---
name: external-model-delegation-eeda8d81946e
description: UserPromptSubmit hook pattern that classifies prompts into six cost tiers and delegates to external model CLIs
when-to-use: When configuring or debugging prompt-based delegation to qwen3, deepseek, kimi, or codex
user-invocable: false
effort: medium
---

# External Model Delegation Pattern

A `UserPromptSubmit` hook classifies every user prompt into one of six cost/performance tiers. The hook injects `additionalContext` instructing Claude to run a specific delegation script and return the output.

## Tier routing table

| Tier | Delegation command | Cost |
|------|-------------------|------|
| QWEN | `qwen3 "prompt"` | $0 (local Ollama) |
| DEEPSEEK_FLASH | `deepseek --flash "prompt"` | $0.14 / $0.28 per M tokens |
| DEEPSEEK_PRO | `deepseek --pro "prompt"` | $0.44 / $0.87 per M tokens |
| KIMI | `kimi --quiet -p "prompt"` | $0.60 / $2.50 per M tokens |
| CODEX | `codex exec` | varies |
| CLAUDE | handle natively | $3-5 / $15-25 per M tokens |

## Delegation script pattern

Each script is a self-contained executable in `~/bin/` that accepts a prompt and writes the response to stdout:

```
~/bin/
├── qwen3      # Shell: curl to local Ollama API
├── kimi       # Shell: execs Kimi CLI binary
├── deepseek   # Python: httpx to DeepSeek Anthropic-compat API
└── route-task # Shell + qwen3: classifies prompt into tier
```

### Script contract

1. Accept prompt as first argument: `qwen3 "what is 2+2"`
2. Support `--flash` / `--pro` model flags (deepseek)
3. Support `--quiet` mode flag (kimi)
4. Write response to stdout, errors to stderr
5. Exit 0 on success, non-zero on error

### Writing a new delegation script

```bash
#!/bin/bash
# Minimal delegator template
PROMPT="$1"
API_KEY="${EXTERNAL_API_KEY:-}"
# Call external API, write result to stdout
curl -s https://api.example.com/chat \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
  -d "$(jq -n --arg p "$PROMPT" '{prompt: $p}')" \
  | jq -r '.response'
```

## Routing hook flow

```
User types prompt
    ↓
UserPromptSubmit hook fires
    ↓
qwen3 classifies into tier (QWEN|DEEPSEEK_FLASH|DEEPSEEK_PRO|KIMI|CODEX|CLAUDE)
    ↓
Hook injects additionalContext: "Run: <delegation-command>"
    ↓
Claude reads context, spawns delegation script, returns output
    ↓
User sees response from the delegated model
```

## Classification tiers

| Tier | Task types |
|------|-----------|
| QWEN | grep, find, regex, shell, syntax lookups, log reading, short summaries |
| DEEPSEEK_FLASH | Simple code, boilerplate, CRUD, test writing, small fixes, config |
| DEEPSEEK_PRO | Multi-file features, refactors, debugging, medium coding, docs |
| KIMI | Single-file review, medium reasoning, commit messages, diff summaries |
| CODEX | Bulk generation, mechanical changes across many files |
| CLAUDE | Architecture, security, complex debugging, system design, quality-critical |

## Environment

```bash
# Required env vars (set in ~/.zshrc)
export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="sk-..."      # For deepseek delegator
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."         # For codex CLI
# Ollama must be running locally for qwen3 classification + delegation
```


---
Source attribution: alinaqi
Original project: https://github.com/alinaqi/maggy/blob/55aabe2493627e1de9cd09459d555181d66f3111/skills/external-model-delegation/SKILL.md
License: MIT
License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit
Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Dave AI.

## Upstream license notice

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 Ali Naqi

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.



# Dave AI resource metadata

Creator / publisher: alinaqi
Original project: https://github.com/alinaqi/maggy/blob/55aabe2493627e1de9cd09459d555181d66f3111/skills/external-model-delegation/SKILL.md
Attribution basis: Source repository record

Fields of work: Development & Engineering
Roles: Backend Developer, DevOps / SRE, ML / AI Engineer
Specialties: API, Backend
Tools: Codex, Deepseek, Kimi, Ollama
Country applicability: Country not specified
Classification basis: Source catalog labels
Instruction SHA-256: 132a542a8de72bb8456c2022b55370e35cd002e73aeadfb23692a56c4670b021