Squad for Solo Developers

Try this to get a lean team:

I'm working alone on a side project — set up a minimal squad to help with code review and testing

Try this to start with essentials:

Give me a 3-agent team: Lead for review, backend dev, and tester

Squad is great for solo devs: you get code review, test coverage, and architectural second opinions you’d never have otherwise. Start with 3 agents instead of 5.

1. Why Squad Works for Solo Devs

Squad is actually GREAT for solo devs. You get a code reviewer, tester, and architect you’d never have otherwise.

1. Why Squad Works for Solo Devs

When you’re working alone:

  • No code reviews. Bugs land in production because no one else looked.
  • No testing discipline. You skip tests when you’re in a hurry.
  • No second opinion. Architectural decisions go unchallenged.

Squad gives you a Lead who reviews everything, a tester who catches edge cases, and specialists who know their domain. You’re one person, but you have a team that remembers everything.

2. Start Small: 3 Agents Instead of 5

You don’t need a full 5-agent team as a solo dev. Customize the roster:

> I'm a solo developer building a Python API. I want a small team:
> a Lead for code review, one backend dev, and a tester. No frontend dev.

Here's your team:

🏗️  Michael  — Lead          Code review, scope, decisions
🔧  Fredo    — Backend Dev   Python, FastAPI, database work
🧪  Kay      — Tester        Tests, edge cases, quality
📋  Scribe   — (silent)      Memory, decisions, session logs

Look right?

Lean team. Just what you need.

3. The Reviewer Protocol Catches Bugs

When you give a task to an agent:

> Fredo, add user registration with email verification.

Fredo builds it. Then Michael (the Lead) automatically reviews the code.

🏗️ Michael — reviewing Fredo's user registration implementation

Issues found:
  - Email validation regex allows invalid TLDs
  - Verification tokens aren't rate-limited — brute force risk
  - No test for expired token edge case

Rejected. Fredo, address these issues.

This is the safety net you don’t have as a solo dev. Michael catches issues before they land.

4. Skills Accumulate — You Don’t Repeat Mistakes

After Michael rejects Fredo’s code for missing rate limiting, it gets encoded as a skill:

.ai-team/skills/auth-rate-limiting.md:

# Authentication Endpoints Must Be Rate-Limited

When building user-facing auth flows (login, registration, password reset,
email verification), always add rate limiting to prevent brute force attacks.

Use a token bucket or sliding window algorithm. Store counters in Redis
or an in-memory cache with TTL.

Next time any agent builds an auth feature, they read this skill first. The mistake doesn’t happen again.

5. You’re Solo, But Your Team Remembers Everything

As a solo dev, you juggle dozens of context switches. Squad doesn’t forget:

  • Decisions are logged. “Why did I use PostgreSQL instead of MongoDB?” — check .ai-team/decisions.md.
  • Skills capture patterns. “How do I structure FastAPI routes?” — check .ai-team/skills/.
  • Histories track what each agent learned. Fredo knows your database schema after one session.

You get back to a project after 3 weeks, and the team is still up to speed.

6. Workflow: Solo Dev + Squad

> Fredo, add a /users endpoint with pagination and filtering.

Fredo builds it. Michael reviews. Kay writes tests.

🔧 Fredo   — building /users endpoint with pagination and filtering
🏗️ Michael — reviewing Fredo's implementation
🧪 Kay     — writing tests for /users endpoint

All three work in parallel. You give one prompt, get three agents.

When it’s done:

✅ /users endpoint implemented
✅ Code review passed (minor refactor for query optimization)
✅ 8 tests written (pagination, filtering, edge cases)

You’re a solo dev, but you shipped like a team.

7. Use the Lead as a Sounding Board

> Michael, I'm deciding between REST and GraphQL for this API.
> It's a read-heavy app with a mobile client. Thoughts?

🏗️ Michael — evaluating REST vs GraphQL for your use case

REST pros: Simple, cacheable, mobile SDKs abundant
GraphQL pros: Flexible queries, reduces round trips

For a read-heavy app with a mobile client, I'd lean REST.
You get better HTTP caching (CDN, browser, mobile OS),
simpler mobile integration, and fewer surprises at scale.

If your mobile app needs highly dynamic queries, revisit GraphQL.

Michael’s not always right, but having a second opinion is invaluable.

Tips

  • Start with 3–4 agents, not 5. As a solo dev, you don’t need a frontend and backend specialist if you’re only building one layer.
  • The Lead is your reviewer. Even if you don’t delegate tasks, use Michael to review your own code before committing.
  • Skills are YOUR documentation. After 10 sessions, your .ai-team/skills/ directory is a custom knowledge base about your project.
  • Agents work while you’re thinking. Give a vague task (“explore auth options”), and agents research in parallel while you handle something else.
  • You get a testing discipline. Kay writes tests you’d skip. Over time, your coverage goes up without extra effort.