Era Code configures specialized AI agents for different tasks. Each agent has specific capabilities and constraints to ensure focused, high-quality work.
Agent Overview
Primary Agents
| Agent | Purpose | Can Edit Code |
|---|
orchestration | Main coordinator, delegates to specialist agents | Yes |
plan | Strategic planning, creates docs/plans | No |
Implementation Specialists
| Agent | Purpose | Can Edit Code |
|---|
backend-developer | Server-side code and APIs | Yes |
frontend-developer | React/UI components | Yes |
database-engineer | Schema design and migrations | Yes |
infrastructure-engineer | Docker, K8s, CI/CD | Yes |
api-integrator | Webhooks and SDK clients | Yes |
code-refactorer | Refactoring without behavior change | Yes |
migration-engineer | Technology and framework migrations | Yes |
Testing Specialists
| Agent | Purpose | Can Edit Code |
|---|
unit-test-engineer | Unit tests | Yes (tests) |
integration-test-engineer | API and cross-service tests | Yes (tests) |
e2e-test-engineer | End-to-end workflow tests | Yes (tests) |
security-test-engineer | OWASP and secrets scanning | Yes (tests) |
performance-test-engineer | Load testing and benchmarks | Yes (tests) |
Review Specialists
| Agent | Purpose | Can Edit Code |
|---|
correctness-reviewer | Logic and correctness review | No |
security-reviewer | Security vulnerability review | No |
architecture-reviewer | Design and pattern review | No |
accessibility-reviewer | Accessibility compliance review | No |
Operations Specialists
| Agent | Purpose | Can Edit Code |
|---|
incident-analyst | Root cause analysis and debugging | Yes |
observability-engineer | Logging, metrics, and tracing | Yes |
alerting-engineer | Alert rules and escalation | Yes |
rollout-strategist | Deployment strategy and rollback | Yes |
Planning & Research
| Agent | Purpose | Can Edit Code |
|---|
requirements-analyst | Break down requirements into specs | No |
solutions-architect | System design decisions | No |
task-decomposer | Split large tasks into subtasks | No |
codebase-explorer | Fast codebase exploration | No |
technology-researcher | Documentation and web research | No |
Documentation & Release
| Agent | Purpose | Can Edit Code |
|---|
developer-guide-author | Technical documentation | Yes |
api-docs-writer | API reference documentation | Yes |
runbook-author | Operational runbooks | Yes |
release-engineer | Release notes and versioning | Yes |
ui-preview-generator | Visual UI preview generation | Yes |
Build & Dependencies
| Agent | Purpose | Can Edit Code |
|---|
ci-pipeline-engineer | CI/CD pipeline configuration | Yes |
container-engineer | Dockerfile and container optimization | Yes |
dependency-analyst | Dependency auditing and updates | Yes |
Primary Agents
Orchestration
The main coding agent. For non-trivial changes, it coordinates an implementation pipeline by delegating to specialist agents:
- Plan (optional) — delegate to
plan for complex multi-step features
- Research — delegate to
technology-researcher for library docs and best practices
- Evaluate — load
approach-evaluation skill to assess alternatives
- Implement — delegate to appropriate implementation specialist (e.g.,
backend-developer, frontend-developer)
- Test — delegate to appropriate test specialist (e.g.,
unit-test-engineer, e2e-test-engineer)
- Review — delegate to review specialists (
correctness-reviewer, security-reviewer)
- Handle Verdict — on REJECT, send fixes back to implementation specialist (max 3 cycles)
- Validate — load
code-validation skill (the "Iron Law")
For trivial changes (one-line fixes, config, docs), the pipeline is skipped but validation always runs.
Plan
Strategic planning agent for complex features. Creates design documents in docs/plans/ and evaluates multiple approaches before implementation begins.
Use when: Complex multi-step features, architectural decisions, or when upfront design is needed.
Deprecated Agents
The following agents still exist as stubs for backward compatibility but route to their specialist replacements:
| Deprecated | Routes To |
|---|
coder | Implementation specialists via orchestration |
test-writer | Testing specialists via orchestration |
reviewer | Review specialists via orchestration |
debugger | incident-analyst |
explore | codebase-explorer |
researcher | technology-researcher |
docs-generator | developer-guide-author |
readme-generator | developer-guide-author |
Switching Default Agent
The default agent is plan. To switch to orchestration:
# Set globally
era-code config --set settings.default_agent=orchestration
# Or override at launch
era-code start --agent orchestration
When to Use Each Agent
| Task | Recommended Agent |
|---|
| Implement a feature | orchestration (coordinates pipeline) |
| Plan a complex feature | plan |
| Debug a failing test | /era-debug → incident-analyst |
| Research an API | /era-research → technology-researcher |
| Map system architecture | /era-discover → technology-researcher |
| Find files matching a pattern | /era-explore → codebase-explorer |
| Generate documentation | developer-guide-author |
| Update README | /era-readme → developer-guide-author |
| Update the whole era-core monorepo | /core-catchup → orchestration |
| Review security | security-reviewer |
| Set up CI/CD | ci-pipeline-engineer |
| Database migration | database-engineer |