Name: Concurrent Background Verification
Author: demarcushill20

Overlap verification (coverage, tests, lint) with documentation/memory work by running validation in background agents while the orchestrator handles wrap-up tasks in the foreground. This pattern consistently saves 30-60% wall-clock time versus sequential verify→document workflows.

When To Use

Implementation or fix is complete and you need to both verify AND write docs/memory/contracts.
The verification task is self-contained (no edits needed from its results before docs can be written).
Tasks are genuinely independent — the documentation does not depend on the verification outcome.

When NOT To Use

Documentation content depends on verification results (e.g., writing a test report).
The verification step is trivial (< 10 seconds) — overhead of agent spawn isn't worth it.
Only one wrap-up task remains — just run it directly.

Inputs

Input	Required	Description

When To Use

Implementation or fix is complete and you need to both verify AND write docs/memory/contracts.
The verification task is self-contained (no edits needed from its results before docs can be written).
Tasks are genuinely independent — the documentation does not depend on the verification outcome.

When NOT To Use

Documentation content depends on verification results (e.g., writing a test report).
The verification step is trivial (< 10 seconds) — overhead of agent spawn isn't worth it.
Only one wrap-up task remains — just run it directly.

Inputs

Input	Required	Description

Scenario	Action
Background agent times out	Mark verification as `ERROR`, complete foreground work, retry sequentially
Background agent crashes	Retry verification commands directly via Bash
Foreground task fails	Complete it before merging — do not let verification results mask foreground failures
Verification reveals implementation bugs	Fix bugs first, then re-verify; do not rewrite docs unless fix changes documented behavior
All foreground tasks depend on verification	Abort this pattern — run verification first, then foreground work sequentially

Concurrent Background Verification

When To Use

When NOT To Use

Inputs

Concurrent Background Verification

When To Use

When NOT To Use

Inputs

Workflow

Step 1: Assess Readiness

Step 2: Spawn Background Verification Agent(s)

Step 3: Perform Foreground Work

Step 4: Collect Background Results

Step 5: Merge and Emit Contract

Step 6: Handle Verification Failures (if any)

Error Handling

Pattern Variants

Example

Test

Feature Flags

Unit Tests

Integration Tests

Write Frontend Tests

Golang Testing