SendMessage for continuing spawned sub-agents is documented but not callable
The system prompt and the Agent tool result both tell the model to use SendMessage to follow up with a previously spawned sub-agent, but the tool is never actually exposed on the tool surface — so multi-turn sub-agent conversations are advertised but unusable.
Repro
- Open a Claude Code session (Opus 4.7, 1M context build).
- Have the model call the
Agenttool, e.g.:
````
Agent({ subagent_type: "general-purpose", prompt: "Hello, how are you?" })
- The tool result comes back with a trailer like:
````
agentId: af9219c00828602bd (use SendMessage with to: 'af9219c00828602bd' to continue this agent)
- On the next turn, try to use
SendMessage:
ToolSearchwithselect:SendMessage→No matching deferred tools foundToolSearchwith keyword queries (send message agent,continue spawned agent follow-up,+SendMessage) → returns Slack/QBO senders,RemoteTrigger,Monitor, etc., but noSendMessage.
- Net effect: the only way to "follow up" with the prior agent is to spawn a brand-new one with
Agentand re-pass all the context, which theAgenttool description itself warns about ("A new Agent call starts a fresh agent with no memory of prior runs").
Expected
Either:
- (a)
SendMessageis actually wired up andToolSearchsurfaces it (ideally after the firstAgentcall so it doesn't clutter the default tool list), or - (b) the system prompt and the post-spawn trailer stop mentioning
SendMessageand instead document the real continuation mechanism (or its absence).
Actual
The model is told to use a tool that does not exist in the harness, wastes turns probing for it, and either has to give up or invisibly start a fresh agent (losing the prior conversation state without telling the user).
Why it matters
Multi-turn sub-agent conversations are useful for protecting the parent context window while iterating with a specialist — e.g., handing a research agent a follow-up question after it returns initial findings. Without SendMessage, every follow-up either pollutes the parent context or restarts cold.
Env
- Model:
claude-opus-4-7(1M context) - Platform: darwin 24.6.0
- Claude Code CLI in terminal
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