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Codex subagents can be visible in terminal/proxy but absent from runtime subagent state #340
Description
Problem
Codex subagents can be visible in the live terminal/proxy stream but absent from runtime.subAgents, leaving the feed with no semantic subagent UI.
Related: #178.
Evidence
Bundle:
~/.config/agent-code/debug-bundles/manual/2026-06-18T11-12-28-535-21c515e9
- Note: "Not handling codex subagents at all."
state-snapshot.jsonhas"subAgents": {}.- The screen text shows active Codex agents, including spawned/waiting agents.
proxy-events.jsonlcontains Codex subagent headers includingx-openai-subagent: collab_spawn,x-codex-parent-thread-id, and childx-codex-window-id.
Suspected Cause
Subagent tracking is transcript/rollout-entry driven. Codex tracking starts only for rollout-shaped JSONL entries and then correlates spawn_agent calls, outputs, and child rollout/session files.
If the live evidence is only proxy headers or screen text, current state tracking has no fallback path to create pending subagent state.
Relevant paths:
src/main/sessions/forwarder.tssrc/main/subagents/index.tssrc/main/subagents/codexSubagentState.ts
Expected
A Codex run with child windows but missing or delayed rollout correlation should still produce visible pending subagent rows, with diagnostics showing which correlation source was used: rollout output, notification, child session meta, proxy headers, or screen fallback.
Activity
Juliusolsson05 commentedon Jun 22, 2026
Linking this to #172 and #178 with an important boundary: the new rendering engine will not by itself fix missing Codex subagent source state. This issue still needs provider/runtime correlation to populate
runtime.subAgents.Once that state exists, #172/#178 should decide how subagent items are owned and rendered in the parent feed without raw leakage, duplicates, or key collisions.
Juliusolsson05 commentedon Sep 27, 2026
Kept open, still very true (owner confirmed 2026-09-27). Triage finding:
src/main/subagents/codexSubagentState.tsonly recognizes the olderspawn_agent+agent_typeshape. Its own TODO notes that current Codex usestask_name, which the tracker ignores, so current Codex subagents probably get no subagent rows at all. The next step is to record a current Codex session that spawns a subagent, then re-scope to 'the task_name form has no parent→child session link'. The Claude equivalent is tracked separately (linked below).Juliusolsson05 commentedon Sep 27, 2026
Claude companion issue: 1470.