team-communication-protocols

1# Team Communication Protocols
2 
3Protocols for effective communication between agent teammates, including message type selection, plan approval workflows, shutdown procedures, and common anti-patterns to avoid.
4 
5## When to Use This Skill
6 
7- Establishing communication norms for a new team
8- Choosing between message types (message, broadcast, shutdown_request)
9- Handling plan approval workflows
10- Managing graceful team shutdown
11- Discovering teammate identities and capabilities
12 
13## Message Type Selection
14 
15### `message` (Direct Message) — Default Choice
16 
17Send to a single specific teammate:
18 
19```json
20{
21  "type": "message",
22  "recipient": "implementer-1",
23  "content": "Your API endpoint is ready. You can now build the frontend form.",
24  "summary": "API endpoint ready for frontend"
25}
26```
27 
28**Use for**: Task updates, coordination, questions, integration notifications.
29 
30### `broadcast` — Use Sparingly
31 
32Send to ALL teammates simultaneously:
33 
34```json
35{
36  "type": "broadcast",
37  "content": "Critical: shared types file has been updated. Pull latest before continuing.",
38  "summary": "Shared types updated"
39}
40```
41 
42**Use ONLY for**: Critical blockers affecting everyone, major changes to shared resources.
43 
44**Why sparingly?**: Each broadcast sends N separate messages (one per teammate), consuming API resources proportional to team size.
45 
46### `shutdown_request` — Graceful Termination
47 
48Request a teammate to shut down:
49 
50```json
51{
52  "type": "shutdown_request",
53  "recipient": "reviewer-1",
54…