Subagents

Subagents are fresh-context helpers that Ziva can delegate focused work to, then bring the result back into your chat.

Bundled Subagents

• General handles research and multi-step work, including independent tasks Ziva can run in parallel.
• Explore searches your project quickly and answers questions about how the codebase works.
• Full Game Playtest launches and plays your Godot game to answer a specific gameplay question with evidence. See Playtest.

The Full Game Playtest Agent is Godot-only and requires Pro. General and Explore are available on every plan.

How to use them

1. Give Ziva a task with a focused investigation or several independent parts.
2. Ask it to delegate the work, optionally naming General, Explore, Full Game Playtest, or one of your custom Subagents.
3. Review the findings Ziva brings back and continue in the main chat.

Choose the model for a task

Subagents normally use their configured model, or inherit the current chat model when they have no model of their own. When your chat uses a connected Claude or Codex subscription model that supports images, Subagents inherit it even if they have a configured model, avoiding extra Ziva usage.

If you ask for the default model, Ziva keeps that usual selection. Leaving the task’s model choice out, passing null, an empty or whitespace-only choice, or the exact word default (with optional surrounding spaces) all leave that selection unchanged. Other model IDs are explicit choices. You can put your model preferences in your project’s AGENTS.md.

To request another model, give Ziva its exact model ID. A different provider may use a different account or billing source. The Full Game Playtest Agent still requires Pro regardless of the model you choose.

Subagents receive the task brief Ziva gives them, rather than the full parent conversation. Choosing a model does not share the conversation with them.

If Ziva reports that a requested model is unavailable, check the ID or ask it to use the Subagent’s default model.

Create a custom Subagent

Put each definition in its own .md file:

• Global: ~/.ziva/agents/ or ~/.agents/agents/
• Project: <project>/.ziva/agents/ or <project>/.agents/agents/

Project definitions replace global definitions with the same name. In Settings → Agent → Resource discovery, the Custom Subagents row has Global and Project switches to turn each on or off.

---
description: Review scene architecture and report coupling risks
tools: [read, grep_code, glob]
model: ziva/smart
---
 
Inspect the relevant scenes and scripts. Report findings without editing files.

Ziva reads four frontmatter fields: optional name (otherwise the filename), required description, optional tools as a YAML array or comma-separated list, and optional model as a hosted Ziva alias such as ziva/smart.

The Markdown body is the required system prompt. Omit tools to inherit the active tools and omit model to inherit the current chat model. Bundled names are reserved and cannot be replaced.