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Collapsible worker/background agent panel showing active sub-agents, model, reasoning level, and task description #1783

Description

@berrat

Describe the feature or problem you'd like to solve

When the main agent spawns background or worker sub-agents (e.g. via the task tool — explore, task, general-purpose, code-review), there is no at-a-glance visibility into what is running. You can't see how many sub-agents are active, which model they're using, what reasoning level they're at, or what they're working on — without waiting for them to finish and report back. For complex sessions with multiple parallel agents, this is a blind spot.

Proposed solution

Add an optional Worker Agents panel in the TUI — collapsible/expandable — that shows a live list of all active background and worker sub-agents. The panel has two states:

Folded (compact, default on):

⚙ Workers  [3 active]

Unfolded (expanded):

⚙ Workers  [3 active]
  ● explore         claude-haiku-4.5   —  "Finding auth-related files in src/"
  ● task            claude-haiku-4.5   —  "Running test suite"
  ● general-purpose claude-sonnet-4.5  high  —  "Refactoring login handler"

Each row shows:

  • Status indicator — spinning/active (●), done (✔), failed (✖)
  • Agent type — explore, task, general-purpose, code-review
  • Model — e.g. claude-sonnet-4.5, claude-haiku-4.5
  • Reasoning level (optional, shown only when non-default) — e.g. high
  • Task description (optional, truncated) — the short description passed to the agent

Controls:

  • Toggle fold/unfold: dedicated keyboard shortcut (e.g. Ctrl+W or similar — subject to terminal keybinding availability) or by clicking the panel header
  • Panel can be fully disabled via config ("workerPanel": false in config.json) for users who prefer a minimal UI
  • Completed agents fade/clear from the panel after a short delay (configurable)

Example prompts or workflows

  1. Main agent launches 3 parallel explore sub-agents. User sees ⚙ Workers [3 active] badge immediately, expands to see what each is scanning.
  2. A task agent running tests fails. Panel shows ✖ task claude-haiku-4.5 — "Running test suite" in red — user knows before the main agent reports back.
  3. User prefers a clean UI — sets "workerPanel": false in config.json, panel never appears.
  4. Long-running general-purpose agent with high reasoning — user can confirm the right reasoning level is being used without having to wait for the result.
  5. User is on a metered plan and wants to monitor which models are being invoked in real time.

Additional context

  • OS: Windows 11 Pro (Build 26200 / 24H2)
  • Shell: PowerShell 7.5.4
  • Copilot CLI: 0.0.420 (win32-x64)
  • The existing TUI already renders collapsible alt-screen panels (checkpoints, context, MCP) — this panel follows the same pattern.
  • config.json already carries reasoning_effort — surfacing per-agent reasoning level in the panel is a natural extension.
  • Model names shown in examples reflect the bundled agent defaults (explore and task use claude-haiku-4.5; general-purpose and code-review use claude-sonnet-4.5). The panel should reflect whatever model is actually configured or overridden at runtime.

Activity

  1. added theissue type on Mar 3, 2026
  2. changed the title [-]Feature: Collapsible worker/background agent panel showing active sub-agents, model, reasoning level, and task description[/-] [+]Collapsible worker/background agent panel showing active sub-agents, model, reasoning level, and task description[/+] on Mar 3, 2026
  3. added
    area:authenticationLogin, OAuth, device auth, token management, and keychain integration
    on Apr 6, 2026
  4. added
    area:modelsModel selection, availability, switching, rate limits, and model-specific behavior
    area:agentsSub-agents, fleet, autopilot, plan mode, background agents, and custom agents
    on Apr 6, 2026
  5. ylexus commented on Sep 23, 2026

    @ylexus

    This is a gaping whole compared to claude code (which also shows the same for any background shells it is running). +1, Subscribed.

  6. HauserV commented on Oct 23, 2026

    @HauserV

    +1 for this. Even after /tasks and the fullscreen sub-agent detail/steering view landed (#1322, #2517), the at-a-glance and navigation UX is still painful:

    1. Hidden during active turns: The "N background /tasks" footer counter is hidden whenever a foreground turn spinner is active, doesn't include synchronous sub-agents (Ctrl+X B backgrounds only sync shell commands, not the subagent itself; running subagents also absent from /tasks (parity with Claude Code Ctrl+B) #3845), and isn't clickable.
    2. High-friction switching via /tasks: Inspecting or messaging a running sub-agent requires typing /tasks → Enter → selecting the agent → Enter, and switching to another sub-agent (or back to the main session) requires backing out through the /tasks modal (Esc → Esc).

    Now that the sub-agent fullscreen detail/chat view exists, making each row in this worker panel clickable (and keyboard-selectable)—including a row for the main session while viewing a sub-agent—would let users see all running sub-agents at a glance below the prompt and jump directly between main and any sub-agent in one click without /tasks modal round-trips.

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    area:agentsSub-agents, fleet, autopilot, plan mode, background agents, and custom agentsarea:authenticationLogin, OAuth, device auth, token management, and keychain integrationarea:modelsModel selection, availability, switching, rate limits, and model-specific behavior

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