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Sweep 22 Sep 2026 · 17:19Z Build v2.1.280 501 read Stable v2.1.267 Latest v2.1.280 Next v2.1.280 Feeds RSS JSON llms.txt Unofficial
Claude Code v2.1.267 ·

Subagents can hand results back to their parent via a new SubagentHandback tool

A new SubagentHandback tool lets a subagent deliver its final report directly to the agent that spawned it, with delivery tracked end to end

TierUnder the hoodhow much it should matter to you
Useful2my rating, 1 to 5
Signal3worth watching, 1 to 5
AreaSubagentswhat it touches
KindInternal Changesin v2.1.267,
Group of 6 Under the hood

A new SubagentHandback tool lets a subagent deliver its final report directly to the agent that spawned it, with delivery tracked end to end

What

  • A new tool, SubagentHandback, lets a subagent send its final report straight to the agent (or main thread) that spawned it, as its one and only last tool call. It isn't a progress-update channel — it can only be called once, requires a non-empty message, and only works when the agent has an active "handback contract" with a recorded recipient.
  • Long reports are compacted or summarized before delivery, and get safety-review framing (blocked/refused/unavailable) attached.
  • The subagent's completion result now carries a handback payload (and a handbackInterim variant), and the finalize step computes whether the handback was sent, flagged, or withheld, appending a message to the result accordingly.
  • Async subagents can now explicitly hand control back to a specific owning agent (tracked as handbackRecipient) rather than only running to completion or being polled.
  • For subagents running in "auto" mode, this mechanism is what actually counts as the final answer: plain trailing text is discarded unless delivered through SubagentHandback. The feature is off by default, controlled by the CLAUDE_CODE_SENDMESSAGE_HANDBACK environment variable or an internal rollout gate.
  • Depending on the handback outcome (send, flagged, or withheld), the step that classifies a sub-agent's final output is skipped or has its text discarded, so results aren't double-processed.

Why This gives subagents a reliable, explicit way to report back to whatever spawned them, instead of relying on trailing text that might get lost, mis-parsed, or double-classified — useful for orchestration flows where a parent agent needs a clean, single final report from a subagent it dispatched.

How sure we are
Something disagreesSomething we can check disagrees with this entry, or the writer said they could not settle it.
The writer flagged doubtThe finding doesn't say what the `handback` payload contains or what consumes it.

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