Agent skill · software engineering · cursor
swarm
Fan out N parallel workers, drain them, and return one report. Use for /swarm, 'swarm this', or parallel coverage, races, gauntlets, and exploration.
Why this skill is useful
Adds a detailed executable workflow for managing parallel cloud workers, including specific commands and structure not commonly found in public documentation.
What it needs
Requires cursor installed locally. About 2k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-06. 2,555 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Swarm Fan out N parallel cloud workers. They may cover separate slices, race the same brief, or mix both. The parent waits, aggregates, and returns one report. Start Open a todolist with one entry per phase before launching anything. 1. Frame 2. Fan out 3. Aggregate 4. Report Phase A: Frame 1. State the done predicate and the artifact or report the swarm must return. 2. Choose the shape. Partition into slices, race N workers on identical briefs, or mix both. For a race or mixed shape, declare first pass, rank all, or best-of before spawning. 3. Set N from the user or derive it from the shape. N is total workers, not the cloud concurrency limit. 4. Pick the worker model from the swarm workers line in ~/.cursor/rules/pstack-models.mdc. If the rule or that line is missing, use grok-4.7-xhigh-fast. For auto or inherit-parent, omit model so the workers run on the parent model. If the Task tool rejects a slug, use the default and say so. If it rejects the default, use the closest valid slug of the same family from its error message. For a model race, name each arm's model up front. 5. Give each worker its own writable output when it writes. When workers verify or measure commits, each brief names the exact SHAs. A measurement brief also names the method (sample count, what one sample is, order). The worker records both in its result. Phase B: Fan out Spawn all N workers in one message with subagenttype: generalPurpose, environment: "cloud", runinbackground: true, and the step 4 model, left unset for auto or inherit-parent. Use environment: "local" only when the worker needs access to something on the user's computer. When a worker must start from a non-default pushed branch, pass cloudbasebranch. Every brief stands alone. Include the goal, scope, exact slice or race arm, how to verify, and what to report. Reports use PASS, ISSUES, or BLOCKED with evidence. A worker that can prove a defect reports ISSUES and lists every issue it can prove, not only the first. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills cursor/swarm