---
title: "Subagent Offload · Agentic Atlas"
description: "Subagent Offload: the dispatch-elsewhere branch."
canonical: "https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload"
last-updated: "2026-08-19"
---

# Subagent Offload · Agentic Atlas

[← the survey](https://agentic-atlas.dev/atlas)

1. pattern
   Subagent Offload
   Hook
   the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
   Thesis
   Dispatch work the orchestrator will never reason over to a child, so its working set burns in the child's window and the orchestrator pays only dispatch and return.
   Laws & fences
  - Isolation is both the mechanism and the price: everything the child needs must cross as dispatch input, and the orchestrator sees the return, not the reasoning.
  - Every dispatch re-boots the child afresh, so N dispatches cost N boots with no warm reuse, a fixed cost that multiplies when fanning out.
  - The child's window bills at whatever tier the executor slot resolved to, and an unstated slot silently inherits the parent's model, effort, and price.
   When to reach
  - Reach for it when the work is separable and its working set dwarfs the conclusion the orchestrator actually needs.
  - Skip it when the orchestrator must reason over the material itself, or the work needs mid-flight steering from the orchestrator's live state.
   Provenance
   [subagent-offload/intent](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#intent) · v1.0.2
   Addresses
   atlas_cards subagent-offload
2. [
   Cost Relocation
   ](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation)
3. [
   Heavy Agent
   ](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent)
4. [
   LLM Dispatch
   ](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/llm-dispatch)
5. [
   Deferred Context
   ](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/deferred-context)
6. [
   Parallel Audit Investigation
   ](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/parallel-audit-investigation)
7. [
   Reference Data
   ](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/reference-data)
8. [
   The Docs Expert
   ](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/docs-expert-agent)
9. [
   The Context Economy
   ](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/context-economy)
10. [
    The Contract
    ](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/contract-documentation)
11. [
    Context Flow
    ](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/context-flow)
12. [
    One Guide, Three Bills
    ](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/one-guide-three-bills)
13. [
    The Session Bill
    ](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/session-bill)
14. field notes
  - “**objective** — value per unit of context spent (cost / state / outcome lenses)”
  - “one fixture PR reviewed five ways — a respectable one-shot climbs to a composed three-reviewer architecture, one priced pattern decision per rung”
  - “the travelling declared-shape contract specialization”
  - “validate at the return seam; re-dispatch over repair; bounded autonomy — the contract keystone, applied”

The Docs ExpertThe Context Economy +6 more unfold the map fold the map

The card, in place · its connections drawn edges from atlas_links subagent-offload

On this plate

[intent](https://agentic-atlas.dev#intent)[use-when](https://agentic-atlas.dev#use-when)[avoid-when](https://agentic-atlas.dev#avoid-when)[forces](https://agentic-atlas.dev#forces)[structure](https://agentic-atlas.dev#structure)[application](https://agentic-atlas.dev#application)[consequences-and-tradeoffs](https://agentic-atlas.dev#consequences-and-tradeoffs)[verification](https://agentic-atlas.dev#verification)[examples](https://agentic-atlas.dev#examples)[relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev#relationships)[lineage](https://agentic-atlas.dev#lineage)[open-questions-todo](https://agentic-atlas.dev#open-questions-todo) [relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev#relationships)

Every section is addressable on its own. Read only the ground you need.

## Intent

[](https://agentic-atlas.dev#intent)

intent.md

An [orchestrator](https://agentic-atlas.dev/glossary/orchestrator) is about to admit a working set it will never reason over itself — a sweep's file dumps, a specialist's instructions, an expensive read. Carried inline, that material competes for the orchestrator's window even though the orchestrator isn't the one doing the work.

The move: [dispatch](https://agentic-atlas.dev/glossary/dispatch) the work across the parent-child edge. Whatever the child loads, reads, or reasons through is admitted into *its* window; the orchestrator pays the dispatch and the [return](https://agentic-atlas.dev/glossary/return), and every token between them bills elsewhere. The [actor](https://agentic-atlas.dev/glossary/actor) boundary is the offload — no further mechanism is involved. This is the who-axis branch of [Cost Relocation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation); the when-axis sibling is [Deferred Context](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/deferred-context), and the contrast between them is the parent's *Structure*, not this node's.

## Use when

[](https://agentic-atlas.dev#use-when)

use-when.md

The parent's chooser has already typed the task to this branch — a different actor can absorb the work and hand back a conclusion. The branch-level observables:

- **The work is separable.** A conclusion can stand in for the working set: the orchestrator needs the answer, not the material the answer came from.
- **The working set dwarfs its conclusion.** The gap between what the child reads and what it returns is the entire win.

Whether the win clears break-even is ***objective** — value per unit of context spent (cost / state / outcome lenses)*'s call, per the parent's which/whether line.

## Avoid when

[](https://agentic-atlas.dev#avoid-when)

avoid-when.md

These close the who-axis alone; a contraindication that closes both axes is found at [Cost Relocation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation).

- **The orchestrator must reason over the material itself.** The who-axis is closed; the only relocation left is the sibling's — defer, don't dispatch.
- **The work needs mid-flight steering or the orchestrator's live working state.** Packing all of it into the dispatch re-imports the context pressure the offload was meant to relieve.
- **The conclusion rivals the working set.** A return nearly the size of what the child read relocates little but the reading; the shape is stated here, the [The Context Economy](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/context-economy) prices it.

## Forces

[](https://agentic-atlas.dev#forces)

forces.md

[Pointer](https://agentic-atlas.dev/glossary/pointer) economy and the model-votes-on-the-trigger disposition are the [Cost Relocation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation)'s forces; the function pointer is this branch's instance of each.

1. **Isolation is both the mechanism and the price.** The same boundary that keeps the working set out of the orchestrator's window keeps the orchestrator's window away from the child — everything the child needs must cross as dispatch input (the packing checklist lives at the [LLM Dispatch](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/llm-dispatch)) — and hides the trajectory: the orchestrator sees the return, not the reasoning.
2. **Every dispatch re-boots.** The child admits its standing definition afresh each invocation — a structural fact of the edge that this branch pays in context coin: N dispatches, N boots, no warm reuse.

## Structure

[](https://agentic-atlas.dev#structure)

structure.md

- The **orchestrator** stays lean: it holds the function pointer (the agent's name + description — the parent's pointer vocabulary, in its [trigger-contract](https://agentic-atlas.dev/glossary/trigger-contract) role) and the narrow task, never the working set.
- The **edge** is the primitive's, whole: anatomy, packing, executor resolution, scheduling. Nothing about the edge is redefined here.
- The **child's window** is where the working set is admitted — authored weight, runtime reading, intermediate reasoning, all of it. The child is a full-capacity agent, not a retrieval helper: the offloaded unit can be an entire investigation with its own tools, turns, and local decisions.
- The **return** is the one cost that must cross back. Its shape and checking are the return neighbors' jurisdiction (*Relationships*), named here as the boundary only.

## Application

[](https://agentic-atlas.dev#application)

application.md

Name the separable unit and draw the line around it; author the function pointer so the dispatch triggers at the right moment; pack the dispatch by the primitive's checklist — and resolve the executor slot deliberately, because an unstated slot inherits the parent's model and effort, moving the bill to another window without moving the price. Declare what comes back; keep it smaller than what it replaces. Treat the dispatch like an async function when the work is independent: retain its handle, continue the orchestrator's own work, then join only when the return is needed. Immediate await versus later join is the primitive's scheduling choice; whose window owns the investigation is this pattern's move.

## Consequences and tradeoffs

[](https://agentic-atlas.dev#consequences-and-tradeoffs)

consequences-and-tradeoffs.md

- **The orchestrator's bill collapses to pointer + dispatch + return.** The working set never admits; the parent's verification owns the arithmetic.
- **Aggregate working capacity expands across windows.** The orchestrator and child can each fill a standard agent window with different material, then cross only the answer at the [seam](https://agentic-atlas.dev/glossary/seam). Total execution cost rises; orchestrator capacity is what expands.
- **You bought relief with visibility and steerability.** Only the return is observable; correction happens by re-dispatch, not by steering. The developed per-child form is [Heavy Agent](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent)'s *Tradeoff*.
- **The fixed cost multiplies.** Boot cost per dispatch — easy to forget when fanning out.
- **The relocated cost keeps a price tag.** The child's window bills at whatever tier the executor slot resolved to; silent inheritance means the parent's tier, and the parent's price.
- **The return can't be offloaded.** Shaping and checking it belong to the return neighbors, not here.

## Verification

[](https://agentic-atlas.dev#verification)

verification.md

The branch instance of the parent's checks:

- **Deterministic — the bill moved windows.** The orchestrator's transcript carries only the pointer, the dispatch, and the return; the working set appears in the child's transcript alone. The parent's residency arithmetic (tokens × turns) is the instrument.
- **Probabilistic — packing sufficiency.** Did the child starve or guess where the dispatch under-packed? The primitive names the failure; sampled runs surface it. Trigger fidelity and outcome parity remain the parent's residue, unchanged by the branch.

## Examples

[](https://agentic-atlas.dev#examples)

examples.md

- **[Parallel Audit Investigation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/parallel-audit-investigation)** — the canonical *runtime-heavy* case: a full-capacity child investigates the repository's contract-audit state while the orchestrator keeps drafting, then returns only the verdict and evidence.
- **[The Docs Expert](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/docs-expert-agent)** — the *authored-heavy* case, one hop down inside heavy agent; also the parent's elsewhere-instance.
- ***one fixture PR reviewed five ways — a respectable one-shot climbs to a composed three-reviewer architecture, one priced pattern decision per rung*** (drafting) — rung (d) of the review ladder is this node's move inside a composition: three reviewers become parallel child dispatches, and the rung turns on a portable, SHA-pinned dispatch package built one rung earlier.

## Relationships

[](https://agentic-atlas.dev#relationships)

relationships.md

- **Wields [LLM Dispatch](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/llm-dispatch) for the context motive.** The motivation-agnostic edge — anatomy, packing, executor slot, scheduling modes, fan-out topology — lives there; this node adds only the reason to cross it.
- **Child of [Cost Relocation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation)**, which owns the later/elsewhere split, the data/function pointer vocabulary, the cross-branch rhyme with [Reference Data](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/reference-data), the chooser, and the billing verification.
- **Parent of [Heavy Agent](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent)** — the [specialization](https://agentic-atlas.dev/glossary/specialization) where the offloaded weight is baked into the [agent definition](https://agentic-atlas.dev/glossary/agent-definition).
- **Return-side neighbors:** the [The Contract](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/contract-documentation) for the return contract, the *the travelling declared-shape contract specialization* for distilling it (its aggregation leg is the many-children case), and *validate at the return seam; re-dispatch over repair; bounded autonomy — the contract keystone, applied* for checking it. They own what comes back; this node ends at the offload.

## Lineage

[](https://agentic-atlas.dev#lineage)

lineage.md

Encapsulation and information hiding (Parnas, 1972): a module's interior is bought at the cost of visibility into it. "Isolation cuts both ways" is that tradeoff — the parent gains a bounded interface and loses the ability to see inside.

## Open questions / TODO

[](https://agentic-atlas.dev#open-questions-todo)

open-questions-todo.md

- **Evidence gap — the stable gate:** promote the runtime-heavy Explore case to a real, reviewed example node. — **resolved 2026-08-06** by [Parallel Audit Investigation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/parallel-audit-investigation), a live full-task dispatch run concurrently with the example rewrite.

The relationships ledger

Evidence-bearing references

## Relationships

Every connection keeps the section where it was found. The map above orients; this ledger carries the evidence.

### Outbound references 19

1. in-slice · occurrence 1
   [Cost Relocation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation)
   change when or whose window pays; may compose with selection or distillation
   Evidence: [Intent](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#intent) · occurrence 1
2. in-slice · occurrence 2
   [Deferred Context](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/deferred-context)
   the *load-in-place* branch: defer by probability *and lateness* of need — a 50-token pointer buys ~60× on the session that never fires
   Evidence: [Intent](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#intent) · occurrence 2
3. undisclosed · occurrence 1
   Undisclosed relationship
   **objective** — value per unit of context spent (cost / state / outcome lenses)
   Evidence: [Use when](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#use-when) · occurrence 1
4. in-slice · occurrence 1
   [Cost Relocation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation)
   change when or whose window pays; may compose with selection or distillation
   Evidence: [Avoid when](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#avoid-when) · occurrence 1
5. in-slice · occurrence 2
   [The Context Economy](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/context-economy)
   **statics** — the price list: denominations, the quality curve, cost classes, time value
   Evidence: [Avoid when](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#avoid-when) · occurrence 2
6. in-slice · occurrence 1
   [Cost Relocation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation)
   change when or whose window pays; may compose with selection or distillation
   Evidence: [Forces](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#forces) · occurrence 1
7. in-slice · occurrence 2
   [LLM Dispatch](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/llm-dispatch)
   the parent-child execution primitive; serial, parallel, joined, or fire-and-forget
   Evidence: [Forces](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#forces) · occurrence 2
8. in-slice · occurrence 1
   [Heavy Agent](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent)
   the *authored-heavy* specialization
   Evidence: [Consequences and tradeoffs](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#consequences-and-tradeoffs) · occurrence 1
9. in-slice · occurrence 1
   [Parallel Audit Investigation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/parallel-audit-investigation)
   a full agent investigates in parallel; its working set stays elsewhere and only the verdict returns
   Evidence: [Examples](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#examples) · occurrence 1
10. in-slice · occurrence 2
    [The Docs Expert](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/docs-expert-agent)
    a large reference baked into the agent; narrow questions in, distilled answers out — the orchestrator never loads the docs
    Evidence: [Examples](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#examples) · occurrence 2
11. undisclosed · occurrence 3
    Undisclosed relationship
    one fixture PR reviewed five ways — a respectable one-shot climbs to a composed three-reviewer architecture, one priced pattern decision per rung
    Evidence: [Examples](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#examples) · occurrence 3
12. in-slice · occurrence 1
    [LLM Dispatch](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/llm-dispatch)
    the parent-child execution primitive; serial, parallel, joined, or fire-and-forget
    Evidence: [Relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#relationships) · occurrence 1
13. in-slice · occurrence 2
    [Cost Relocation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation)
    change when or whose window pays; may compose with selection or distillation
    Evidence: [Relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#relationships) · occurrence 2
14. in-slice · occurrence 3
    [Reference Data](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/reference-data)
    the *authored-heavy* specialization: disk-resident, grep-addressable — pay for the size of the answer
    Evidence: [Relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#relationships) · occurrence 3
15. in-slice · occurrence 4
    [Heavy Agent](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent)
    the *authored-heavy* specialization
    Evidence: [Relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#relationships) · occurrence 4
16. in-slice · occurrence 5
    [The Contract](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/contract-documentation)
    expectations at a seam, from informal prose to enforced structure
    Evidence: [Relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#relationships) · occurrence 5
17. undisclosed · occurrence 6
    Undisclosed relationship
    the travelling declared-shape contract specialization
    Evidence: [Relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#relationships) · occurrence 6
18. undisclosed · occurrence 7
    Undisclosed relationship
    validate at the return seam; re-dispatch over repair; bounded autonomy — the contract keystone, applied
    Evidence: [Relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#relationships) · occurrence 7
19. in-slice · occurrence 1
    [Parallel Audit Investigation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/parallel-audit-investigation)
    a full agent investigates in parallel; its working set stays elsewhere and only the verdict returns
    Evidence: [Open questions / TODO](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/subagent-offload#open-questions-todo) · occurrence 1

### Inbound references 19

1. in-slice · occurrence 4
   [Context Flow](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/context-flow#relationships)
   the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
   Evidence: [Relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/context-flow#relationships) · occurrence 4
2. in-slice · occurrence 2
   [Cost Relocation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation#avoid-when-both-axes-closed)
   the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
   Evidence: [Avoid when](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation#avoid-when-both-axes-closed) · occurrence 2
3. in-slice · occurrence 4
   [Cost Relocation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation#structure-two-branches-one-per-axis)
   the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
   Evidence: [Structure](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation#structure-two-branches-one-per-axis) · occurrence 4
4. in-slice · occurrence 5
   [Cost Relocation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation#relationships)
   the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
   Evidence: [Relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/cost-relocation#relationships) · occurrence 5
5. in-slice · occurrence 2
   [Deferred Context](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/deferred-context#intent-the-problem-and-the-move)
   the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
   Evidence: [Intent](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/deferred-context#intent-the-problem-and-the-move) · occurrence 2
6. in-slice · occurrence 2
   [Deferred Context](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/deferred-context#relationships)
   the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
   Evidence: [Relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/deferred-context#relationships) · occurrence 2
7. in-slice · occurrence 3
   [The Docs Expert](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/docs-expert-agent#choice-why-it-s-a-heavy-agent-not-just-subagent-offload)
   the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
   Evidence: [Choice](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/docs-expert-agent#choice-why-it-s-a-heavy-agent-not-just-subagent-offload) · occurrence 3
8. in-slice · occurrence 1
   [Heavy Agent](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent#use-when-the-weight-is-authored)
   the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
   Evidence: [Use when](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent#use-when-the-weight-is-authored) · occurrence 1
9. in-slice · occurrence 1
   [Heavy Agent](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent#avoid-when-where-the-pattern-ends)
   the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
   Evidence: [Avoid when](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent#avoid-when-where-the-pattern-ends) · occurrence 1
10. in-slice · occurrence 1
    [Heavy Agent](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent#forces)
    the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
    Evidence: [Forces](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent#forces) · occurrence 1
11. in-slice · occurrence 1
    [Heavy Agent](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent#application)
    the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
    Evidence: [Application](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent#application) · occurrence 1
12. in-slice · occurrence 1
    [Heavy Agent](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent#verification)
    the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
    Evidence: [Verification](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/heavy-agent#verification) · occurrence 1
13. in-slice · occurrence 1
    [LLM Dispatch](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/llm-dispatch#model-and-claims)
    the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
    Evidence: [Model and claims](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/llm-dispatch#model-and-claims) · occurrence 1
14. in-slice · occurrence 2
    [LLM Dispatch](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/llm-dispatch#relationships)
    the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
    Evidence: [Relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/llm-dispatch#relationships) · occurrence 2
15. in-slice · occurrence 3
    [One Guide, Three Bills](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/one-guide-three-bills#choice)
    the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
    Evidence: [Choice](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/one-guide-three-bills#choice) · occurrence 3
16. in-slice · occurrence 1
    [Parallel Audit Investigation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/parallel-audit-investigation#choice)
    the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
    Evidence: [Choice](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/parallel-audit-investigation#choice) · occurrence 1
17. in-slice · occurrence 3
    [Reference Data](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/reference-data#examples)
    the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
    Evidence: [Examples](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/reference-data#examples) · occurrence 3
18. in-slice · occurrence 4
    [Reference Data](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/reference-data#relationships)
    the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
    Evidence: [Relationships](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/reference-data#relationships) · occurrence 4
19. in-slice · occurrence 4
    [The Session Bill](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/session-bill#implementation-the-six-shifts)
    the *dispatch-elsewhere* branch
    Evidence: [Implementation](https://agentic-atlas.dev/nodes/session-bill#implementation-the-six-shifts) · occurrence 4

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Node subagent-offload · corpus 31de4cb · Catalog revision 35263c4c415da742953d0462804fb14424e2244dae4c63efd27e468988de70ab