[BUG] Ultra workflow auto-scales agents (up to ~130) and triggers Rate Limit / IP Block without user-specified count

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 the Ultra Workflow and asking to speed up a task, Claude on its own spawns a huge number of agents (~130 across sequential waves) without me specifying any count. This triggers a Rate Limit and an IP block — penalizing me for a decision the system made, not me.

Steps to reproduce:

Run a task in Ultra Workflow (multi-agent) mode.
Ask to accelerate execution — without specifying an agent count.
The system auto-scales to dozens/hundreds of agents across sequential waves.
Rate Limit (429) appears, followed by an IP block.
Actual result: IP block / Rate Limit caused by auto-scaling I never requested.

Expected result:

A reasonable default cap on agent count, or an explicit confirmation prompt before exceeding a threshold.
No IP-level penalty for scaling the system itself decided on.
Impact: Work interrupted and IP blocked despite no intentional abuse.

Request ID: 3497bf59-2348-4b34-8a1d-ccfc4c0d2f9c

What Should Happen?

When I ask to speed up a task in Ultra Workflow mode, Claude should not silently auto-scale to ~130 agents. It should either:

Enforce a reasonable default cap on the number of agents, or
Ask for explicit confirmation before exceeding a threshold.
And critically: a user should never receive a Rate Limit / IP block for an agent count the system chose on its own — not one I specified.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Start a task in Ultra Workflow (multi-agent) mode.
Ask Claude to accelerate / speed up execution — without specifying any agent count.
Claude auto-scales, spawning agents in sequential waves up to ~130.
A Rate Limit (429) is triggered, followed by an IP block.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.179

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_