[BUG] Task completion updates flood context window

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

There are myriad reported problems with background task completion notifications, including memory leaks and general obstruction of workflows.

The latest issue is that when provisioning larger numbers of background tasks — agents especially — claude is bombarded with completion notifications that uncontrollably flood the context window, causing a context overload and inability to compact. This makes background tasks somewhat unusable.

What Should Happen?

Set task completion notifications to false by default, or leverage task list as manager (more like the agent teams method).

Post-compaction "prior completed tasks" bullets are redundant with completion notifications anyway.

Deprecate task agents in favor of agent teams. They're so much better.

Error Messages/Logs

*cannot compact

Steps to Reproduce

1. Provision 7+ background tasks
2. Upon completion, they flood the chat with notices that don’t seem to respond to esc
3. Floods context window beyond point of compaction
4. forced to revert conversation.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

2.1.35

Claude Code Version

2.1.38

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Ubuntu/Debian Linux

Terminal/Shell

WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

Additional Information

Also confirmed on MacOS terminal.