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Why Direct Agent Communication Fails Without Shared Context

June 17, 2026

I run Claude Code + Codex together daily, and the "let them talk directly and run loose" version is exactly where mine break. Not because the wiring is hard -- because theres no shared source of truth and no gate, so they drift and start compounding each others mistakes.

What works better: a spec/plan file in the repo as the single source of truth, plus a task queue as the handoff between tools. One orchestrator dispatching work, not three tools free-chatting.

And that relay step you hate is doing one useful thing -- catching bad plans before they ship. Dont delete it, especially anywhere money moves. Just turn it into a file instead of copy-paste. Youre still the gate, you just stop being the courier.