can1357/oh-my-pi · error · ToolError

${failureMessage}${recoveryHint} (subagent failure: ${policy

Error message

${failureMessage}${recoveryHint} (subagent failure: ${policy.agentName} exited ${result.exitCode} or errored/aborted)

What it means

When the spawned eval subagent exits non-zero, errors, or aborts, the bridge surfaces buildSubagentFailureMessage (tag-stripped) plus — for isolated subagents — a structured recovery hint, wrapped in a ToolError. It means the delegated agent() run itself failed, not the parent tool.

Source

Thrown at packages/coding-agent/src/eval/agent-bridge.ts:173

					keepAlive: false,
					// `maxRuntimeMs` is intentionally omitted: the executor then inherits
					// `task.maxRuntimeMs`, matching the task tool. Pinning it to 0 here
					// silently overrode the user's wall-clock cap for eval fan-outs.
					shareEvalSession: false,
					...(options.signal !== undefined ? { signal: options.signal } : {}),
					...(options.emitStatus
						? { onProgress: (progress: AgentProgress) => emitProgressStatus(options.emitStatus, progress) }
						: {}),
				}),
			{ deferExternalAbort: true },
		);
		const { result, policy, mergeSummary, changesApplied, artifactsDir } = execution;
		if (result.exitCode !== 0 || result.error || result.aborted) {
			const failureMessage = buildSubagentFailureMessage(policy.agentName, result)
				.replace(/<\/?system-notification>/g, "")
				.trim();
			const recoveryHint = policy.isIsolated ? await buildStructuredSubagentRecoveryHint(result, artifactsDir) : "";
			throw new ToolError(`${failureMessage}${recoveryHint}`);
		}
		if (policy.isIsolated && changesApplied === false) {
			const summary = mergeSummary.replace(/<\/?system-notification>/g, "").trim();
			const recoveryHint = await buildStructuredSubagentRecoveryHint(result, artifactsDir);
			throw new ToolError(
				`agent() isolated apply failed for ${result.id}${summary ? `: ${summary}` : ""}${recoveryHint}`,
			);
		}

		const structuredOutput = result.structuredOutput;
		const structured = structuredOutput?.source !== undefined && structuredOutput.source !== "none";
		if (structured && mergeSummary.includes("<system-notification>")) {
			const recoveryHint = await buildStructuredSubagentRecoveryHint(result, artifactsDir);
			throw new ToolError(
				`agent() isolated nested patch apply failed for ${result.id}: ${mergeSummary.replace(/<\/?system-notification>/g, "").trim()}${recoveryHint}`,
			);
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 9690622007)

Solutions

1. Read failureMessage for the subagent's own error and the recovery hint for artifacts location
2. Re-run with a smaller/simpler prompt to isolate the failure
3. Check subagent logs/artifacts dir for the underlying stack trace
4. Fix auth/network/model-availability issues indicated in the message

Example fix

// before: prompt causes subagent crash, no diagnosis
agent({ prompt: hugePrompt })
// after: inspect artifacts and retry with constrained prompt
try { await agent({ prompt }) } catch (e) { console.log(e.message /* includes artifactsDir hint */) }

// pre-check environment the subagent needs
if (!(await $which('git'))) throw new Error('subagent requires git on PATH');

function subagentFailed(r: { exitCode: number; error?: unknown; aborted?: boolean }): boolean { return r.exitCode !== 0 || !!r.error || r.aborted; }

try { await agent(args) } catch (e) { const m = e.message; if (/subagent failure/.test(m)) { inspectArtifacts(m); retryWithSmallerPrompt(); } else throw e }

When it happens

Trigger: agent() call where the subagent process returned exitCode !== 0, set result.error, or was aborted (result.aborted) — crash, OOM, model/API failure, user abort, or unhandled exception inside the subagent.

Common situations: Subagent hit an API rate limit or auth failure; prompt caused the subagent to exceed its own limits and abort; environment missing a binary the subagent invoked; eval infrastructure killed the process.

Related errors

• agent() blocked: turn token budget exhausted (${turnBudget.s
• agent() isolated apply failed for ${result.id}${summary ? `:
• agent() isolated nested patch apply failed for ${result.id}:
• ${error.message} (rethrown as ToolError from StructuredSubag
• cli_message(command, exit_code, stdout, stderr)

AI-assisted analysis of can1357/oh-my-pi@9690622007 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/fdf08fad275cff2d. Report an issue: GitHub.