[BUG] Background subagents silently auto-deny permissions (Write tool)
Status Closed — not planned
Reported on v2.1.71
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 12 comments · opened Mar 9, 2026 · closed Jun 19, 2026
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 running subagents in background mode, permission requests for tool use are silently auto-denied without user prompts. Subagents report successful completion but operations never execute.
This appears to be a broader issue affecting multiple tool types in background mode (related to #30693 which affects Bash permissions).
Current behavior:
- Subagents silently auto-deny Write permissions across all scenarios
- Return success status despite operations failing
- No user notification or error messages
- Main agents detects failed tool usage after it read all subagent outputs
What Should Happen?
- Permissions should be inherited from parent session, OR
- User should be prompted for permission (forwarded to foreground), OR
- Background subagents should fail with clear error messages indicating permission denial
Error Messages/Logs
No error providedSteps to Reproduce
- Create multiple subagents to generate and write files
- Run them in parallel using background task execution
- Monitor subagent execution - reports show success
- Verify files exist on disk - they don't
Occurs in multiple scenarios:
- Subagents with no tool allows provided (general purpose)
- Subagents with tool allows explicitly configured (custom subagents)
- Subagents initially run in foreground, allowed tool use and then moved to background afterwards
- Subagents created with run_in_background: true from start
Claude Model
Not sure / Multiple models
Is this a regression?
I don't know
Last Working Version
_No response_
Claude Code Version
Claude Code ( 2.1.71)
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
Windows
Terminal/Shell
Windows Terminal
Additional Information
_No response_
Showing cached comments. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗
11 Comments
Found 3 possible duplicate issues:
This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.
🤖 Generated with Claude Code
My issue is about Cloude Code when the main agents invokes the subagents. I don't know if this is the same internal logic or if these are different topics but they all share the same problem for the user that permissions are auto-denied silently.
same issue, it never prompted anything, it just autodenied it
<img width="449" height="210" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/85e48d4f-4953-4c56-87f2-2630cfcd3473" />
Still broken as of 25 March 2026. Filed #38859 (agent permissions) and #38662 (parent session permissions) with fresh diagnostic detail.
The problem still occurs. This would be fixed if the feature #47339 was implemented.
still happening to me as well
Still happening!
Consolidating discussion of this cluster (15+ open issues sharing the same root cause in the background-subagent permissions resolver) at #50267 — please add 👍 there if affected, so triage can see the aggregate impact.
This is still a problem. Not stale.
Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.
Crazy the AI company that has all these AI resources closes COMPLETELY VALID issues with 0 human or AI agent resolution other an 'Hurr durr reopen because stale'.