A subagent child's recursion depth lived only in runtime AgentOptions,
so a persisted child came back from resume counted as top-level and
maxDepth stopped binding after every restart. Add
SessionHeader.delegationDepth, round-trip it through the JSONL and
SQLite backends (SQLite schema v5), restore it on agent-loop resume,
and write it when the in-process backends create a child. The seam now
owns the shared depth vocabulary (delegationDepthOf): the persisted
header is authoritative and monotone — runtime options may deepen it
but never lower it.
Rewrite the agent-scope RFC with executable examples and an explicit security non-goal. Harden subagent scalar and depth validation, and pin live tool-filter semantics across code, tests, and generated docs.
Queue worker results before settlement cleanup, claim terminal and death boundaries before provider callbacks, and close late-message admission.
Make child cancellation and disposal reentrancy-safe across the workflow bridge and generic subagent wrapper, with adversarial regression coverage and RFC documentation.
Every packages/*/* README now carries a canonical '## Known Limitations and
Deferred Work' section: condensed, evidence-backed bullets for consumer-visible
gaps (unimplemented features, platform caveats, MVP cuts) and consciously
postponed work (TODO/FIXME/XXX markers, RFC deferrals still open). The ten
pre-existing ad-hoc variants ('What is NOT here (TODO)', 'Deferred',
'Limitations (MVP)', 'Known limitations (tracked TODOs)', ...) are normalized
into the canonical heading.
A new doc-sync gate, scripts/verify-readme-limitations.ts, enforces the shape:
exactly one limitations-like heading per package README, byte-equal to the
canonical h2, with at least one bullet; near-miss headings fail so variants
cannot creep back. Packages with genuinely nothing to declare (dsh-brand,
dsh-timeout, dsh-subagent-mock, dsh-app-boot) are whitelisted in the script and
must NOT carry the section; whitelist entries are validated against the scanned
package set so a rename fails loud.
Wired into the doc-sync chain (package.json) and the run-gates doc-sync leaf
set; the standing rule lands in packages/AGENTS.md and the adding-a-package
cookbook; decision record in
docs/rfc/implemented/process/2026-07-10-readme-known-limitations-gate.md
(RFC index regenerated).
Also fixes two stale '(deferred)' markers claiming dsh-compact-basic is
unimplemented (the dsh-compact seam README's package table and the seam's
module doc comment).
Drain idle injection flushes before agent teardown, snapshot approval and subagent provider inputs, and gate subagent lifecycle events on real child readiness. Align the RFCs and generated contracts with the hardened behavior.
One shared ctx.tasks registry (branded <kind>-N ids, owner-fenced
read/kill/wait/list, attachSurface misconfiguration fence, reported-flag
notice dedup, atomic register) + dsh-tool-tasks (task_output/task_list/
task_kill, completion-notice injection, background prompt habit).
Producers opt in via their own enableRunInBackground config: bash
(stream kind; seam slimmed to resolve/run/start returning a BashProcess
handle, bash_output/bash_kill deleted) and subagent (final-output kind;
done settles after run.dispose()). Owner disposal drains tasks through
the new awaited ctx.agents.onCleanup seam in the loop's disposal chain.
Both RFCs moved to implemented/; docs, catalogs, snapshots re-pinned.
The agent-scope-contexts RFC (implemented) records the decision tree:
the dsh-scope primitive over cordis extend/Context.filter/no-op fibers,
two-level flat scope with shadowing, restriction/grant semantics, the
scoped-dispatch rule with fused helpers, the setup window, and the
alternatives (explicit scope params, isolate, event-filtering-only,
vendored support) with why each lost. CONTEXT.md pins the glossary.
architecture.md gains the Agent Scope section, the dsh-scope spine row,
the scoped turn-flow line, and an extension-table row (ceiling 1640→1790:
the two-layer registration model is a new architectural axis; additions
are condensed to pointers). READMEs of every touched package re-state
their scoped facts; the stale structured-runtime README section is
replaced by the scoped-registration description.
Codex round-1 findings, both confirmed:
- renderPrompt: variable lookup now uses Object.hasOwn (an unregistered
{{constructor}} previously resolved through Object.prototype and spliced
function source into the prompt), and a {{ that opens no complete group
while a }} still follows ({{{model}}}, {{a{b}}) now throws instead of
passing or partially interpolating. A lone {{ with no }} after it stays
verbatim; substituted values are never re-scanned.
- tool-subagent: the apply-time provider lookup assumed a load order the
cordis Loader does not guarantee (siblings start concurrently). The seam
now announces subagent/provider-added/-removed and the tool mirrors the
provider's lifecycle: registers when the provider is (or becomes)
available, unregisters when it goes away, re-derives wording on reload.
No load-order requirement remains.
- loop.spec containment test now proves live continuation: after the
contained render failure, a waterfall listener rescues {{cwd}} and the
same agent completes a real model turn.
RFC/READMEs updated to the shipped contract; cordis catalog regenerated.
One principle: every fact in the assembled prompt has exactly one owner.
- dsh-system-prompt: merge-extensible AssembleContext on assemble();
a variable(name, provider) registry; {{name}} interpolation in
renderPrompt, strict (unknown/valueless/malformed references throw);
duplicate section and variable names rejected; assembly carries
resolved section text + variables through the assemble waterfall.
- dsh-agent declares AssembleContext.agent; dsh-agent-loop registers
the agent:persona section (order 0 - identity renders before tool
guidance) and the model/cwd variables, and drops its string join:
renderPrompt(assembly) IS the full prompt.
- Tool guidance moves to its owners: descriptions carry per-tool
semantics; sections only cross-call habits (tool:bash exit-code
habit at order 105; read's not-shell nudge). todo/subagent need no
section - their descriptions already carry the contract.
- SubagentProvider.inheritsParentContext (spawn/acp false, fork true);
dsh-tool-subagent derives truthful per-provider wording and resolves
the provider at load (backend must be listed first).
- Example personas shrink to identity + behavior with {{model}} (and
{{cwd}} in the ACP tree); the welcome banner stops enumerating tools.
RFC: docs/rfc/implemented/architecture/2026-07-05-prompt-variables-and-tool-guidance-ownership.md
Address review: `agentType` was a Claude-Code concept (`subagent_type`) that
does not fit our own subagent seam — nothing in the harness interprets it, and
its only consumer was the CC-dialect hook bridge. Rather than let a foreign
concept sit on the core seam, remove it:
- `SubagentStartRequest`, `SubagentRunInfo`, `SubagentRunEndInfo`: drop the
`agentType` field; the `subagent/start`/`subagent/end` payloads now carry
`provider`/`id` (+ end `stopReason`/`lastAssistantMessage`) only.
- `dsh-tool-subagent`: drop `Config.agentType` and its request plumbing.
- Tests: keep the lastAssistantMessage / clone-containment / reject-path
coverage (rewritten to not assert agentType); delete the two tool-subagent
tests that only exercised agentType forwarding (dead behavior).
- Docs: retitle + rewrite the subagent-observe-enrich RFC to the one shipped
enrichment (lastAssistantMessage), with a note on why agentType was dropped;
update rfc/README index title, both subagent READMEs, and the
core-data-structures/subagent.md type-equiv block + prose; regenerate catalog.
The CC bridge (PR-F) will feed Claude Code's own default matcher value
"general-purpose" for its SubagentStart/Stop agent_type matcher instead.
Codex review caught an observe-only violation: the subagent/end emit fires from a
detached `.then` registered BEFORE start() returns — so before the caller's own
`await run.result` continuation runs. Carrying `result.output` by reference let a
mutating subagent/end listener corrupt the SubagentResult.output the caller/tool
then consumes. structuredClone() makes the event a read-only snapshot. Added a
regression test that mutates the event's array and asserts the caller's result is
untouched; proven to fail red without the clone. Updated the RFC + READMEs to note
the clone is load-bearing for the observe-only guarantee.
A hooks bridge translating SubagentStart/SubagentStop needs to know WHICH kind of
subagent ran and WHAT it produced — Claude Code's hooks carry subagent_type and the
child's final message. Enrich the existing lifecycle emits to match, observe-only:
- agentType: an optional caller-supplied subagent-kind label (CC's subagent_type),
added to SubagentStartRequest and carried VERBATIM onto both subagent/start
(SubagentRunInfo) and subagent/end (SubagentRunEndInfo). The seam never interprets
it. dsh-tool-subagent threads it from a new optional Config.agentType, so a
deployment exposing multiple subagent kinds (one tool load per kind) labels each.
- lastAssistantMessage: the child's final output (SubagentResult.output), added to
SubagentRunEndInfo on the settle path so an observer sees what the subagent
produced without holding the run. Absent on the reject path (no result produced).
Strictly observe-only: both events stay plain emits (subagent/end fires from a
detached .then and awaits no listener). A control-flow subagent/end (awaited
waterfall returning a decision) would need the emit→waterfall reshape, awaiting
listeners before settling, and a provider resume capability — deferred to the
background/steering redesign (FIXME(subagent-continuation) anchors it). RFC:
implemented/feature/2026-06-30-subagent-observe-enrich.md.
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.
Introduce the `packages/subagent/` group and the abstract subagent seam — an
agent delegating to a child agent — as a named-provider registry (`ctx.subagents`),
unlike the single-implementation bash seam, so multiple transports (in-process,
ACP, future A2A) coexist. This first PR lands the interface, a scripted test
backend, and the model-facing tool, validated through the real cordis load path.
- dsh-subagent: SubagentService registry + SubagentProvider/SubagentRun
vocabulary + subagent/start|end events. Start-time capabilities (outputSchema,
depthLimit, toolFilter) are checked pre-start and rejected loud; runtime
capabilities (sendMessage, resume) are optional methods on SubagentRun.
- dsh-subagent-mock (support): scripted provider for keyless, deterministic
tests through the real Loader/export path.
- dsh-tool-subagent: the model-facing `subagent` tool, config-bound to one
provider; synchronous collect with try/finally dispose, signal->cancel
bridging, and non-completed-stop-reason -> isError mapping.
- Proposed RFC documenting the seam, the fork-vs-spawn-as-separate-backends
decision, own-session isolation, synchronous-collect scope, and the deferral
of background/poll/spill to a future unification with bash.
- Wire the new group into tsconfigs, build refs, package hierarchy docs, the
module graph, and the cordis catalog.
RFC: docs/rfc/proposed/feature/2026-06-21-subagent-capability-seam.md
Tianyi Cui
Yichen Jiang