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.
subagent/ — subagent capability family
The subagent seam: an agent delegating work to a child agent. Like the bash and llm families this is a capability seam (see capability seams) — but with one defining difference: multiple provider implementations coexist in one context, registered by name, rather than the single-implementation bash shape. The registry mirrors the LLM adapter registry.
| Package | Role | ctx key |
|---|---|---|
subagent/ |
Abstract subagent seam: named-provider registry + vocabulary | ctx.subagents |
subagent-inprocess/ |
Shared in-process run driver (pure lib; registers nothing) | — |
subagent-spawn/ |
In-process backend: a fresh child agent | (registers on ctx.subagents) |
subagent-fork/ |
In-process backend: a child seeded with the parent's completed-turn prefix | (registers on ctx.subagents) |
subagent-acp/ |
Out-of-process backend: a child agent in a spawned subprocess, driven over ACP | (registers on ctx.subagents) |
tool-subagent/ |
Model-facing subagent delegation tool over ctx.subagents |
(registers on ctx.tools) |
The interface lives at subagent/subagent/. The in-process subagent-spawn / subagent-fork backends share the subagent-inprocess driver (a pure library — both depend on it, neither on the other), and the out-of-process subagent-acp backend ships alongside them here; the test-only dsh-subagent-mock (in support) is separate. All product packages except the mock.
The proposal and design rationale: docs/rfc/implemented/feature/2026-06-21-subagent-capability-seam.md.