No Polling Agents

---
name: no-polling-agents
description: "No Polling for Background Agents"
category: ai-agents-and-harness
source_repo: parcadei/Continuous-Claude-v3
source_path: ".claude/skills/no-polling-agents/SKILL.md"
source_url: https://github.com/parcadei/Continuous-Claude-v3/blob/HEAD/.claude/skills/no-polling-agents/SKILL.md
---


# No Polling for Background Agents

When launching parallel background agents, do NOT poll with sleep loops.

## Pattern

Background agents write to status files when complete. Wait for them naturally.

## DO

- Launch agents with `run_in_background: true`
- Continue with other work while agents run
- Check status file only when user asks or when you need results to proceed
- Trust the agent completion system

## DON'T

- Run `sleep 10 && cat status.txt` in loops
- Continuously poll for completion
- Waste tokens checking status repeatedly
- Block on agents unless absolutely necessary

## When to Check Status

1. User explicitly asks "are they done?"
2. You need agent output to proceed with next task
3. Significant time has passed and user is waiting

## Example

```typescript
// Launch agents
Task({ ..., run_in_background: true })
Task({ ..., run_in_background: true })

// Continue with other work or conversation
// Agents will write to status file when done

// Only check when needed
cat .claude/cache/status.txt
```

## Source

User feedback: "You can just wait until everyone pings you"

---

**Source:** [`parcadei/Continuous-Claude-v3`](https://github.com/parcadei/Continuous-Claude-v3) → `.claude/skills/no-polling-agents/SKILL.md`