description: When and how to use parallel subagents when working in k8s-vollminlab-cluster

Subagent Parallelization

When to spawn a Plan agent

Spawn a Plan agent before acting when two or more of these are true:

• The task touches 3+ files across different namespaces or directories
• You don't know which files need to change
• The task involves risk (SealedSecrets, Kyverno policies, Flux bootstrap, RBAC)
• There are sequential dependencies that aren't obvious

Skip the Plan agent for: single-file edits, chart version bumps, label fixes, adding one resource to a known namespace — act directly.

When to spawn an Explore agent

Use an Explore agent when:

• You need to search across multiple directories and aren't sure what you'll find
• A cross-namespace audit requires reading many files simultaneously
• The search is open-ended (e.g., "what version is X deployed at?")

Use Grep/Glob/Read directly when:

• You know the file path or can find it with a single targeted search
• You've already seen the file in this session

When to parallelize

Parallelize when work is genuinely independent:

• Cross-namespace audits → one agent per namespace simultaneously
• Reading N files before editing → spawn all reads in parallel
• Independent concerns in one PR → parallel reads, then sequential edits

Never parallelize when step B depends on step A (e.g., seal a secret → then commit it).

Subagent types

Example: auditing all HelmRelease chart versions

Spawn one Explore agent per namespace (mediastack, shlink, dmz, cert-manager, etc.) simultaneously, each reading helmrelease.yaml and returning the chart name + version. Collect results, then act.