Skip to content
ClaudeClaude

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

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.

May 23, 202645mWatch on YouTube ↗

Episode Details

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

DoorDash gave every employee Claude Code

DoorDash gave every employee Claude Code

Photographing the stars with Claude

Photographing the stars with Claude

Claude Fable 5: working at the frontier

Claude Fable 5: working at the frontier

How Squidsoup makes art installations with Claude

How Squidsoup makes art installations with Claude

The future of work with @Claude

The future of work with @Claude

The Explore → Plan → Code → Commit workflow in Claude Code

The Explore → Plan → Code → Commit workflow in Claude Code

Get more out of YouTube videos.

High quality summaries for YouTube videos. Accurate transcripts to search & find moments. Powered by ChatGPT & Claude AI.