/sub-agents
A sub-agent is one cheap model doing one clear part of a task for the chat model. It exists to save credit: the expensive model plans and checks, the cheap one does the mechanical work. You do not need Ultracode for it.
Ask for it in plain words
use sub-agents to save money:
read the 3 files in /work/probe and summarise themWhen
When the model hands work over
When you want to save credit, or when a part is mechanical: reading several files and summarising them, reshaping data, trying variants. Not for small things it can finish in one step itself.
Setup
What a sub-agent gets
- Model
- Cheap by defaultYour own key: its helper modelA dearer model asks you first
- Tools
- None, or run_command, read_file, write_file in the chat containerChat approvals apply
- Answer
- 1500 characters by default6000 at mostThe chat model checks it
Limits
Hard limits
At most 4 sub-agents at the same time in a chat and 8 per turn, each with its own spend cap. A sub-agent cannot start more sub-agents or an Ultracode workflow. Stop stops them together with the rest of the turn.
Cost
What it costs
With your own key, nothing for the platform. On the cheap platform tier the cost goes into the normal billing, bounded by the delegation spend cap. Each sub-agent shows as a compact card in the chat with its log.