todo: a commander should suggest the cheapest model for each half of itself

Wanted 2026-08-22, for later. Before arming anything, a commander weighs how hard the job actually is and
proposes which model each half should run on.

TWO models, which is what makes it more than a generic "use something cheaper" note. A commander's own turns
are conversation plus one piece of bash; the agent its loop spawns does the real work and its difficulty is
set by the job. The deploy commander is the worked example — its own turns were unremarkable on Sonnet while
the spawned agent judged six hosts, parsed a plan, decided what to skip and wrote an honest report.

Suggested, never imposed: the failure mode of choosing too small is not a slower answer, it is a watcher
firing on the wrong condition or an agent half-finishing a deploy.

Recorded with the reason it is not urgent: nothing measures whether the choice was right. A spawned agent's
cost is not captured at all yet — the column exists and is always null — so a commander suggesting Haiku has
no way to learn it was wrong. This wants the cost work first, or at least the knowledge that until then it is
a judgement with no feedback loop.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

TODO.md

@@ -20,14 +20,14 @@ the owner's OS user and can never be granted. Indirection there really is accide
 
 ## Themes
 
-**89 open, 25 closed**, across 29 themes.
+**90 open, 25 closed**, across 29 themes.
 
 | Theme | Open | Closed |
-| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---- | ------ |
+| --- | --- | --- |
 | [Affordances](todo/affordances/) | 1 | 0 |
 | [Speaking into a session from the backend](todo/agent-delivery/) | 2 | 0 |
 | [Backburner](todo/backburner/) | 2 | 0 |
-| [Background jobs](todo/background-jobs/)                                                   | 2    | 0      |
+| [Background jobs](todo/background-jobs/) | 3 | 0 |
 | [Chat interface](todo/chat/) | 1 | 0 |
 | [Code editor](todo/code-editor/) | 1 | 0 |
 | [Components — the shared UI layer](todo/components/) | 1 | 0 |
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ the owner's OS user and can never be granted. Indirection there really is accide
 
 ## Newest ten
 
+- `2026-08-22` **'A commander picks the cheapest model that will do the job — for itself and for what it spawns'** — [background-jobs/a-commander-picks-the-cheapest-model-that-will](todo/background-jobs/a-commander-picks-the-cheapest-model-that-will.md)
 - `2026-08-22` **'Revisit the bun 1.3 pin once 1.4 has been watched for a while'** — [infra/revisit-the-bun-1-3-pin-once-1-4-has-been](todo/infra/revisit-the-bun-1-3-pin-once-1-4-has-been.md)
 - `2026-08-22` **A plugin's permission should be on for every role by default, off only on request** — [multi-user/a-plugin-s-permission-should-be-on-for-every](todo/multi-user/a-plugin-s-permission-should-be-on-for-every.md)
 - `2026-08-22` **A user's settings should export and import as a plain file** — [settings/a-user-s-settings-should-export-and-import-as](todo/settings/a-user-s-settings-should-export-and-import-as.md)
@@ -72,4 +73,3 @@ the owner's OS user and can never be granted. Indirection there really is accide
 - `2026-08-22` **Revamp the menus — spotlight, themes — toward an Omarchy-like shape** — [shell/revamp-the-menus-toward-an-omarchy-like-shape](todo/shell/revamp-the-menus-toward-an-omarchy-like-shape.md)
 - `2026-08-22` **Review officer-secret-store, built overnight and untested by the owner** — [waiting-on-owner/review-the-officer-secret-store-built-last](todo/waiting-on-owner/review-the-officer-secret-store-built-last.md)
 - `2026-08-21` **No way to see which affordances are reaching your agents, or to turn one off** — [affordances/no-way-to-see-which-affordances-are-reaching](todo/affordances/no-way-to-see-which-affordances-are-reaching.md)
-- `2026-08-21` **Generalise it: deliver a turn to a named session, from anywhere in the backend** — [agent-delivery/generalise-it-deliver-a-turn-to-a-named](todo/agent-delivery/generalise-it-deliver-a-turn-to-a-named.md)

todo/background-jobs/a-commander-picks-the-cheapest-model-that-will.md

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+---
+id: background-jobs/a-commander-picks-the-cheapest-model-that-will
+title: 'A commander picks the cheapest model that will do the job — for itself and for what it spawns'
+theme: background-jobs
+status: open
+created: 2026-08-22
+date_source: stated
+order: 2
+---
+
+**Before it arms anything, a commander should weigh how hard the job actually is and say which model each
+half should run on.** Wanted 2026-08-22, for later.
+
+**Two models, not one**, and this is the part that makes it worth doing rather than a generic "use a cheaper
+model" note. A commander has two quite different workloads:
+
+- **the commander's own turns** — agreeing the job with the owner, writing a shell loop, reporting. Mostly
+  conversation and one piece of bash.
+- **the agent the loop SPAWNS when it fires** — which does the actual work, and whose difficulty is set by
+  the job rather than by the conversation.
+
+Those can differ by a lot in the same commander. The deploy commander is the worked example: its own turns
+ran on Sonnet and were unremarkable, while the spawned agent judged six hosts, parsed a plan, decided what to
+skip and wrote an honest report. A watcher that pings a URL and echoes the status needs neither to be clever.
+
+**Inferred from the job, and SUGGESTED rather than imposed.** The commander proposes ("this looks like Haiku
+for the watch and Sonnet for the action, because…") and the owner overrides. A model chosen silently is one
+nobody can argue with, and the failure mode of choosing too small is not a slower answer — it is a watcher
+that fires on the wrong condition, or an agent that half-finishes a deploy.
+
+**Where it goes:** a section in the Commanders skill, beside the four shaping questions, since the moment to
+ask it is the same moment — while the job is being agreed and before anything is armed. It is one more thing
+to settle in the conversation the skill already describes.
+
+**What would make it honest rather than a guess**, and the reason this is not urgent: nothing currently
+measures whether the choice was right. The cost of a spawned agent is not recorded at all yet
+(`command_hq_spawned.total_usd` exists and is always null), so a commander suggesting Haiku has no way to
+learn it was wrong. Worth doing after cost accounting, or at least knowing that until then this is a
+judgement with no feedback loop.