74 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
74 lines
3.6 KiB
Markdown
# Subagent daemon
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`hive-subagent-daemon` (crate `hive-subagent-mcp`) spawns nested headless
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`claude` sessions on request. Own process, own systemd unit, own MCP
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server (`subagent`, not `hyperhive`) — independent of `hive-bash-daemon`:
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a subagent is a full nested claude process, a materially heavier
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capability than a background shell command, so it gets its own
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deployable/restartable unit rather than living inside the bash daemon.
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Shipped default-on for every agent — `nix/agent-modules/mcp.nix` injects
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`subagent` into `hyperhive.extraMcpServers` via `lib.mkDefault`
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(`allowedTools = ["*"]`), same as `bash`. Default-on rather than
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unconditional: an `agent.nix` can override or drop the entry, which is
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what `mkDefault` is there for. The operator's own framing: default-on for
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now, a real opt-in capability later.
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For what the tools do and when an agent should reach for them, see the
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`subagent` MCP server's own tool descriptions and the
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`base:claude-subagents` skill — this page covers the daemon as deployed
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infrastructure, not the agent-facing API.
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## Tools
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Served under the `subagent` MCP server (`mcp__subagent__<tool>`): `start`,
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`continue`, `status`, `interrupt`.
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## State
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In-memory only: a map of currently running processes, live only as long
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as the daemon process is. A daemon restart stops whatever was running
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rather than adopting it. The durable record of a subagent's existence is
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claude's own on-disk session (`hive_claude::SessionStore`), which
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`continue` reattaches to independent of the daemon's own lifetime — a
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restart loses the _in-flight turn_, not the subagent's history.
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## Compaction trade-off
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Built on `hive_claude::Claude::spawn` + `RunningClaude::wait` directly
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rather than `InfiniteSession::run`, since only the low-level driver
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exposes a cancel handle to stop a turn mid-flight — that's what makes
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`interrupt` genuinely stop a running turn rather than only cancelling a
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still-pending one. The cost: a turn that overflows the context window
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surfaces as an error rather than self-healing via reactive compaction.
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Subagents are meant to be bounded, single-batch work, not sessions
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long-lived enough to need in-place compaction — a real follow-up if that
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assumption stops holding.
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## Configuration
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`hyperhive.mcp.subagentHttpPort` — the daemon's streamable-http listen
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port. Same pattern as `bashHttpPort`/`matrixHttpPort`: a per-agent default
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assigned by `nix/agent-modules/mcp.nix`, only worth overriding for an
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agent that needs a stable or non-default port.
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Own systemd unit, defined alongside the other per-agent MCP daemons in
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`nix/agent-modules/mcp.nix`.
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## MCP servers available to a subagent
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A subagent runs with `--strict-mcp-config` and no `--mcp-config` by
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default — zero MCP servers, full stop; it falls back to claude's own
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native tools (`Bash`, `WebFetch`, etc.), not the parent's `mcp__bash__*` /
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`mcp__hyperhive__*` surface. Nothing implicit reaches it: the built-in
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hyperhive surface (todos/messaging) isn't an `extraMcpServers` entry at
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all, and the automatically injected `bash`/`subagent` entries default to excluded
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too (a subagent can't spawn hive-bash tasks or its own nested subagents
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unless an operator opts them in explicitly, same as anything else).
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Set `hyperhive.extraMcpServers.<name>.availableToSubagents = true` on a
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specific entry to hand that one server to subagents as well — useful for,
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say, a read-only lookup or scraper MCP a subagent's bounded, single-batch
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task might need. `hive-subagent-mcp`'s `mcp_config` module renders the
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opted-in subset into its own `--mcp-config` file per turn; an entry left
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at the default `false` never appears there.
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