VS Code: background subagent tool calls still stream into the main chat (reopening #77326)

#64651, #77326 and #83213 were auto-closed for inactivity, not fixed. The problem is still present in extension v2.1.292 (CLI v2.1.295, macOS).

When the main agent runs background subagents, every one of their Bash calls, outputs and thinking rows renders inline in the main chat panel, even while the main agent is idle. My messages and the main agent's replies get buried, and the conversation becomes impossible to follow.

The agent map (/tasks) already gives each subagent its own view, so its steps don't need to be in the main feed. The terminal and desktop app already show a single summary row per subagent.

Ask: a setting to keep subagent activity out of the main chat (one status row per agent at most), separate from Focus view, which also collapses the main agent's own steps.

For reference, Cursor already works this way: subagents run in the background and write to their own view, a live indicator lets you open any running subagent to see what it is doing, and the main chat shows only the main agent, so you can keep talking to it undisturbed.

Related:

• #75863 (open): add a "Background Tasks" panel to the VS Code extension, the same fix from the other side
• #95622 (open): the pinned agent list above the chat also keeps shrinking the conversation area
• #76348 (open): the same request for forked agents in the terminal