Run the squad's research stage on a question or codebase. Routes to the Squad Researcher (squad researcher role) at the auto, parallel-eligible tier to investigate, explore, and gather evidence before any plan or change. Delegated execution: returns the Squad Coordinator persona, the matched routing row, and a framed dispatch request; the calling host runs the subagent loop. Use for "research", "investigate", "explore", or "find out" requests.

Run the squad's planning stage. Routes to the Squad Lead (squad lead role) at the confirm tier to break a task down, sequence the work, and produce an implementation-ready plan. Planning is non-parallel and lands no change without confirmation. Delegated execution: returns the Coordinator persona, matched routing, and a framed dispatch request for the host to run. Use for "plan", "break down", "sequence", or "design plan" requests.

Run the squad's review stage. Routes to the Squad Reviewer (squad tester role) at the auto tier for quality, correctness, and standards review. When the request asks for a pre-implementation go/no-go or crosses two or more council domains, it engages the council row (architect, security, cost-manager, product-owner, and optionally rai) at the confirm tier. Delegated execution: returns the Coordinator persona, matched routing, and a framed dispatch request. Use for "review", "validate", "check quality", "council", or "go/no-go" requests.

Run the squad's architecture stage. Routes to the System Architecture Reviewer (squad architect role) at the auto, parallel-eligible tier to review system design, component boundaries, and design tradeoffs (the Squad Azure Architect authors Azure HLD/LLD as the alternate). Delegated execution: returns the Coordinator persona, matched routing, and a framed dispatch request. Use for "architecture", "system design", or "components" requests.

Run the full squad pipeline for any request. Hands the request to the Squad Coordinator, which classifies it against the routing table and dispatches the matched roles through Research -> Plan -> Implement -> Review, carrying the council Implementation Gate, the autopilot/autonomous Human Gates, and the notification approval contract unchanged. This is the catch-all entry point and runs at the confirm tier with gates. Set mode=autonomous for the bounded validator loop or mode=autopilot for the full gated pipeline. Delegated execution: returns the Coordinator persona, matched routing, and a framed dispatch request for the host to drive. Use when no narrower squad_* tool fits, or for end-to-end work.

Run the squad federation meta layer for a repository that hosts several named sub-squads (for example a product sub-squad for the business team and an azure sub-squad for the architects). Hands the request to the Squad Federation Coordinator, which reads the federation registry (federation.md) and meta-routing (meta-routing.md), selects the target sub-squad(s) — or honors an explicit squad=<name> — and runs each sub-squad's normal per-turn protocol scoped to .copilot-tracking/squad/members/<name>/. Set init to build a federation (propose → confirm → create) on a fresh project, or promote to adopt an existing single squad (a top-level team.md) into a federation as its first sub-squad, relocating its state intact. This is the catch-all federation entry point and runs at the confirm tier with gates. Delegated execution: returns the Federation Coordinator persona, the federation routing decision, and a framed dispatch request for the host to drive. Use for cross-sub-squad requests, an explicit sub-squad target, or federation setup.