#!/usr/bin/env node // scripts/probe-nested-spawn-depth.mjs // // Empirical probe of Claude Code's nested-subagent depth cap (announced 2026-06-09 // by Boris Cherny: "Capped at depth=5 to start"). Runs a fresh `claude -p` session, // spawns ruflo-agent:nested-coordinator at L1, and that coordinator recursively // spawns more nested-coordinators (L2, L3, ...) until either (a) some level's // Agent-tool call returns an error, or (b) we reach L7 (one past the announced // cap) and stop voluntarily. // // Output: // - prints the verbatim chain to stdout // - writes results to docs/probes/nested-spawn-depth-.txt // - exits 0 on completion (regardless of observed cap); 1 only on infra failure // // Required state: ruflo-agent plugin cache must contain the nested-* agents // (run `claude plugin details ruflo-agent` first — expect Agents (9) listed). import { spawn } from 'node:child_process'; import { writeFileSync, mkdirSync } from 'node:fs'; import { join, resolve } from 'node:path'; const REPO_ROOT = resolve(import.meta.dirname, '..'); const OUT_DIR = join(REPO_ROOT, 'docs', 'probes'); const TEST_LIMIT = 7; // stop voluntarily one past the announced cap of 5 const BUDGET_USD = '3.00'; const RECURSIVE_PROCEDURE = `You are participating in an empirical test of Claude Code's nested-subagent depth cap. YOU ARE AT LEVEL N (a number passed to you in this prompt; see "CURRENT LEVEL" below). PROCEDURE — follow exactly, no narration: 1. If you do NOT have the Agent tool in your tool list, output ONLY one line: "level=N status=NO_AGENT_TOOL" and stop. 2. If N >= ${TEST_LIMIT}, output ONLY one line: "level=N status=TEST_LIMIT_HIT" and stop. 3. Otherwise, call the Agent tool ONCE with these exact parameters: - subagent_type: "nested-coordinator" - name: "L" - description: "Depth probe L" - prompt: THIS ENTIRE PROCEDURE, but with the line "CURRENT LEVEL: " rewritten as "CURRENT LEVEL: " Do NOT set isolation or run_in_background. 4. When the child returns, output ONE LINE only: "level=N spawn=ok child={ }" or, if the Agent tool itself returned an error: "level=N spawn=FAILED error={ }" No prose, no markdown, no headers. Exactly one line. The verbatim child output may contain its own "level=" lines — that is expected and desired (it's how we measure depth). CURRENT LEVEL: 1`; const ROOT_PROMPT = `Empirical probe: nested-subagent depth cap. Spawn ONE sub-agent and report its result verbatim. Use the Agent tool with EXACTLY these parameters: subagent_type: "nested-coordinator" name: "L1" description: "Depth probe L1" prompt: (the procedure shown below — pass it verbatim) When the L1 agent returns, output its result prefixed with "FINAL: " on its own line. No other prose. --- PROCEDURE TO PASS TO L1 --- ${RECURSIVE_PROCEDURE} --- END PROCEDURE ---`; console.log('=== Nested-subagent depth probe ==='); console.log(`Test limit: ${TEST_LIMIT} (one past announced cap of 5)`); console.log(`Budget cap: $${BUDGET_USD}`); console.log('Running `claude -p` ... (1–3 minutes typical)\n'); const startedAt = new Date(); const args = [ '-p', '--max-budget-usd', BUDGET_USD, '--model', 'claude-haiku-4-5', '--output-format', 'text', ROOT_PROMPT, ]; const stdoutChunks = []; const stderrChunks = []; const child = spawn('claude', args, { stdio: ['ignore', 'pipe', 'pipe'] }); child.stdout.on('data', (b) => { stdoutChunks.push(b); process.stdout.write(b); }); child.stderr.on('data', (b) => stderrChunks.push(b)); const exitCode = await new Promise((res) => { child.on('close', res); child.on('error', () => res(-1)); }); const stdout = Buffer.concat(stdoutChunks).toString('utf-8'); const stderr = Buffer.concat(stderrChunks).toString('utf-8'); const finishedAt = new Date(); // Parse the chain. Count nested "level=N spawn=ok" → depth+1 successes. const okMatches = [...stdout.matchAll(/level=(\d+)\s+spawn=ok/g)].map((m) => Number(m[1])); const failMatches = [...stdout.matchAll(/level=(\d+)\s+spawn=FAILED\s+error=\{\s*([^\n}]+)\s*\}/g)]; const noToolMatches = [...stdout.matchAll(/level=(\d+)\s+status=NO_AGENT_TOOL/g)].map((m) => Number(m[1])); const limitHitMatches = [...stdout.matchAll(/level=(\d+)\s+status=TEST_LIMIT_HIT/g)].map((m) => Number(m[1])); const deepestOk = okMatches.length ? Math.max(...okMatches) : null; const firstFailure = failMatches.length ? { level: Number(failMatches[0][1]), error: failMatches[0][2] } : null; const noTool = noToolMatches.length ? Math.min(...noToolMatches) : null; const testLimitHit = limitHitMatches.length ? Math.max(...limitHitMatches) : null; let verdict; if (noTool !== null) { verdict = `INCONCLUSIVE — Agent tool was missing at level=${noTool}. Likely the tools: [Task] frontmatter is not being honored by this CLI build, or the cache stage didn't include the agent file at that level.`; } else if (testLimitHit !== null) { verdict = `CAP NOT REACHED — chain ran to test limit (level=${testLimitHit}); the runtime cap is at least ${testLimitHit}. Re-run with a higher TEST_LIMIT to find it.`; } else if (firstFailure) { // deepest_ok + 1 == first failing spawn. The failing level tried to spawn and failed, // so the runtime allowed spawning UP TO firstFailure.level, but not BEYOND. verdict = `CAP OBSERVED at depth=${firstFailure.level} (level ${firstFailure.level} could not spawn level ${firstFailure.level + 1}). Error: ${firstFailure.error}`; } else if (deepestOk !== null) { verdict = `Chain partially completed — deepest successful spawn reported at level=${deepestOk}. No explicit refusal seen; child may have hallucinated success or output was truncated.`; } else { verdict = `NO RECURSIVE OUTPUT detected. The root spawn likely never returned a structured chain. Inspect raw output below.`; } mkdirSync(OUT_DIR, { recursive: true }); const stamp = startedAt.toISOString().replace(/[:.]/g, '-'); const outFile = join(OUT_DIR, `nested-spawn-depth-${stamp}.txt`); const report = [ '=== Nested-subagent depth probe — empirical result ===', `started: ${startedAt.toISOString()}`, `finished: ${finishedAt.toISOString()}`, `duration_ms: ${finishedAt - startedAt}`, `exit_code: ${exitCode}`, `cli_command: claude ${args.slice(0, -1).join(' ')} `, '', '--- VERDICT ---', verdict, '', `okMatches (levels that successfully spawned): ${JSON.stringify(okMatches)}`, `failMatches: ${JSON.stringify(failMatches.map((m) => ({ level: Number(m[1]), error: m[2] })))}`, `noToolMatches: ${JSON.stringify(noToolMatches)}`, `testLimitHit: ${JSON.stringify(limitHitMatches)}`, '', '--- RAW STDOUT ---', stdout, '', '--- RAW STDERR ---', stderr, ].join('\n'); writeFileSync(outFile, report, 'utf-8'); console.log('\n=== VERDICT ==='); console.log(verdict); console.log(`\nFull report: ${outFile}`); process.exit(0);