Decision table

Decision table

Situation	Strategy
Agents write to completely different files	Shared filesystem — no action needed
Research / docs only, no code overlap	Shared filesystem — no action needed
Agent B imports or extends Agent A's output	Sequence them (A finishes first), or use worktrees
Agents write to the same file	Git worktrees — always

Option A — File ownership (lightweight, same working tree)

State explicit ownership in each agent's prompt. Agent B describes the API of Agent A's file by spec, not by reading a moving target.

# Agent 1 prompt:
You OWN these files (create freely):
  - bots/shared/working_memory.py
  - bots/tech-support/memory_server.py
Do NOT touch: bots/shared/vector_memory.py (owned by Agent 2)

# Agent 2 prompt:
You OWN these files:
  - bots/shared/vector_memory.py
  - bots/tech-support/semantic_memory_server.py
Do NOT write: bots/shared/working_memory.py (written by Agent 1 in parallel)
Its API: [describe classes/methods inline in the prompt]

Option B — Git worktrees (full isolation)

# Before spinning agents
git worktree add /tmp/agent-1 -b agent-1-branch
git worktree add /tmp/agent-2 -b agent-2-branch

# In each agent's prompt, set working directory:
# "Working directory: /tmp/agent-1"

# After agents finish — merge on main
git checkout main
git merge agent-1-branch
git merge agent-2-branch    # resolve conflicts if any

# Clean up
git worktree remove /tmp/agent-1
git worktree remove /tmp/agent-2
git branch -d agent-1-branch agent-2-branch

Use worktrees when agents are likely to touch shared config files (.gitignore, pyproject.toml, etc.) even if their primary outputs don't overlap.

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