--forward-subagent-text
A Claude Code CLI flag, read out of the shipped bundle. It has been in the build since v2.1.211, including the newest one read.
What it is
Emit [subagent](/docs/en/sub-agents) text and thinking blocks in the output stream as assistant and user messages with parent_tool_use_id set, so you can reconstruct each subagent's transcript. Without this flag, Claude Code emits only subagent tool_use and tool_result blocks. Requires --print and --output-format stream-json. Claude Code also forwards messages from [nested subagents](/docs/en/sub-agents#let-subagents-spawn-their-own-subagents), setting parent_tool_use_id to the ID of the Agent tool call that spawned each one; this requires Claude Code v2.1.219 or later. The [CLAUDE_CODE_FORWARD_SUBAGENT_TEXT](/docs/en/env-vars) environment variable enables the same behavior. Requires Claude Code v2.1.211 or later
Anthropic's own wording. Read off CLI reference, captured 2026-08-28.
Presence across releases
| Releases | Reading | Declared type | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1.245 – 2.1.250 5 releases | never mined | — | — |
| 2.1.211 – 2.1.243 32 releases | in the build | — | — |
A row reading never mined is a release with no archived bundle behind it. Nothing was read out of it, so nothing here says whether the name was in it. A declared type or a default is only ever what that release's own bundle stated.
Changelog entries naming it
No changelog entry here has ever named it. That is a statement about what has been written, not about the name: it has been in the build since v2.1.211 without anybody writing a line about it.
Documentation pages
- CLI reference reference table Claude Code CLI
- Claude Code changelog mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Environment variables mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Run Claude Code programmatically mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Week 29 · July 13–17, 2026 mentions it Claude Code CLI
A reference table page is one whose own table defines this name, and it is where the description above came from. A page that mentions it carries the name somewhere in its text and may say nothing about it at all. Every page carrying it.
Names beside it
Every CLI flag in the inventory starting --forward, up to twelve of them.
Read out of the published npm bundle release by release, and out of Anthropic's own documentation as this site captured it. Nothing on this page is a description anybody here wrote about what the CLI flag does. All CLI flags.