/delegate — Delegate to a Cheaper Runtime

Hand a bounded task off to Hugin's broker (/v1/delegate/*) via the hugin-mcp MCP server. The broker dispatches to a cheaper one-shot runtime (Ollama on the Pi, or OpenRouter) and returns a single response. This is not the same as /submit-task — that runs a full agent (Claude Code / Codex) on the Pi for autonomous, multi-step work.

When to use which

If the task needs a worktree / git / file edits, use /submit-task instead — pi-large-coder exists in the alias map but isn't wired in v1.

Model check

If the current model is Opus, ask the user to run /model sonnet first. This skill is prompt-shaping plus MCP calls — Sonnet is enough.

Prerequisites

hugin-mcp must be registered as an MCP and connected. Check with claude mcp list. If absent, the user needs to register it (see Hugin's CLAUDE.md for the command and the broker token).

If the MCP is registered but the broker is unreachable, hugin_submit will return a broker_network_error — surface that clearly and stop.

Usage

• /delegate — interactive: ask what to delegate
• /delegate <description> — build a task from the description, confirm, submit

Flow

Step 1: Understand the task

If the user gave a description, paraphrase it back in one line and identify:

• What's the input? (text, list, document — paste it inline if small, otherwise reference)
• What's the desired output? (a summary, a JSON list, a draft email, a rewritten paragraph)
• What's the format? (paragraph, bullets, JSON, etc.)

If anything is unclear, ask one focused question.

Step 2: Pick task_type

Map the user's intent to one of these (the broker uses this for accounting + future routing, not execution):

Step 3: Pick alias_requested

When unsure, start with medium. If the result is poor, tell the user "this might want large-reasoning — want me to retry?"

You can call hugin_models first if you want the live alias map and want to surface the actual underlying model, but don't do this on every invocation — it's a network round-trip.

Step 4: Pick sensitivity

• public — fine to send to any cloud runtime (e.g., paraphrasing public docs)
• internal — default. Not public, but no special privacy concern. Stays within trusted runtimes.

If the content is private (personal correspondence, financial details, secrets), do not delegate — those belong on a local-only runtime, and the v1 broker doesn't expose private. Use /submit-task with Runtime: ollama and an explicit Sensitivity: private instead.

Step 5: Build the prompt

Write a clean, self-contained prompt. The runtime sees only this string — no MCP, no tools, no follow-up. Include:

1. Role / framing — one short sentence ("You are a careful editor.")
2. Input — the actual content, clearly delimited (e.g., between <input> tags)
3. Instruction — what to produce, in what format
4. Constraints — length cap, tone, what to avoid

For structured output (JSON, bulleted list with required fields), spell the schema out and ask for only that — small models drift if you let them.

Keep prompts short. If you're tempted to write a multi-phase plan, you probably want /submit-task, not this.

Step 6: Pick timeout_ms

Omit for the broker default (5 min).

Step 7: Confirm with the user

Show:

• Alias: medium
• Task type: summarize
• Sensitivity: internal
• Timeout: 5 min
• Prompt: (full text — collapse if long)

Ask: "Delegate this to Hugin?"

Step 8: Submit

Call hugin_submit with the validated input. The MCP fills in envelope fields. Capture:

• task_id
• idempotency_key (echoed back — keep it for retries)
• received_at

If reused_idempotency: true, surface that the broker treated this as a replay (probably benign).

On error:

• broker_network_error → broker is unreachable. Tell the user, stop.
• broker_http_error with 401/403 → token mismatch. Tell the user to check HUGIN_BROKER_TOKEN.
• broker_http_error with 4xx + body → schema or policy rejection. Show the body.
• input_validation → my fault — re-shape the input and retry.

Step 9: Poll

Call hugin_await with the task_id. Poll cadence: every 3–5 seconds for the first 30 seconds, then every 10 seconds. Stop polling when:

• status: "completed" — read the result
• status: "failed" — read the error
• orphan_suspected: true — lease expired without completion. Tell the user, offer to wait longer or give up.
• Wall-clock exceeds the requested timeout_ms + 30s buffer

Show light progress feedback ("Still running…") roughly every 30s while polling, not every poll.

Step 10: Surface the result

When completed:

• Show the result body to the user, formatted appropriately for the task type
• Note effective runtime + model from the result envelope (the broker echoes the resolved alias)
• Prompt the user to rate

When failed:

• Show the error kind + message
• Suggest a remedy based on kind:
  • alias_unavailable → retry with a different alias
  • policy_rejected → sensitivity / scanner rejection — explain
  • executor_failed / timeout → retry, or escalate to /submit-task
  • scanner_blocked → the prompt or output tripped a security scanner

Step 11: Rate (optional but encouraged)

Ask the user one question: "How did that go? pass / partial / redo / wrong"

If they rate, also ask for verification_outcome:

• accepted_unchanged — pasted in as-is
• minor_edit — a few tweaks
• major_rewrite — kept the structure but rewrote
• discarded — didn't use it
• escalated_to_claude — re-did the work in Claude

Then call hugin_rate with task_id, rating, rating_reason (one short sentence), verification_outcome. This feeds the future routing model — skipping it isn't fatal, but rate when you can.

If the user doesn't want to rate, skip and move on.

Key Rules

1. Self-contained prompt — the runtime has no tools, no MCP, no memory.
2. One-shot only — no multi-phase, no "after that, do X". For that, use /submit-task.
3. No private content — v1 broker doesn't accept sensitivity: private. Local-only work goes to /submit-task with Runtime: ollama.
4. Don't pre-fetch hugin_models every time — only when the user asks "what's behind medium?" or you need to disambiguate.
5. Surface errors honestly — don't paper over broker_network_error with a retry loop. Tell the user the broker is unreachable.
6. Idempotency on retry — if the user wants to re-submit the exact same task after a transient error, pass back the idempotency_key from the failed response so the broker can dedupe.
7. Rate when you can — the rating feedback is what makes routing better over time. It's the whole point of the broker existing.