Tool, skill, or subagent? Decomposing an agent that outgrew its prompt

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

May 23, 2026

Duration

45m

Channel

Claude

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

When does logic belong in a tool, a skill, or a subagent? You'll learn the decision framework by doing: inherit a 402-line inventory agent, decompose it live on Claude Managed Agents, and run evals after every change to see what flips.

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Claude, Tool, skill, or subagent? Decomposing an agent that outgrew its prompt explores fixing bloated AI agents using skills, tools, and subagents wisely The talk simulates a real-world agent (Stockpilot) that accumulated requirements over time, resulting in a ~400-line system prompt, many tools, multiple subagents, and performance regressions.

🔗 RELATED EPISODES

What does AI actually know about you?

Can you trust what AI tells you?

How Ramp engineers work with AI agents at every step

What happens when you talk to AI?

How auto mode works with Claude Code

Building AI-native across industries with NTT, Mizuho and Mercari