# Batch Orchestrator — Future Improvements

Improvements identified during design but explicitly out of scope for the initial implementation.

## Live Subagent Streaming

**What:** Real-time visibility into subagent work as it happens, not just after completion.

**Why deferred:** Claude Code subagents currently return results only on completion. Live streaming would require changes to the Agent tool or a workaround (e.g., file-watching with periodic reads).

**Possible approaches:**
- Subagent writes incremental progress to a `.progress` file; orchestrator polls periodically
- Future Claude Code feature: streaming subagent output to parent

## Cross-Wave Parallelization

**What:** When Wave 3 Module A completes, start Wave 4 work for Module A while Wave 3 Module B is still running.

**Why deferred:** Creates complex dependency graphs and merge conflicts on shared output files. The sequential group model is simpler and sufficient for current needs.

**Prerequisite:** Clear per-module output isolation across phases, not just within a phase.

## Automatic Retry on Subagent Failure

**What:** If a subagent fails (context overflow, tool error), automatically retry with adjusted parameters.

**Why deferred:** Failure modes need to be observed in practice first before designing retry logic. Current approach: orchestrator reports failure, user decides.

## Batch Resume After Interruption

**What:** If a batch is interrupted (crash, user closes VS Code), resume from where it left off.

**Why deferred:** task.md checkboxes already track completion. A partial batch leaves some items `[x]` and others `[ ]`. Restarting `/project:run-batch` naturally picks up remaining items. Explicit resume logic adds complexity with little benefit over this natural behavior.

## Dynamic Parallelization Hints

**What:** Allow task.md to contain explicit parallelization overrides beyond the heading-based grouping (e.g., `<!-- parallel: false -->` to force sequential within a group).

**Why deferred:** Heading-based grouping covers known use cases. Override syntax adds complexity that may never be needed.