Outsourcerer

Outsourcerer

Created by: Alex Greenshpun

Delegate the work Claude would hand its own subagents to a cheaper or different engine instead. Model-agnostic; default glm-5.2 (a free Devin lane). One entrypoint:

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/outsourcerer/scripts/outsourcerer.sh <subcommand> [args]

Global flags (--provider, --cloud-ack) work anywhere, before or after the subcommand.

You drive this script in natural language; the user should never learn a flag. If you're explaining a command instead of running it, you're doing it wrong.

Session start: the handshake (this is the default, not raw CLI)

Every session begins by silently running brief — it returns the ready lanes, the user's live limits (e.g. claude5h=95), and a conservation call in one shot. Greet the user with that live picture; if their driving mode is unset, present the three modes and let them pick. The choice is remembered (~/.outsourcerer/mode) — never ask twice.

• A) Auto-pilot — you pick the lane/model/effort (via advise, see below), offload proactively, conserve automatically. Give a one-line receipt (task · model + why · permission mode · cash/plan impact) and proceed. Still stop for: cloud consent, a mutating/dangerous escalation, an ambiguous goal, or real cash spend.
• B) You-drive — never delegate unless asked; when asked, state the proposed task + lane/model + permission + limit impact, then wait.
• C) Hybrid — agree ONCE which task-types auto-delegate (tests, repo-mapping, mechanical grind) and which always ask (edits, architecture, external actions, paid APIs). Uncertain type → ask, never stretch a category.

Set it with mode auto|manual|hybrid (A/B/C accepted). The user re-steers anytime in plain language ("take the wheel", "ask me first"). No mode weakens safety, consent, or permission mode.

Non-interactive callers (bg/fanout/CI) skip the handshake — brief/mode only print, never prompt, so a piped/detached call can't hang.

Conserve on your own (watch the fuel gauge)

brief reads the real Claude 5h/7d window and the ChatGPT/Codex plan. When the 5h window crosses the conserve line (default 50%, OSRC_CONSERVE_THRESHOLD), move mechanical/parallel/long grind OFF Claude and say why: "You're at 95% of your 5h window, routing this to GLM on Devin (free), keeping Claude for judgment." Priority when tight: local ($0/private) → Devin GLM/SWE (free) → keyless Gemini → Codex Sol/Terra (only if the ChatGPT plan has headroom) → OpenRouter (only if funded). Adapt to what the user has — a Codex-only user never gets a Devin tour. Auto/Hybrid do this automatically; You-drive recommends and waits. Conservation changes ROUTING only, never quality/safety/consent.

Pick the model with data, not vibes

When the user hasn't named a model, always run advise — it classifies the task, pulls live benchmark scores, and returns the best value that clears the bar. This is the model-selection brain in every mode; the mode only decides whether you ask first (auto-pilot: take the winner + proceed; you-drive/hybrid: present it and wait). Cheap ≠ dumb: glm/hy3/deepseek are capable tier (frontier capability, budget price) and get flagship-grade prompting. Details: references/model-advisory.md, references/effort-and-tiers.md.

The verbs (verb = permission mode)

run/explore (read-only) · research (sandboxed exec, devin/codex) · edit (auto-accept edits) · yolo (all tools, no sandbox — sparingly). Wrap any verb in bg for supervised background work (poll status), or fanout for N parallel jobs.

session = YOU supervise a delegate live (not a spectator mode). It's a persistent tmux TUI you drive programmatically: session read shows the delegate's actual work as it happens, session send "…" steers it mid-flight, session model <name> switches its model, session stop ends it. This is the one mode with a real feedback loop — headless run/bg/fanout fire-and-forget (you get progress markers or a final result, never the chance to course-correct mid-run). Prefer session for long, complex, exploratory, or high-stakes delegations where catching a wrong turn early, answering the delegate's clarifying question in the moment, or iterating with it beats one blind shot. The read→steer→read loop is exactly what watched sessions get and headless ones miss. (tmux-based → Mac/Linux; on Windows fall back to bg+status.) Full semantics + tiers: references/mechanism.md, references/jobs-and-safety.md.

Model alias → lane (the alias picks the lane; no --provider needed)

Full table + image backend order: references/lanes-and-models.md.

Operating rules

• Cloud consent, once ever. The first cloud delegation needs consent (repo content leaves the machine; a secret-scan hard-block runs on EVERY delegation regardless). Tell the user in one line, then consent grant (or --cloud-ack) — remembered in ~/.outsourcerer/cloud-consent. Never retry a gate refusal blindly; the error names the fix.
• Cost honesty. Split cash from plan limits. A subscription/keyless run is $0 cash but spends finite plan limits — say both. Only the local lane is truly free. Details: references/tab.md.
• "state home NOT WRITABLE" = the sandbox denies ~/.outsourcerer. The error spells out the two fixes (allowWrite, or OSRC_HOME=). Don't rerun unchanged.
• Missing CLI? Say what's missing in one line, suggest the fastest ready lane, keep going.
• Windows: no WSL. Runs under Git Bash; outsourcerer.cmd/.ps1 launch it. Only tmux session is unavailable (bg/fanout cover it).

Subcommands

Core: brief · mode · consent · run/explore/research/edit/yolo · bg/fanout (+ status/watch/result/cancel) · advise · doctor · models. More: suggest/deals (cheap now) · estimate (cost quote) · tab (the ledger) · second-opinion · image · continue · tap (capture live limits without token-optimizer) · parity/parity-codex/parity-droid/parity-cursor (two-way bridges) · cleanup/gc. Failure states map to one-line user messages (done/done?/blocked/timeout/wedged): references/jobs-and-safety.md.

References

• mechanism.md — setup, provider flags, verb/tier semantics, session mode
• lanes-and-models.md — full alias/lane table, native lanes, image backends
• jobs-and-safety.md — background jobs, watchdog, exit codes, failure messages
• parallel-and-fanout.md — fanout, gauntlet recipe, self-heal
• effort-and-tiers.md — --effort per lane, capability-vs-price tiers
• tab.md — cash vs plan-limit accounting, estimates
• model-advisory.md — advise: classification, scoring, thresholds, fallback
• second-opinion-and-parity.md — second-opinion, parity, install paths, env vars