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deepseek-harness/packages/subagent/subagent-fork/README.md
T
Tianyi Cui 7aabd2a3df Add in-process subagent backends: spawn (fresh) and fork (seeded)
The second PR of the subagent seam: the two in-process backends that run a
child agent on the same cordis context, reusing the agent factory's quiescent
AgentHandle teardown. Both register on ctx.subagents (PR1's named-provider
registry) and share one run driver.

- dsh-subagent-spawn: a FRESH child via ctx.agents.create — own session, the
  parent's model by default (overridable), zero inherited conversation. Also
  exports the shared in-process run driver (startInProcessRun): mint ids, stamp
  cwd/parentSession-lineage/depth, drive the one-shot (send → whenIdle), read
  the last assistant/message + turn/end reason, dispose to quiescence.
- dsh-subagent-fork: a child SEEDED with the parent's balanced completed-turn
  prefix (the log up to and including its last turn/end), so the child inherits
  context. The in-flight unbalanced turn is excluded — a raw seed would fail the
  invariants replay. Proven: a regression test goes red if the boundary seeds
  the open turn.
- Seam extension: CreateAgentOptions.seed, threaded through AgentLoop.createAgent
  → ctx.sessions.prepare({ seed }) (the primitive resume already used). This is
  the fork-lineage path the TODO(sub-agents) markers anticipated.
- Depth: a merge-extensible AgentOptions.subagentDepth (0 top-level, parent+1 for
  a child); the depthLimit capability refuses a spawn past request.maxDepth.

Tests: real-loop unit tests for both backends (mock MODEL only, real loop +
invariants), a multi-subagent test (one parent drives a fork AND a spawn child
then keeps working), and a with-key e2e (a real parent delegates via the
`subagent` tool to a real child that writes a file on disk — world-verified).
100% per-file coverage. The coding-agent demo wires the spawn backend + tool.

Snapshot coverage of nested agents is deferred to a stacked follow-up
(TODO(subagent-snapshots)): dsh-llm-replay is a single global positional cursor
that cannot route calls to a parent vs. a child on one context. Recorded in the
RFC's deferrals and a new AGENTS.md rule: designing a subsystem must design its
test infrastructure END TO END up front, verifying the snapshot/e2e harness can
express the new shape — a gap this plan hit.
2026-06-22 05:58:40 +08:00

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# @deepseek-ai/dsh-subagent-fork
The in-process **fork** subagent backend: a [`SubagentProvider`](../subagent/README.md) that runs each child as a child [`Agent`](../../core/agent) **seeded with a prefix of the parent's session log** — so the child inherits the parent's conversation context instead of starting fresh. Shares the run driver (`startInProcessRun`) with [`dsh-subagent-spawn`](../subagent-spawn/README.md); the only difference is the seed.
## The seed boundary (the crux)
At the moment a subagent tool's `execute` runs, the parent's CURRENT turn is open and unbalanced: the log holds the `assistant/message` carrying this spawn's tool-call and the dangling `tool/call` with no `tool/result` yet. Seeding that raw prefix would give the child an open turn that the session constructor and the dev-mode [invariants](../../support/invariants) replay **reject**.
So the fork seeds only the **balanced completed-turn prefix** — the parent's log up to and including its last `turn/end`, excluding the in-flight turn entirely (`completedTurnPrefix`). Because the live log keeps `seq === index`, the slice is contiguous-from-0 and a valid seed. A parent on its very first (not-yet-complete) turn forks an *empty* seed — i.e. effectively a fresh child.
The seam this rides on: `CreateAgentOptions.seed` (added on `dsh-agent`, threaded through `AgentLoop.createAgent``ctx.sessions.prepare({ seed })`), the same primitive `resume` uses.
## Capabilities
`{ outputSchema: false, depthLimit: true, toolFilter: false }` — identical to spawn (the depth/model/output behavior is the shared driver's).
## Config
| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `providerName` | Registry name on `ctx.subagents` (default `fork`). |
See [`dsh-subagent-spawn`](../subagent-spawn/README.md) for the run lifecycle, model inheritance, and depth tracking — all shared.