Creating Squads¶

Create a squad by choosing a template or configuring agents from scratch. The four-step wizard walks you through basic info, workspace selection, agent configuration, and a final review.

Using Templates¶

The fastest way to get started is with a pre-built template. Open the Squad page from the sidebar and click New Squad to see the template gallery.

Built-in Templates¶

Template	Category	Agents	Best For
Full-Stack Dev Team	Development	Planner, Frontend Dev, Backend Dev, Code Reviewer	Software development with planning and review
Content Team	Content	Planner, Writer, Editor, Translator	Article creation, editing, and translation
Research Team	Research	Planner, Researcher, Analyst, Summarizer	Deep research with analysis and synthesis
Code Review Team	Review	Planner, Security Reviewer, Performance Reviewer, Style Reviewer	Code review covering security, performance, and style
Documentation Team	Content	Planner, API Doc Writer, Tutorial Writer, Diagram Creator	Technical documentation with multiple formats

Click a template card to preview its agents and their configurations before creating the squad.

Custom Templates¶

You can save any squad as a reusable template. Once you've fine-tuned a squad's configuration, use the Save as Template action to make it available in the gallery for future use.

The Setup Wizard¶

Step 1: Basic Info¶

Enter a name and an optional description for your squad. Choose a clear name that identifies the team's purpose (e.g., "Auth Module Team", "Blog Content Team").

Step 2: Workspace¶

Select a workspace directory where the squad will store its files. The wizard validates that:

The path exists and is writable
No other squad is using the same directory

The workspace is organized with subdirectories for plans, tasks, agent files, and metadata.

Workspace Location

Choose a location with enough disk space for the expected output. Each squad's workspace is independent and can be backed up or version-controlled separately.

Step 3: Agents¶

Configure the agents in your squad. You can:

Start from a template — Agents are pre-populated from the selected template
Add agents manually — Click Add Agent and choose a role
Import from Profiles — Import an agent configuration from the Cowork agent profile marketplace

For each agent, configure:

Setting	Description
Name	Display name for the agent
Role	Planner, Developer, Reviewer, Writer, or Custom
System Prompt	Instructions that define the agent's behavior and expertise
Tools	Which tools the agent can use (file read/write, memory, search, etc.)
Memory	Enable to give the agent a persistent memory file

Agent Roles¶

Planner — Coordinates the team. Analyzes requests, creates plans, assigns tasks, and tracks progress. Designate exactly one planner per squad.
Developer — Writes and modifies code. Has access to filesystem tools for reading and writing project files.
Reviewer — Reviews output for quality, security, and correctness. Typically has read-only access.
Writer — Creates documentation, articles, and other written content.
Custom — Define a role that doesn't fit the predefined categories. Enter a custom role name and tailor the system prompt.

Step 4: Review¶

Review the complete squad configuration:

Squad name and description
Workspace path
Agent list with roles and tool access
Designated planner agent

Click Create to finalize. The workspace directory is created and initialized automatically.

If a required field is still missing (for example, the workspace directory when you jumped straight to agent configuration with Customize), the wizard returns to the step that needs attention instead of submitting. If creation fails on the backend, the error appears inside the dialog and your configuration, including every agent you edited, stays in place so you can fix the problem and try again.

Managing Squads¶

Editing a Squad¶

Open a squad and modify its configuration — rename it, add or remove agents, change system prompts, or adjust tool access. Changes take effect for the next execution.

Changing the model for every agent¶

A squad usually has several agents, each with its own model. To switch a whole squad to a different model in one step, use Set model for all agents. It is available in the squad detail page header's More actions (⋯) menu and on the Set model action of each squad card.

The dialog lets you:

Pick the new model once with the model selector.
Review the per-agent list, where every agent is included by default. Toggle an agent off to leave its current model untouched.
Confirm to apply the change. A single atomic update replaces the preferred model for every selected agent in that squad only — it never affects agents in any other squad.

The Apply button stays disabled until you pick a model and keep at least one agent selected. A notification reports how many agents were updated.

Deleting a Squad¶

When deleting a squad, you can choose to:

Keep workspace — Removes the squad from the app but preserves all files on disk
Delete everything — Removes the squad and its workspace directory

Importing from a Workspace¶

Import from Workspace on the Teams tab (also offered as a shortcut on the Overview tab) opens a folder picker and then does one of two things, depending on what the folder holds.

The folder has a .squad-config.json manifest. This is the file written when you delete a squad with Keep workspace selected. The wizard opens in restore mode, pre-filled with the squad's name, description, and agents, so you can review the configuration and confirm to recreate the squad entry.
The folder has no manifest. Any other directory, including an existing squad's workspace and a fresh project folder, falls into this case. The wizard opens in create mode with that folder already selected as the workspace, so you can build a new squad around code you already have.

If a manifest is present but cannot be read (truncated, invalid JSON, or written by an unsupported schema version), the wizard does not open and the error is reported instead. Fix or remove the file and try again.