Sub-agents handle longer, self-contained work in the background while you continue using your Mac. They can research, read connected-app data, read specific web pages, and prepare or perform multi-step work.
Delegate a task
Ask Agent Mode to delegate a clearly bounded outcome. For example:
- “Delegate a review of my open Linear issues and group them by priority.”
- “Research this company, summarize the findings, and draft a Notion note.”
- “Compare my calendar with the launch tasks and identify scheduling risks.”
Include relevant constraints, expected output, and the apps the task may use.
Follow progress
Open Agents → Sub-agents. Runs show one of these states:
- Queued or Working — the task is still progressing.
- Needs approval — a proposed external change is waiting for you.
- Done — the result is available.
- Failed — the run could not complete.
- Stopped — you halted the run before it finished.
Select a run to open its floating panel and inspect its activity.
You can also ask by voice, in any Agent Mode conversation — including one you start later: “Did that website summary finish?” or “What did the research task from earlier find?” mrmr matches your description against your recent runs and reads back the status or result. You never need a task identifier. Ask “Show me that task” to open its panel, and “Close the sub-agent” to dismiss the panel again when you are done — the task itself keeps running.
Stop a run
While a task is queued, working, or waiting for approval, a Stop button appears at the bottom center of its panel. Click it — or press ⌘. while the panel is focused — to halt the run. The current step is allowed to finish, so the button shows Stopping… briefly before the run ends.
A stopped run keeps its activity trace, so you can still see what it got through. It does not produce a result, and any write it was waiting on is discarded. Stopping is final for that run; delegate the task again if you want a fresh attempt.
Approve a write
Sub-agents can perform reads while working. Before they send, create, update, or delete data, the run pauses and displays the proposed action.
Approve to perform that action or reject to continue without it. A task may pause more than once if it proposes multiple writes at different stages.
Continue the conversation
After a run finishes, send a follow-up message from its panel to refine the answer or ask a related question. The original task, result, and prior follow-ups remain available to the run.
When to use Agent Mode instead
Use the live Agent Mode conversation when:
- You expect quick clarification or several choices.
- You want an immediate read or a single action.
- You want to remain actively involved at every step.
Use a sub-agent when the work has a clear endpoint and may require several searches or tool calls.
