AI agent collisions: worktrees aren't enough — own contracts, not files
rseroter · x · 2026-11-06
Adron's blog post on collisions in multi-agent parallel development: - Collisions aren't new, but agents compress the timeline—competing implementations land before humans see a diff, and agents burn tokens repeatedly 'fixing' each other. Integration-stage rework can cost an order of magnitude more than the token bill. - Separate worktrees aren't enough: agents can still change the same behavior, rely on incompatible contracts, or point tests at the same database. - The fix is ownership at the level that matters: interfaces, not files. Give one task ownership of the API contract and sequence dependent implementations; if parallel work is needed, freeze the interface first and have both agents build against a shared contract test. - Same rule applies to domain terms, schemas, feature flags, and deployment config; a small task register can make ownership explicit.
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