---
title: "Boss Agents"
description: "Set up orchestrating Boss agents that delegate tasks to specialist teams."
---

## What is a Boss agent?

A Boss agent is a special type of SlackHive agent whose sole job is to receive high-level requests and delegate them to the right specialist agents. The Boss never does the specialist work itself - it orchestrates.

```
User:     @boss help me analyze last week's bookings
Boss:     I'll get @data-bot on this 👇
          @data-bot - user wants booking analysis for last week.
          When you're done, please tag @boss so I can confirm.
DataBot:  [reads full thread, runs Redshift query via MCP]
          Bookings were up 12% to 4,320...
Boss:     Thanks @data-bot! Here's the summary: bookings increased 12%...
```

The Boss reads the message, looks up its team registry, and delegates to the right specialist by @mentioning them in the same Slack thread. The specialist receives the full thread as context - nothing is lost in the handoff.

## Creating a Boss agent

During agent creation (Step 1 - Name & Description), toggle **This agent is a Boss**.

When the Boss toggle is enabled:
- The Persona step is skipped - Boss identity is auto-generated from the team registry
- The System Prompt is **locked** - not editable in the UI, and the **Optimize** button is hidden
- The agent connects to Slack like any other agent and receives @mentions normally

<Note>
  The lock is intentional. Boss behavior is driven entirely by the team roster - adding a specialist automatically updates every Boss whose team they report to. Hand-edits would drift out of sync.
</Note>

## The team registry

Each Boss gets a `CLAUDE.md` compiled from its team registry. The registry is a Markdown document injected into the Boss's identity that lists every specialist reporting to it.

Example registry section:

```markdown
## Your Team

- **DataBot** (<@U12345678>) - Data warehouse NLQ, Redshift queries, business metrics
- **Writer** (<@U87654321>) - Content generation, Slack summaries, announcements
- **Engineer** (<@U11112222>) - Code review, debugging, GitHub PR summaries
```

The registry also includes explicit delegation rules:

```markdown
## Delegation Rules
- ALWAYS delegate - do not attempt to perform specialist work yourself
- Use the thread so specialists have full context
- If unsure who to delegate to, ask the user for clarification
- Always instruct the specialist to @mention you when they are done
```

**The registry auto-regenerates** whenever any agent is created, updated, or deleted. You never need to maintain it manually.

## Setting reportsTo

To add a specialist to a Boss's team, set the **Reports To** field on the specialist agent:

1. Open the specialist agent's **Overview** tab
2. Select one or more Boss agents in the **Reports To** dropdown
3. Save - the Boss's registry regenerates automatically within seconds

A specialist can report to multiple bosses. It will appear in each selected boss's team registry. This supports multi-domain setups where the same specialist (e.g. an "Engineer" agent) is available to multiple boss agents (e.g. "Product Boss" and "Infra Boss").

## Multiple Boss agents

You can create as many Boss agents as needed. Common patterns:

| Pattern | Example |
|---------|---------|
| **Single Boss** | One orchestrator for the entire team |
| **Domain Bosses** | Separate Boss per team (eng-boss, data-boss, content-boss) |
| **Hierarchical** | A meta-boss delegates to domain bosses, which delegate to specialists |

Each Boss only sees the specialists that explicitly report to it.

## Delegation flow in detail

When the Boss receives a message:

1. Boss reads the user's request
2. Checks the team registry to identify the right specialist
3. @mentions the specialist in the **same thread** with a clear task description
4. Instructs the specialist to tag the Boss when done
5. Specialist picks up the full thread context and completes the task
6. Specialist tags the Boss to signal completion
7. Boss reviews the result, confirms for the user, and decides if another specialist is needed or the task is done

The key design: everything happens **in the Slack thread**. Every participant can see the full conversation history - no context loss when multiple agents collaborate.

## System Prompt is locked

A Boss agent's **Instructions → System Prompt** is read-only. The Optimize button is hidden. SlackHive manages this file end-to-end - it regenerates whenever any agent is created, updated, or deleted.

Generated content includes:
- The Boss's name and orchestrator role description
- The "Your Role" section with delegation rules
- The full team roster with Slack user IDs and descriptions
- The exact delegation format to use in Slack
- What to do after a specialist responds

If you want custom behavior, do it on the specialists - their descriptions, skills, and memory shape what the Boss sees in the registry.

## Scheduled jobs

Boss agents work great with scheduled jobs - set up a daily cross-team digest, a weekly summary, or an alert that fires when something needs escalation across multiple specialists.

→ See [Scheduled Jobs](/features/scheduled-jobs) for the full setup guide.
