### Preflight Checklist - [x] I have searched [existing issues](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20label%3Abug) 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 multiple subagents are running in parallel (e.g., dispatched via the Agent tool in a single message for code review), pressing Escape kills all runni

[BUG] [REOPENEDx2] Escape during parallel subagents kills ALL agents — should prompt instead

Status Open

Maintainer reply None cached

Activity 0 comments · opened Oct 4, 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 multiple subagents are running in parallel (e.g., dispatched via the Agent tool in a single message for code review), pressing Escape kills all running agents simultaneously. There is no way to:

Check on a stalled agent without destroying it
Cancel one agent while keeping others running
Distinguish "agent is stalled" from "agent is still working"

This interacts badly with https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/25068 (agent goes to sleep during long actions) and https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/25979 (API stream stalls with no timeout). When agents appear to stall, the natural user response is to press Escape to investigate — which destroys all in-progress work.

Previous reports covered this same behavior but were auto-closed due to inactivity. The bug still exists.

https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/2148
https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/33434

What Should Happen?

Parallel agents running (2 active):

code-reviewer (in progress)
ui-consistency-reviewer (in progress)

What would you like to do?
[1] Cancel agent 1
[2] Cancel agent 2
[A] Cancel all agents
[R] Resume (do nothing)

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Dispatch 2+ parallel agents via the Agent tool in a single message (e.g., code-reviewer + ui-consistency-reviewer)
Wait for agents to start working
Press Escape

All parallel agents are immediately terminated. Any partially completed work is lost. The parent agent then reports that tool calls were "rejected" or "failed."

Claude Model

Not sure / Multiple models

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Claude 2.9939.4 (a166d8) 2026-09-27T18:22:01.000Z

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Other Linux

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information