[BUG] Team agents' messages not delivered to team lead in VS Code extension; permission prompts invisible, causing agent deadlock

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?

When using multi-agent teams (TeamCreate + Task tool) from the VS Code extension, the team lead agent cannot receive messages from spawned teammates. Messages are written to the inbox file (~/.claude/teams/<team>/inboxes/team-lead.json) but never surface in the conversation. The team lead has to manually read the inbox file to see teammate responses.

Additionally, when a teammate triggers a permission prompt (e.g., tool approval), the team lead has no way to see or approve it. This leaves the agent permanently stuck — it cannot process any further messages, including shutdown requests.

What Should Happen?

1. Messages from teammates should be automatically delivered and displayed in the VS Code extension conversation
2. Permission prompts from teammate agents should be surfaced to the user for approval
3. Stuck agents should still be able to process shutdown requests

Error Messages/Logs

None — the failure is silent. Messages simply don't surface.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Code in the VS Code extension
2. Ask Claude to create a team with TeamCreate
3. Spawn teammate agents using the Task tool with team_name
4. Teammates complete their work and send messages back to the team lead via SendMessage
5. Observed: Messages never appear in the conversation — they are only written to ~/.claude/teams/<team>/inboxes/team-lead.json
6. Team lead must use the Read tool on the inbox file to see responses
7. If a teammate requests a permission (tool approval), it is never shown to the user
8. The teammate waiting for permission becomes permanently stuck and unresponsive to all further messages, including shutdown_request

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.39

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

• Teams work correctly in the terminal CLI — this issue is specific to the VS Code extension
• Three teammate agents were spawned. Two responded to shutdown immediately, but the team lead never saw their responses — they had to be retrieved by manually reading the inbox JSON file
• The third agent remained permanently stuck due to an unapproved permission prompt and could not respond to any further requests, including shutdown
• Workaround: manually read the inbox JSON file with the Read tool, and manually delete the team directory (~/.claude/teams/<team>/)