fix(clients): a thread comes back when its subagent needs approval

[t3dotgg]

Problem

When a delegated subagent waits on an approval, its parent thread stays in Working. You get no alert and no badge. You can't tell anything is waiting unless you open the subagent.

Subagent rows are hidden in the sidebar, and only the subagent's own thread summary carries its pending request. So the parent's status, the Working section, notifications, and the mobile list all say "working". #16634 already put a subagent's question in the parent's composer banner, but only questions, and only inside the open parent.

Fix

Each thread above a live subagent now carries what that subagent waits on (pendingSubagentRequest: approval or user_input). client-runtime works this out from the shell summaries clients already have, so nothing new goes over the wire.

• Working section (web and mobile): the parent goes back to the active list.
• Status (web sidebar and pill, mobile list): shows Pending Approval / Awaiting Input.
• Notifications (web and desktop): "Approval needed" / "Input needed" fire on the parent.
• Snooze: a snoozed parent wakes. A parent can't be snoozed while its subagent waits, the same as for its own requests.
• Composer banner (web and mobile): "Subagent needs approval" with "Open approval", in addition to questions.

Nested subagents pass the request up to the visible thread. An approval outranks a question. Provider-native subagents are skipped, because they already ask on their parent. Each environment computes this once per shell change, and unchanged summaries keep their identity, so lists don't re-render.

Not included: mobile push and Live Activity alerts. They come from the server's agent-awareness relay, which also skips subagent threads. That is a separate server change.

Verification

• threadShell.test.ts: a parent leaves Working when a nested subagent asks for a command approval, and goes back when the request clears. Fails without the fix.
• ThreadNotificationCoordinator.test.tsx: the parent alerts "Approval needed" while its own summary object does not change. Fails without the fix.
• threadSnoozed.test.ts: canSnooze refuses a parent whose subagent waits.
• Tests for the touched files pass. Typecheck passes for client-runtime, web, and mobile.
• Live check by the original author in a dev client: a Codex parent delegated a task with runtimeMode: "approval-required", and the child asked for a command approval. Only the client files were swapped between main and this change.

Before (main)	After

"Open approval" opens the child's request	Alert while another thread is open

Credit

Takes over #19614 by @LovelyCodeMonkey. Their commit is kept as is. I added the snooze guard on top.

Reviewed with sol-loop: 1 round with GPT-6.1-Sol.

Written by Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code, run from T3 Code.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Not approved

Macroscope's review found this PR not approvable — This change propagates hidden subagent approval/input state into shared client runtime behavior, affecting inbox placement, statuses, notifications, banners, and snooze behavior across web and mobile. The intent is clear and tested, but the breadth of existing-path changes and nontrivial shared-state logic warrant human review.

^{You can add or adjust custom eligibility rules. Learn more.}

[github-actions]

Thread transfer impact

✅ Thread transfer remains within every enforced ceiling.

Provider	Metric	Main baseline	This PR	Impact	PR ceiling
Codex	Total thread wire	5.0 KiB	5.0 KiB	0 B (0.0%)	6.8 KiB	✅
Codex	Thread snapshot wire	3.8 KiB	3.8 KiB	0 B (0.0%)	4.9 KiB	✅
Codex	Live turn WebSocket wire	1.2 KiB	1.2 KiB	0 B (0.0%)	2.0 KiB	✅
Codex	Live turn WebSocket decoded	20.9 KiB	20.9 KiB	0 B (0.0%)	29.3 KiB	✅
Codex	Live turn messages	2	2	0 (0.0%)	8	✅
Claude	Total thread wire	5.0 KiB	5.0 KiB	−7 B (−0.1%)	6.8 KiB	✅
Claude	Thread snapshot wire	3.8 KiB	3.8 KiB	0 B (0.0%)	4.9 KiB	✅
Claude	Live turn WebSocket wire	1.2 KiB	1.2 KiB	−7 B (−0.6%)	2.0 KiB	✅
Claude	Live turn WebSocket decoded	21.2 KiB	21.2 KiB	0 B (0.0%)	29.3 KiB	✅
Claude	Live turn messages	2	2	0 (0.0%)	8	✅

Baseline: 348f217 · PR result: 7d0f426 · Source CI: success

Scenario and decoded snapshot size

10 historical turns, 5 command tools per turn, 878.9 KiB retained MCP result per historical turn, and a 1.05 MiB retained result in the measured turn.

• Codex decoded thread snapshot: 108.5 KiB
• Claude decoded thread snapshot: 108.8 KiB

Updated in place by a trusted workflow. PR artifacts are strictly validated and never executed.

[coderabbitai]

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 348f217 and 7d0f426.

📒 Files selected for processing: 13

• apps/mobile/src/features/home/useThreadListActions.ts
• apps/mobile/src/features/threads/ThreadDetailScreen.tsx
• apps/mobile/src/features/threads/threadListV2.ts
• apps/web/src/components/ChatView.tsx
• apps/web/src/components/Sidebar.logic.ts
• apps/web/src/components/ThreadNotificationCoordinator.test.tsx
• apps/web/src/components/ThreadNotificationCoordinator.tsx
• packages/client-runtime/src/state/models.ts
• packages/client-runtime/src/state/threadInbox.ts
• packages/client-runtime/src/state/threadSettled.ts
• packages/client-runtime/src/state/threadShell.test.ts
• packages/client-runtime/src/state/threadShell.ts
• packages/client-runtime/src/state/threadSnoozed.test.ts

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📝 Walkthrough

The runtime now derives pending approval and input requests from eligible subagents and propagates them to parent thread shells. Thread state, notifications, and mobile and web interfaces use these requests to update working status, snooze eligibility, alerts, and displayed labels.

Changes: Subagent request handling

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Derive and propagate subagent requests packages/client-runtime/src/state/models.ts, packages/client-runtime/src/state/threadShell.ts, packages/client-runtime/src/state/threadShell.test.ts	The runtime classifies eligible subagent requests, propagates them through parent threads, and includes them in presented shells and child-input lists. Tests cover nested subagent approval state.
Apply requests to working and snooze state packages/client-runtime/src/state/threadInbox.ts, packages/client-runtime/src/state/threadSettled.ts, packages/client-runtime/src/state/threadSnoozed.test.ts, apps/mobile/src/features/home/useThreadListActions.ts, apps/mobile/src/features/threads/threadListV2.ts	Pending subagent requests affect working status, snooze eligibility, and thread-list status. Snooze tests cover pending approval requests.
Show requests in notifications and thread interfaces apps/web/src/components/ThreadNotificationCoordinator.tsx, apps/web/src/components/ThreadNotificationCoordinator.test.tsx, apps/web/src/components/ChatView.tsx, apps/web/src/components/Sidebar.logic.ts, apps/mobile/src/features/threads/ThreadDetailScreen.tsx	The notification coordinator detects changed requests and emits an approval alert. Mobile and web interfaces display request-specific labels, icons, and status.

Priority: ➖ Normal

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~25 minutes

Change: Bug fix

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant ThreadNotificationCoordinator
  participant RequestMap
  participant ThreadShell
  participant InAppAlert
  ThreadNotificationCoordinator->>RequestMap: derive pending requests by parent thread
  RequestMap-->>ThreadNotificationCoordinator: return request kinds
  ThreadNotificationCoordinator->>ThreadShell: present parent with its request
  ThreadNotificationCoordinator->>InAppAlert: emit approval alert when request changes

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Suggested reviewers: juliusmarminge

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 7d0f4

Parent threads can surface delegated approval and input requests across the affected status and notification paths. No issue identified here blocks merging after normal checks.

Pre-merge checks: 4

Passed checks: 4 passed

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check		The title is concise, uses the conventional commit format, and clearly identifies the main fix: restoring parent-thread visibility when a subagent needs approval.
Description check		The description clearly covers the problem, implementation, scope boundaries, verification, and UI evidence. It uses a “Fix” heading instead of the template’s “Change” heading and does not include a s…
Linked Issues check		Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check		Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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