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feat: add model tiering for agents#2

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feat/model-tiering
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feat: add model tiering for agents#2
mariuszs wants to merge 1 commit intomasterfrom
feat/model-tiering

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@mariuszs mariuszs commented Mar 26, 2026

Summary

Assigns AI models to agents based on cognitive demand, instead of uniformly inheriting the parent model (Opus).

Conservative approach — Sonnet only where risk is minimal:

Tier Model Agents
Thinking Opus (inherit) All 20 reasoning agents (planning, spec creation, architecture, code review, analysis)
Execution Sonnet task-group-implementer (follows detailed plan), test-suite-runner (runs commands, reports results)
Classification Haiku task-classifier (new), project-analyzer (already haiku)

Why

  • Cost: Opus tokens are ~5x more expensive than Sonnet. The implementer is the biggest token consumer — it writes all the code. Moving it to Sonnet gives the most savings.
  • Speed: Sonnet is faster — implementation and test phases become snappier.
  • No quality loss: Both Sonnet agents receive explicit instructions (detailed plan with file paths and steps, or test commands to run). They execute, not reason.
  • Conservative scope: Initially considered 11 agents on Sonnet, narrowed to 2 after reviewing risk without a model escalation mechanism. Only agents with pure execution profiles made the cut.

Future considerations

  • Model escalation: If an agent returns BLOCKED, automatically retry with a more capable model (pattern from superpowers project)
  • Expand Sonnet tier: With escalation in place, more agents can safely move to Sonnet
  • Haiku for implementation: With sufficiently detailed plans, even Haiku could handle simple tasks

@mariuszs mariuszs force-pushed the feat/model-tiering branch from dc07f7b to b1ce36c Compare March 26, 2026 10:51
Assign models by cognitive demand:
- Opus (inherit): planning, spec, architecture, review agents
- Sonnet: task-group-implementer, test-suite-runner
- Haiku: task-classifier, project-analyzer
@mariuszs mariuszs force-pushed the feat/model-tiering branch from b1ce36c to 6913121 Compare March 26, 2026 10:58
@mariuszs mariuszs changed the title Add model tiering for agents feat: add model tiering for agents Mar 26, 2026
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