Last updated: November 11, 2026
Antigravity /swarm is a preview command in Google Antigravity that turns one conversation into a coordinator for a team of AI agents. Named workers split the task, a verifier checks diffs and runs tests, and all of them post to a shared board. It is available on Google AI Pro and Ultra plans.
Contents
- What Google released
- How a swarm works
- How to start a swarm
- Monitor and steer the team
- Models, Gemini 4 Carbon and quota
- Swarm vs subagents, /boost and /teamwork
- Frequently asked questions
Google rolled out /swarm in preview on November 10, 2026, alongside Gemini 4 Carbon in Antigravity. This guide covers how it works, how to run it and how to manage quota. All details come from Google’s /swarm documentation, the Antigravity blog announcement and the Antigravity changelog.
What Google released
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Feature | /swarm multi-agent teams (preview) |
| Antigravity App | v2.31.0, November 9, 2026: “use /swarm to coordinate multiple subagents over a message board” |
| Antigravity CLI | 1.5.5, November 10, 2026: /swarm, /swarm board and a swarm status row |
| Plans | Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra |
| Cost | No separate price; each worker draws on your plan quota |
The same CLI release added Gemini 4 Carbon (Low, Medium and High) to /model and –model when you sign in with Application Default Credentials. For earlier CLI changes, see our Antigravity CLI October releases guide.
How a swarm works
When you run /swarm with a task, your current conversation becomes the coordinator. Google’s docs describe five steps:
- Split: the coordinator names the swarm and divides the work into pieces that do not collide, such as one worker per file or package. Workers get names like @parser or @docs, or a numbered group such as @fix-1 through @fix-4.
- Brief: each worker starts with a clean context in its own conversation. Its brief, stating what it owns, what it must not touch and what “done” means, is posted to the board.
- Verify: the coordinator usually adds one @verifier for every two to four workers. The verifier reads diffs, runs tests and sends problems back to the worker that wrote the code.
- Talk on the board: assignments, questions, diff summaries and test results are posted with @name, @group or @all mentions. Workers do not message each other privately.
- Wait for free: idle members sleep on the board without using tokens and wake when someone mentions them.
The coordinator also adds a @monitor worker that posts only if every member goes quiet before the work is done. The coordinator itself does no technical work; it assigns tasks, judges results and reports to you.
Workers share your workspace by default, but when several edit or build at once the coordinator can give each its own working copy of the repository.
How to start a swarm
- Update to Antigravity App v2.31.0 or Antigravity CLI 1.5.5 or later, signed in on a Google AI Pro or Ultra plan. Google notes that new versions roll out gradually.
- Open a conversation in your project (App) or start the CLI in your project directory.
- Type /swarm and press Tab to insert or complete the command.
- Describe the task and how to check it, for example: “/swarm Add unit tests for the date utilities in src/utils/date.ts and the currency formatter in src/utils/currency.ts, and run npm test to verify.”
- In the App, click the “Open the Swarm UI” link at the end of the coordinator’s reply. In the CLI, run /swarm board or press Alt+S.
- Keep talking to the coordinator in the main conversation. Ask for status or give new instructions while the swarm runs.
Google’s tip: state the goal and how to verify it, and let the coordinator decide how to split the work.
Monitor and steer the team
In the App, the Swarm pane opens in the side panel with three tabs. Board is the live post feed, Members lists each member’s status and model ID, and Graph shows who mentioned whom with a replay control.
In the CLI, a status row below the prompt shows the swarm’s title, latest post and post count. Alt+X dismisses it. The full-screen board has Roster, Posts and Message panes. Useful keys include Tab to switch panes, z to zoom, f to follow new posts, p to filter by member, o to open a member’s conversation and q to close. On macOS, Alt+S works only if your terminal sends Option as Alt.
To reach one worker directly, start a CLI prompt with @ and its name, for example “@verifier also run the integration tests”, or open its conversation from the Members tab in the App. Run /agents to list workers, press Alt+J to jump to the next worker waiting for a tool approval, or press Ctrl+K to approve a pending request. Removing a worker is permanent.
Models, Gemini 4 Carbon and quota
Workers run on the same model as your conversation. To change that, say so in the prompt, for example “run the verifier on a different model than the workers.” The model must be one you can pick in the model picker, and the coordinator can move a waiting worker to another model later without losing its conversation.
Google’s blog pitches pairing roles with models: Gemini 4 Argon for most engineering work, and Gemini 4 Carbon, which uses more tokens to explore and verify, for coordinator, architecture, security audit and verifier roles. Carbon in Antigravity is for Google AI Ultra subscribers, so Pro users build teams from the models they already have. See our guides to Gemini 4 Carbon and Gemini 4 Argon for model details.
Quota is the main limitation. Google warns that a swarm “uses quota much faster than a single conversation.” If a member runs out of quota, it pauses and shows the error once. It resumes only after a new board post, a model switch or a message from you, not automatically when quota refreshes. For plan limits, see our answer on Gemini usage limits.
Swarm vs subagents, /boost and /teamwork
| Option | Best for | Typical horizon |
|---|---|---|
| Subagents | One side task, such as research or a test run | Seconds to minutes |
| /boost | Hard bugs, algorithms and tricky refactors | Seconds to hours |
| /swarm | Work that splits across independent files, packages or questions | Minutes to hours |
| /teamwork | Repository-scale migrations, long simulations and research | Hours to days |
Compared with the subagents covered in our Antigravity CLI 1.5 guide, /swarm adds a public board, a verifier and live monitoring, so you can watch and steer the whole team.
Frequently asked questions
What is /swarm in Google Antigravity?
/swarm is a preview command that turns your current Antigravity conversation into a coordinator. The coordinator splits your task among named worker agents, adds a verifier that reads diffs and runs tests, and has everyone post to one shared message board.
Which plans can use Antigravity /swarm?
Google’s documentation says /swarm is available on Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra plans in the Google Antigravity App and the Antigravity CLI. It arrived in App v2.31.0 (November 9, 2026) and CLI 1.5.5 (November 10, 2026).
Does /swarm use more quota?
Yes. Every worker is its own agent, so a swarm uses quota much faster than a single conversation. The CLI labels the command Preview and Quota Heavy. Idle members sleep on the board without using tokens, and a worker that runs out of quota pauses instead of retrying.
Do I need Gemini 4 Carbon to use /swarm?
No. Workers run on the same model as your conversation unless you ask for a different one, and any model in your model picker can be used. Google suggests Gemini 4 Carbon for coordinator and verifier roles, but Carbon itself is limited to Google AI Ultra subscribers in Antigravity.
How is /swarm different from /teamwork and /boost?
/swarm suits large tasks that divide cleanly across files, packages or questions, over minutes to hours. /boost targets hard problems that need deep reasoning, and /teamwork runs repository-scale projects over hours to days through a milestone plan with audit gates.
Sources
- Swarm (/swarm), Google Antigravity Docs
- Gemini 4 Carbon and /swarm, Google Antigravity Blog (November 10, 2026)
- Changelog, Google Antigravity Docs (App v2.31.0 and CLI 1.5.5)