Workflows

Dynamic workflows (research preview, shipped alongside Opus 4.8 on 2026-05-28) let you hand Claude a large, decomposable job and have it write an orchestration script that fans out across tens to hundreds of subagents running in the background, checking its own work before results reach you. It's the tier above ad-hoc delegation: where a single subagent is a one-shot handoff and Agent Teams are peer sessions that message each other, a workflow is deterministic, scripted fan-out with built-in verification and saved progress.

You opt a turn into this by using the trigger keyword ultracode (renamed from workflow on 2026-05-28; it highlights in violet at the prompt). Claude then authors and runs the workflow; you watch live runs with /workflows.

How you use it day-to-day

• Reach for it on work one context can't hold. Codebase-wide migrations, broad audits, multi-file refactors, multi-source research: anything that decomposes into many similar independent units.
• Works beyond code. The same fan-out → verify → synthesize structure works on non-engineering jobs too: multi-section reports, research digests, content or ops batches that split into many similar units. The Claude Code team frames workflows as the biggest capability jump since skills and subagents precisely because the units don't have to be code: describe a decomposable knowledge task, say ultracode, and the orchestration is identical.
• Let Claude write the orchestration. Describe the goal and say ultracode; it builds the fan-out → verify → synthesize structure and runs it in the background while you keep working.
• Watch it with /workflows. The run executes detached and re-engages you when it finishes; /workflows is the live progress view.
• Isolate file-mutating agents. Workflow agents can run in their own git worktree so parallel edits don't collide. Use that when the agents write files.

Gotchas

• Research preview. The surface, keywords, and behavior are still moving; check the changelog before scripting against it.
• Cost scales with fan-out. Tens to hundreds of agents is real token spend. Use workflows when the scale justifies it, not for routine edits. A single subagent or a quick edit is usually the right tool.
• Distinct from Subagents and Agent Teams. Subagents = one-shot delegates; Agent Teams = peer sessions; Workflows = scripted, verified orchestration on top. Don't conflate them.

The ultracode keyword is the on-switch. Without it, a turn won't author a workflow; Claude will just do the work inline or delegate a subagent or two.