To sweep an entire repository for a class of problem without blowing the main session's context window, split the audit into independent slices and launch one Atlas task per slice. The task tool launches subagents in their own sessions, so their file dumps never enter your context: only their conclusions come back. Use subagent_type explore for a read-only sweep, since the explore subagent is deny-by-default and read-only, which makes it the right one for an audit where nothing should change, or general when the subagent must also run commands. Issue the task calls together so they run concurrently, then merge the findings into one todowrite list and fix them in the main session with edit.
How does Atlas audit a whole repo without filling the context window?
Atlas fans out work to subagents that can run in the foreground or in parallel background sessions, and the task tool launches each subagent in its own session. A 12 slice audit therefore reads 12 slices worth of files, while the main session receives only 12 conclusions.
Context exhaustion is the reason repo-wide audits usually fail. Reading every file in a large repository into one session fills the context window long before the sweep is done, and quality collapses as the context window fills. Subagent isolation changes the arithmetic: the subagent's file dumps live in the child session and die with it. What crosses back into the parent session is the subagent's final message. A parallel subagent audit is bounded by the number of slices you launch, not by the size of the repository, so a 400 file monorepo and a 40 file service cost the main session roughly the same context.
How do I split an audit into slices for Atlas subagents?
Split the audit into independent slices so the subagents do not overlap: by directory, by package, or by rule. Overlap is the one thing that wastes a parallel Atlas audit, because 2 subagents auditing the same package return the same finding twice and neither one covered the package nobody was assigned.
Slicing by directory or by package suits an audit whose scope is the whole repo and whose rule is single, such as every place a secret is read from an environment variable. Slicing by rule suits the inverse case, where the scope is one package and the rules are many. Use glob to enumerate the tree and grep to sample it in the main session first, so the slice boundaries follow the real directory layout rather than an imagined one. A slice list you can read out loud is a slice list whose subagents will not overlap.
What is the difference between the explore and general subagent in Atlas?
Atlas offers 2 subagent types for an audit. The explore subagent is deny-by-default and read-only, which makes it the right one for an audit where nothing should change. The general subagent can act, so choose subagent_type explore for a read-only sweep and general only when the subagent must also run commands.
Deny-by-default is a stronger guarantee than an instruction. Telling a subagent not to modify anything relies on the subagent complying. Launching it as explore means the permission layer refuses the write regardless of what the model decides to try, and every Atlas tool call is permission-gated against allow, ask, and deny rules before it runs. For an audit, that is exactly the property you want: dozens of agents reading in parallel, and none of them with the ability to touch a file.
How do I run Atlas subagents in parallel instead of one at a time?
Issue the task calls together so they run concurrently rather than one after another. Atlas fans out work to subagents that can run in the foreground or in parallel background sessions, so 8 slices issued together complete in the time of the slowest slice, not the sum of all 8.
Sequential task calls are the most common mistake in a parallel audit, and the symptom is simply that the audit takes as long as a single-session sweep would have. The fix is structural rather than clever: the task calls for independent slices have no dependency on each other, so they belong in one batch. Slices that genuinely depend on an earlier result, such as a second pass over files the first pass flagged, are the exception and should be issued after that result lands.
What happens when an Atlas subagent fails or is cancelled?
Atlas collects each subagent's final message, and the task tool surfaces the child's error text verbatim if it fails, and Task cancelled if it was cancelled. Verbatim propagation matters in a 10 slice audit, because a silent failure looks identical to a slice that found nothing.
A missing finding and a crashed subagent produce the same empty result, and only one of them is good news. Because the task tool surfaces the child's error text verbatim, a slice that blew up on a permission denial or a bad path says so, and Task cancelled distinguishes a slice you stopped from a slice that broke. Re-run the failed slice rather than accepting the gap. An audit with an unexplained hole in coverage is worse than no audit, because it produces false confidence.
How do I merge subagent findings and fix them in Atlas?
Atlas merges the findings from every subagent into one todowrite list and fixes them in the main session with the edit tool. Consolidating first is what keeps a 30 finding audit from becoming 30 uncoordinated patches, since the same root cause often produces findings in 4 different slices.
The fixes happen in the main session on purpose. The main session holds the merged picture, so it can see that six findings across four packages are one missing helper rather than six independent bugs. Every edit runs through the permission gate, and Atlas computes a unified diff for every file edit and surfaces it for approval before writing, which is the human review point for the entire audit. The subagents read, the todowrite list triages, and you approve every change that lands.
Step by step
- 01Split the audit into independent slices (by directory, by package, by rule) so the subagents do not overlap, using glob and grep first if you need to see the shape of the tree.
- 02Launch one task per slice with subagent_type explore for a read-only sweep, since the explore subagent is deny-by-default and read-only.
- 03Use subagent_type general instead only when the subagent must also run commands, because the general subagent can act.
- 04Issue the task calls together so they run concurrently rather than one after another.
- 05Collect each subagent's final message. The task tool surfaces the child's error text verbatim if it fails, and Task cancelled if it was cancelled, so re-run any slice that did not complete.
- 06Merge the findings into one todowrite list so duplicate root causes collapse into a single item.
- 07Fix the items in the main session with the edit tool, approving the unified diff Atlas surfaces for each file.
Frequently asked questions
- how do I audit a large codebase without running out of context
- Split the audit into independent slices and launch one Atlas task per slice. The task tool launches subagents in their own sessions, so their file dumps never enter your context. Only each subagent's conclusion comes back to the main session.
- what is subagent_type explore in Atlas?
- The explore subagent is deny-by-default and read-only, which makes it the right choice for an audit where nothing should change. The general subagent can act, so use general only when the subagent must also run commands.
- how do I make Atlas subagents run in parallel?
- Issue the task calls together rather than one after another. Atlas fans out work to subagents that can run in the foreground or in parallel background sessions, so slices issued as one batch complete in the time of the slowest slice.
- how do I know if an Atlas subagent failed instead of finding nothing?
- The task tool surfaces the child's error text verbatim if the subagent fails, and returns Task cancelled if it was cancelled. Without that, a crashed slice would look identical to a slice that legitimately found no issues.
- can an Atlas subagent modify files during an audit?
- Not if you launch it with subagent_type explore, which is deny-by-default and read-only. Every Atlas tool call is permission-gated against allow, ask, and deny rules before it runs, so the permission layer refuses the write rather than trusting the model to abstain.
- how should I divide up a repo-wide audit?
- By directory, by package, or by rule, whichever produces slices that do not overlap. Overlapping slices return the same finding twice and leave some other area uncovered. Use glob and grep in the main session first if you need to see the tree before drawing boundaries.
- where do I fix the issues a parallel Atlas audit finds?
- In the main session, with the edit tool, after merging every subagent's findings into one todowrite list. The main session holds the merged picture, so several findings that share a root cause collapse into a single fix. Each edit surfaces a unified diff for approval before writing.
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