagents, composing prompts for teammates, structuring handoff reports, or managing context boundaries between agents. Covers both subagent prompts and team-level messaging.
Manages multi-agent orchestration using contracts, AgentDB briefing, 4 fault tolerance layers (retry, fallback, classification, checkpointing), and context transfer protocols. Use for coordinating parallel agents or spawning sub-agents.
Enforces MUX subagent protocol: blocks TaskOutput tool, mandates file reports with signal files, return code 0, and structured Executive Summary. For MUX-delegated subagents.