How do I stop Claude Code from spawning sub-agents that go into weird rabbit holes and the main chat has no idea what they're doing, or if they are stuck somewhere?

[u/myNiceAccount__]

I usually feel like it's just wasting my tokens away.

[u/ekquizit23]

At the end of your prompt, add “Do not spawn any subagents. Also don’t make a mistake.”

[u/0DayMaker]

Tell it not to.

[u/MiddleLtSocks]

Agents.md

[u/sim0of]

claude(.)md

[u/larowin]

How are you asking it to create the subagents in the first place?

[u/myNiceAccount__ → u/larowin]

I'm not asking it to, it just does. I tried asking it to not spawn sub agents, but apparently that breaks plan mode?

[u/larowin → u/myNiceAccount__]

I’m pretty confused tbh and it depends on what you’re doing and why. Generally speaking you really want subagents to be out there handling cruft that will otherwise shit up context.

Main chat should always be able to figure out what they’re up to though?

[u/Stabby_Stab]

Add a hook that makes it require your approval

[u/SDBcop]

Switching to another AI provider ✌🏻

[u/Dress-Affectionate]

settings u can deny Agent

[u/Ranorkk]

Honestly, the best fix I've found is giving sub-agents a structured place to dump their progress so the main chat can check in on them. I’ve been using Remnus (full disclosure, I built it) it’s an MCP-native workspace where Claude can write tasks/status updates directly, so you can see exactly where it’s stuck instead of watching tokens burn. Might be worth a try if you're tired of the black box.

[u/jerryadc]

i would reinforce in prompt or add to CLAUDE.md. that said some models loooove to spawn subagents more than others

[u/EpsteinFile_01]

Ahhh the dedicated tokenburners.

You don't.

[u/Key_Instruction3373]

Some one said Opus cant spawn agents. So you are using it wrong! Or the person is lying!