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Add subagent tool-budget guardrails for deterministic MCP tasks #259

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opened 2026-07-06 12:09:26 -05:00 by jcwalker3 · 1 comment
jcwalker3 commented 2026-07-06 12:09:26 -05:00
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Problem

General-purpose subagents tasked with deterministic MCP work (e.g. gitea_commit_files payload + commit) expanded to 100–122 tool calls, WebFetch/Playwright fallbacks, and helper-script generation instead of calling the native MCP tool once.

Proposal

  • Cap tool calls / wall time for subagents on single-step MCP tasks.
  • Require native MCP tool attempt before any fallback after shell failure.
  • Forbid resuming a failed subagent into an even larger retry loop.

Acceptance

  • Documented subagent budget defaults for commit/review/merge tasks.
  • Harness rejects WebFetch/Playwright/manual-encoding detours when gitea_commit_files is available.

Context

Observed during #152 closure attempt (2026-07-06).

## Problem General-purpose subagents tasked with deterministic MCP work (e.g. `gitea_commit_files` payload + commit) expanded to 100–122 tool calls, WebFetch/Playwright fallbacks, and helper-script generation instead of calling the native MCP tool once. ## Proposal - Cap tool calls / wall time for subagents on single-step MCP tasks. - Require native MCP tool attempt before any fallback after shell failure. - Forbid resuming a failed subagent into an even larger retry loop. ## Acceptance - Documented subagent budget defaults for commit/review/merge tasks. - Harness rejects WebFetch/Playwright/manual-encoding detours when `gitea_commit_files` is available. ## Context Observed during #152 closure attempt (2026-07-06).
jcwalker3 added the status:in-progress label 2026-07-06 23:16:28 -05:00
jcwalker3 commented 2026-07-06 23:16:29 -05:00
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Claimed. Branch: docs/issue-259-subagent-tool-budget. Worktree: branches/docs-issue-259-subagent-tool-budget.

Scope: document subagent tool-budget guardrails for deterministic MCP tasks; add doc-contract tests and operator-guide rule.

LLM-Agent-SHA: llm-7c4e2a9f1b83

Claimed. Branch: `docs/issue-259-subagent-tool-budget`. Worktree: `branches/docs-issue-259-subagent-tool-budget`. Scope: document subagent tool-budget guardrails for deterministic MCP tasks; add doc-contract tests and operator-guide rule. LLM-Agent-SHA: llm-7c4e2a9f1b83
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Reference: Scaled-Tech-Consulting/Gitea-Tools#259