Assign Pattern

The assign MCP tool provides asynchronous task delegation. A supervisor agent dispatches a task to a new worker agent and continues working without waiting for the result.

MCP Tool Signature

assign(
  agent_profile: str,    # Required. Agent profile name
  message: str,          # Required. Task message
  working_directory?: str,  # Optional. Only when CAO_ENABLE_WORKING_DIRECTORY=true
  model?: str            # Optional. Override the agent's model
)

Parameter	Required	Description
agent_profile	Yes	The agent profile to launch for the worker
message	Yes	The task description sent to the new worker
working_directory	No	Set the working directory for the worker (requires CAO_ENABLE_WORKING_DIRECTORY=true)
model	No	Override the agent's model

Behavior

1. The supervisor agent calls assign via the cao-mcp-server
2. CAO creates a new terminal with the specified agent profile
3. The task message is sent to that terminal
4. The supervisor continues immediately without waiting
5. The worker runs asynchronously in the same session as the supervisor (as a separate tmux window)
6. The worker reports back via send_message — CAO appends an instruction to the task message telling the worker which terminal to reply to

When to Use

• Independent tasks that can run in parallel
• Long-running operations where blocking the supervisor is undesirable
• Fan-out workflows (one supervisor, many workers)

Example

A supervisor agent orchestrating a code review might call:

{
  "tool": "assign",
  "arguments": {
    "agent_profile": "developer",
    "message": "Run integration tests for the auth module and report results"
  }
}

The supervisor continues its own work while the worker executes independently.