Master landed the tool-subagent depth budget while this branch was in
flight: the numeric default maxDepth now fails the mount against the
ACP provider's depthLimit: false, so the composition fixture must state
maxDepth: 'provider-managed' — the documented opt-out for a provider
whose recursion budget lives in the child harness. The fixture also
moves off the retired stdio-demo REPL onto the current app-boot driver
pattern (runLoaderSmoke + one-shot cli), and the split isDirectory
statements gain the file-not-a-directory case the single-expression
form used to cover implicitly.
The inheritance branch ran only under hand-mounted plugin tests, and
the with-key e2e always configures an explicit cwd. Add a test-only
cordis.yml (scripted delegating model + the scripted mock ACP child)
booting the stdio app through the real Loader with cwd omitted: the
child proves it ran in — and was announced — the parent session's
workspace, keylessly.
statSync().isDirectory() is true for a mode-600 directory, but a
subprocess cwd needs X_OK — spawn would fail EACCES, deferring a
self-contained configuration error past the load/start boundary the
resolution owns. Probe accessSync(X_OK) alongside the type check so
"not an accessible directory" is literally what the guard verifies.
path.resolve('') is the process cwd, so an empty configured cwd would
silently reintroduce the launch-directory fallback the parent-session
cwd resolution removed. Fail at plugin load with an actionable message
instead.
The ACP backend resolved an unset cwd to the harness process's launch
directory, so a delegated child ran — and announced its ACP session —
in the server's cwd instead of the delegating session's workspace.
Resolve the working directory explicitly: the config cwd override
(made absolute and validated at load), else the parent session
header's cwd (validated at start), failing loud before spawning when
neither exists.
Move the agent-spine bundle and the stdio/ACP/JSON-RPC app packages out of
core/ and ui/ into a new packages/examples/ group, renamed with a -demo
suffix so the npm name marks them as non-product surface:
core/agent-core -> examples/agent-spine-demo (dsh-agent-spine-demo)
ui/stdio-agent -> examples/stdio-demo (dsh-stdio-demo)
ui/acp-agent -> examples/acp-demo (dsh-acp-demo)
ui/jsonrpc-agent -> examples/jsonrpc-demo (dsh-jsonrpc-demo)
Update every code/config/test reference and reference-only doc mentions, and
regenerate module-graph, config-catalog, and doc-graphs. The jsonrpc bin
(dsh-jsonrpc-agent) and single-file exe (dsh-jsonrpc-agent-pkg) keep their
names; the SDK runtime-startup surface is reconciled separately.
spec.onError is a caller-supplied callback boundary, but the flattening
catch invoked it unguarded: a throwing sink rejected the whole async result,
breaking the seam's "result never rejects on a child-level failure"
contract (and docs/defensive-patterns.md's contain-callback-exceptions
rule). The sink's own throw is now swallowed — named as such — while the
original child failure still settles as stopReason 'error'. Regression test
drives a spawn failure through a throwing sink and asserts result resolves.
Same defect as the codex backend's, fixed there on PR #240; this is the
symmetric fix for the already-merged ACP backend.
The extracted library's name sat one edit away from @deepseek-ai/dsh-subagent-inprocess
(process/inprocess), inviting a typo'd import to silently resolve to the wrong
package. subagent-subprocess also reads as the deliberate counterpart to
subagent-inprocess (in-process vs. subprocess), matching how the two shared
drivers actually differ.
Package directory, npm name, module doc, JSDoc module tags, test-file name and
its temp-dir prefixes, the subagent-acp import and its Config/tsconfig/package.json
references, root tsconfig.json/tsconfig.build.json/knip.json entries, and the
packages/subagent group README all renamed together; regenerated
docs/module-graph.md and docs/config-catalog.md. Pure rename — no behavior,
export, or Config shape changed.
SubagentStartRequest gains persona (capability-gated like toolFilter); the
in-process driver composes the child's scoped world in the factory's setup
window — persona as a scoped shadowing deployment:persona section,
toolFilter as a scoped tools.restrict() (loud unknown-name validation),
outputSchema as the scoped structured runtime. spawn/fork now advertise
every start-time capability; ACP stays all-false. A parent-scope teardown
effect links each child to its parent through the memoized handle, so a
disposed parent reaches its whole subtree even if the delegating tool's
finally never runs; subagent/start|end dispatch in the delegating parent's
scope.
structured.ts loses the placeholder schema, the final-assembly swap/strip,
the refcounted root runtime, and the WeakMap state: each child registers
its OWN capture tool (real schema), instruction section, and enforcement
listeners on child.ctx, riding the child's fiber. The commit listener is
call-keyed (a stale stage from a short-circuited post-execute chain is
dropped, never promoted on a later call), and one scoped prepend re-assert
listener preserves the final-assembly guarantee against a stripping global
listener.
tool-subagent gains persona/toolFilter/maxDepth passthrough config —
deny-listing the delegation tool (or maxDepth) is how a deployment bounds
recursion; the omitted-toolFilter schema key is forced absent (a
materialized {} would mean an empty allow-list, i.e. deny-everything).
The credential env scrub (SENSITIVE_ENV_PATTERN/buildChildEnv), the
spawn-failure capture (spawnFailure), the child-exit waits
(waitForExit/exitsWithin), and the stdin-EOF -> SIGTERM -> SIGKILL dispose
ladder move out of subagent-acp into a new pure library package (the
subagent-inprocess shape), with the ladder taking its two grace periods as
parameters — defaults stay in the plugin Config. New isolated-config-dir
helpers (mkdtemp create, best-effort remove; a pinned dir is never removed)
land alongside for the CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR / CODEX_HOME redirection the RFC
names.
The ACP backend migrates onto the library with no semantic change: its suite
passes with import-path edits only. bash-local keeps its sibling copy, per
the RFC's blast-radius call.
RFC: docs/rfc/proposed/feature/2026-07-07-claude-code-and-codex-subagent-backends.md
A Codex review pass on the draft caught four real gaps and two solid
suggestions; all addressed except one pushed back on the merits:
- hooks-claude/hooks-codex: stderrSummaryMaxChars was the one new knob
with NO range validation — a negative/NaN cap would silently
misbehave inside slice(). Both bridges now assert a positive integer
at the TOP of apply() (before the config-file parse's early return,
so a bad value fails the load loudly), with rejection tests.
- tool-fs: the read caps count lines/chars/bytes, so positive-FINITE
was too loose (a fractional readLimit would flow into windowing
arithmetic and the schema description). All four now require a
positive integer, matching tool-web's cap.
- Doc drift the gates cannot catch: tool-web's README tools table
still named WEB_SEARCH_MAX_RESULTS as the mechanism; compact-basic's
README/module doc and the compaction-capability-seam RFC still
described estimation as fixed char/4 rather than the charsPerToken
default.
- subagent-acp: the dispose graces were tested only at the
startAcpRun level, so a regression that stopped threading plugin
config into AcpRunSpec would have survived. A provider-path test now
drives the trap-escalation scenario through ctx.subagents.start with
small config graces and bounds dispose at 4s.
Pushed back on: converting compact-basic's charsPerToken to a
schemastery field. The package's whole config is deliberately
hand-rolled (resolveConfig, every threshold REQUIRED with no default —
a documented design posture); one schemastery field beside it would be
incoherent. The knob is cordis.yml-reachable, defaulted, and validated,
which is what the convention requires; migrating the package to
schemastery wholesale is pre-existing config-surface hygiene out of
this change's scope.
The audit swept every packages/*/* plugin for the new AGENTS.md
convention (no hardcoded tunables in plugins) and exposes each finding
as a defaulted, validated Config field. Defaults are the previously
hardcoded values throughout, so no deployment or golden changes.
- tool-fs (had NO Config): readLimit, readMaxLineLength, readMaxBytes,
readStreamMinSize. The caps thread through ReadToolCaps/ReadWindow —
read-render already documented that the consumer applies the caps, so
they become explicit per-request fields.
- tool-web: searchMaxResults (WEB_SEARCH_MAX_RESULTS stays as the
schemastery default). Also fixes the stale GREP_LIMIT references in
search.ts and the web-capability-seam RFC (no such constant exists).
- bash-local: graceMs (SIGTERM->SIGKILL escalation grace). The
RunInternals.graceMs test seam is gone: graceMs is now a required
SpawnSpec field filled from config, so tests exercise the real
config path and the defaults live in exactly one place.
- subagent-acp: disposeEofGraceMs / disposeGraceMs. The AcpRunSpec
fields become required for the same one-defaulting-layer reason.
- session-persistence-sqlite: journalMode ('wal' default; the
rollback-journal modes serve filesystems where WAL's shared-memory
files do not work, e.g. network mounts).
- hooks-claude + hooks-codex: stderrSummaryMaxChars for the persisted
hook/result stderr summary. The duplicated summarize() helpers merge
into hook-protocol's summarizeStderr(stderr, maxChars), beside the
HookResultRecord field it feeds, with the bound parameterized the
same way runHook's defaultTimeoutMs already is.
- compact-basic: charsPerToken for the token estimator (default 4, the
English-text heuristic; CJK-heavy deployments need ~1-2 or compaction
fires far too late). Also corrects the BasicCompactService class doc,
which claimed defaults the required-field config never had.
- fs-local: deletes the dead STREAM_MIN_SIZE constant and the dead
FsIoInternals.streamMinSize seam — the read-routing bound lives in
the consumer (tool-fs), where it is now config. This is item 1 of
the proposed prune-write-only-fs-surface RFC, annotated accordingly.
Every new field gets range validation (following the existing
assertPositiveFinite pattern), a README row, and tests covering the
configured behavior, the schema default, and load-time rejection.
Two findings on the ACP backend:
Blocking: cancel() only sent session/cancel, so a child that ignores the notify
or wedges the prompt left result hung forever — the model-facing tool awaits
result before its finally disposes, so the parent cancellation hung and the
child stayed alive, violating the SubagentRun.cancel() contract (result settles
aborted). The result path now races the ACP drive against a cancelSettled
promise that requestCancel resolves, so result settles aborted the instant a
cancel is requested, regardless of the child. dispose() still kills+reaps the
process. New MOCK_IGNORE_CANCEL mock mode (receives cancel, never resolves the
prompt, never exits) drives a regression proven to hang without the race.
Nit: the drive-path catch was an empty broad catch that discarded the error
(AGENTS.md forbids). Because cancellation is now handled by the race arm, a
rejection reaching the catch is always a genuine child-level error — bind it,
flatten to error, and surface the original via a new AcpRunSpec.onError sink
that the provider wires to ctx.logger.warn, so a real fault is preserved.
Two round-3 findings:
(A) The EOF-quiesce window reused the 3000ms SIGTERM grace, the SAME value as
dsh-bash-local's own SIGTERM->SIGKILL grace. The child acp-agent's EOF teardown
disposes its loop, which stops child-owned bash -- and a SIGTERM-trapping bash
grandchild can hold that for up to ~3s before its own SIGKILL, then the child
still owes a final flush. With both graces equal, the parent's SIGTERM fired
exactly as the child reached its own SIGKILL+flush, cutting it off. Split the
EOF grace into its own knob (disposeEofGraceMs, default 6000ms) that exceeds a
single signal-grace of nested-teardown headroom. The child is an arbitrary ACP
agent, so the value is a standalone generous default, NOT derived from any
child's internals. Tier-1 test now uses a flush that outlasts the SIGTERM grace
but fits the EOF grace, so it lands only because the EOF tier honors its own
wider window (proven RED when tier 1 reuses the small SIGTERM grace).
(B) The middle-tier (SIGTERM) test only asserted dispose returned in time, so
an EOF->SIGKILL ladder with the rung removed would still pass. The mock's
MOCK_IGNORE_EOF mode now installs a SIGTERM handler that touches an observable
marker before exiting; SIGKILL is uncatchable, so removing the SIGTERM rung
leaves the marker absent (proven RED). The test asserts the marker exists.
dispose() ended stdin and sent SIGTERM in the same tick, so the child's
EOF-driven quiesce had no window to run. The real acp-agent has no SIGTERM
handler in a normal session — it flushes persistence and stops child-owned
work via the server bridge's connection-close path (conn.closed → per-agent
dispose → final session/flush), driven by stdin EOF, NOT by a signal. A prompt
response can resolve from a turn/end before that post-turn flush lands, so the
child still owes durable work when dispose runs; a same-tick default SIGTERM
terminated it mid-flush, orphaning child-owned bash and dropping the flush.
dispose now waits for the child's natural exit after stdin EOF first, then
escalates SIGTERM (grace), then SIGKILL — a three-tier ladder. Add an
`exitsWithin` helper for the bounded waits.
Regression coverage: a new mock mode (MOCK_FLUSH_ON_EOF) flushes a marker
asynchronously on EOF then self-exits; the tier-1 test asserts the marker
lands (proven RED on the same-tick-SIGTERM ordering — child killed mid-flush).
MOCK_IGNORE_EOF covers the middle tier (ignores EOF, dies on default SIGTERM);
the existing MOCK_TRAP_SIGTERM test covers the SIGKILL tier.
Two lifecycle findings from the review:
- A (blocker): dispose() could hang forever. It only sent SIGTERM and awaited
exit, with no escalation — a child that traps SIGTERM (or our acp-agent if it
doesn't quiesce on stdin EOF) would wedge dispose, stranding tool-subagent's
finally cleanup and orphaning child-owned work (e.g. bash subprocesses). dispose
now: ends stdin (graceful ACP close so the child can flush + exit), SIGTERM,
then escalates to SIGKILL if it doesn't exit within a grace period
(DEFAULT_DISPOSE_GRACE_MS, injectable via spec.disposeGraceMs), awaiting the
certain exit. Mirrors the bash executor's bounded teardown. Regression test
drives a SIGTERM-trapping mock subprocess and asserts dispose returns promptly
— proven to hang (red) without the escalation.
- B: an already-aborted request still spawned the configured binary. startAcpRun
now returns an inert already-aborted run BEFORE spawning, so a pre-cancelled
request launches nothing. Test points the command at `touch <sentinel>` and
asserts the sentinel never appears.
The dispose regression test exposed (via systematic-debugging) that the child
must signal trap-armed readiness before the test cancels — a bare timeout raced
the trap install and the default SIGTERM handler killed the child, making the
guard a no-op. The mock now touches its ready file once the trap is in place and
the test waits on that condition. The `cancelled` flag moved onto a holder object
so TS control-flow doesn't narrow the catch-time read to always-false.
The first OUT-OF-PROCESS subagent backend, proving the seam generalizes past the
in-process backends. @deepseek-ai/dsh-subagent-acp runs each child agent in a
spawned subprocess, driven over the Agent Client Protocol as the CLIENT — the
direction-inverted twin of the dsh-acp server bridge. Point the configured
command at the acp-agent example and the harness talks to its own process.
- Fresh process per run: start spawns, runs one ACP session (initialize →
newSession → prompt), dispose kills the subprocess and awaits its exit.
- Minimal client stub: advertises no fs/terminal; accumulates agent_message_chunk
text as the result output; auto-answers session/request_permission by a
configured policy (reject default / allow). No start-time capabilities (an
out-of-process child can't enforce the parent's depth/tool-filter); ignores
request.parent; injects only `subagents`.
- StopReason mapping (end_turn→completed, cancelled→aborted, …); result resolves
error/aborted on a child failure, never rejects (seam contract).
- Security: credential-shaped ambient env vars are scrubbed; the child's own key
is forwarded only via explicit config.env. A spawn-level error (ENOENT) is
captured and raced against the ACP drive so a bad command settles error rather
than crashing the parent.
Testing designed at every tier: keyless integration drives a scripted mock ACP
server subprocess (cancellation incl. the pre-newSession race and a
torn-pipe-after-cancel, permission auto-answer, non-message updates, spawn
failure, HMR, export shape) at 100% coverage; a with-key e2e drives the REAL
acp-agent example process (PONG + real file write, verified on disk) — the
harness driving itself. Snapshot coverage of an ACP child is deferred as
TODO(acp-subagent-replay) (each child is its own process with its own replay).
Stayed on @agentclientprotocol/sdk 0.25.1: the proposed 0.28.x bump only
deprecates the stable ClientSideConnection/AgentSideConnection API this layer
uses (33 sites incl. the server bridge), turning no-deprecated red across code
this PR shouldn't rewrite — that fluent-API migration is its own follow-up. The
backend needs nothing 0.28.x adds.
This completes the subagent seam stack (PR1 interface → PR2 in-process → PR2.5
snapshot infra → PR3 ACP); the seam RFC moves to implemented/, amended.
Turtle
Tianyi Cui
Yichen Jiang
imccyu
pku-xht