Understand leads, Bandmates, and delegation
Understand how a lead coordinates saved specialists and their assignments.
Last updated 16 September 2026
Understand how a lead coordinates saved specialists and their assignments.
Before you start
A Bandmate is a saved specialist configuration. A lead is the originating conversation that coordinates delegated work. Managed delegation must be enabled separately from using saved Bandmate profiles. Think of the saved profile as the specialist’s standing instructions, and an assignment as one concrete job that uses those instructions.
This lead assigned two read-only reviews to Frontend Engineer and Accessibility Expert. Each assignment has its own status and controls.
Step by step
Open Settings → Band and inspect a profile’s description, provider, model, effort, and enabled state. Choose specialists because their instructions match your task, not just because several profiles are available.
For a single specialist conversation, choose a Bandmate when starting a new chat. That is a standalone chat and does not create a managed team.
For coordinated work, enable Delegation in Beta features and explicitly name or select the Bandmates you want the lead to use.
Give the lead a shared outcome and meaningful boundaries between assignments. The lead determines the work order and verifies the integrated result.
Follow the assignment cards and Band panel. Read each result and the lead’s final review; a Bandmate finishing its own assignment is different from the overall task being complete.
What to expect
You can distinguish a saved profile, its standalone conversation, and an assignment coordinated by a lead. Delegated assignments have their own chats and private Git working copies. The lead remains responsible for the shared result: it decides how the assignments fit together, checks what came back, and explains any unfinished work. You can inspect the individual conversations when you need more detail.
Troubleshooting and useful details
An ordinary request does not automatically authorize a team. Merely mentioning a field such as frontend work is not the same as selecting a specific Bandmate. Explicitly choose the team and keep responsibilities clear. Existing Codex or Claude authentication is used.