Make file ownership explicit
Recent VS Code updates made parallel sessions, integrated browsing and usage visibility easier to access. Those features do not resolve overlapping writes. Before launching sessions, give each an output, an allowed file set and an integration point. If two tasks require the same file, sequence them or designate one owner.
Small coordination board
Session A | Research only | no writes | report sources
Session B | Edit src/components/Chart.tsx | component file only | patch
Session C | Review B after integration | no writes | findings
Integrator | Merge B, fix findings, run tests | shared branch | final diffChoose isolation that matches the work
- Record branch and dirty state before starting.
- Use separate worktrees for simultaneous code changes where available.
- Avoid concurrent writes to shared config, lockfiles and generated artifacts.
- Bring one result into the target branch at a time.
- Rerun build and tests after integration, even if each session passed separately.
Review the combined result and usage
Track total usage and subagent cost in the client if the UI exposes them. Parallel work can save elapsed time while consuming more resources or requiring conflict repair. Measure the final merged diff, not each agent’s isolated success message.
A useful rule is one task owner and one file owner at a time. If that cannot be written down clearly, the tasks are probably not independent enough to run concurrently.