Esc kills an unrelated background subagent irrecoverably, instead of just stopping the current foreground command

Status Open
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 1 comment · opened Sep 11, 2026

Esc is expected to cancel whatever command/action is currently running in the console you're actively interacting with — the thing you just typed or are watching in the foreground. Instead, while attached to a background subagent's live view (one launched autonomously as part of a larger task, not something explicitly started by the user in that moment), pressing Esc kills that subagent entirely, with no way to resume it — a later attempt to message it back returns "was stopped by the user and won't be resumed."

This mismatches user expectation on two counts:

  1. Scope: Esc should stop the current foreground action, not reach into and terminate a separate background process the user was merely observing.
  2. Recoverability: even as a stop action, it's irreversible — no confirmation, no way to resume, no distinction from a deliberate "kill this and discard its work" command.

Suggestion: scope Esc to the current foreground input/view only; if it must also affect an attached background subagent, require confirmation and/or keep it resumable rather than permanently cancelled.

View original on GitHub ↗

This issue has 1 comment on GitHub. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗