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Aug 28, 2026 · Catalog foundation is up

Product feature · runtime

Nested subagentsCommon product term

Allow a child agent to delegate further work to another child agent.

Terminology basis: Common product term. Anthropic — Create custom subagents

Nested subagents: 2 supported, 0 partial, 2 unsupported, 27 unreviewed across 31 cataloged products.

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Explore this familyMore in Subagents9 capabilities

Current evidence by product

Can my agent use Nested subagents?

Read across for the answer. 4 of 31 current product columns have reviewed evidence; unreviewed does not mean unsupported.

Known issues (0)Report an issue
  • Supported2
  • Partial0
  • Unsupported2
  • Unknown27
  • Not applicable0

Web

9 products

Desktop

13 products

CLI

9 products

Unknown means no public evidence has been reviewed for that product and capability. It does not mean unsupported.

How statuses are assigned

Definition and scope

What this capability means

Allow a child agent to delegate further work to another child agent.

Support is recorded only when exact, dated evidence covers this behavior.

Traceable compatibility

Assertion ledger

Documentation evidence only. No runtime conformance test is implied.

Gemini CLIcli · current
Unsupported
Target
current Gemini CLI documentation · dated-documentation
Environment
local-default
Observed
2026-08-28
  • runtimerecursion protection removes other agents from every child tool surface
Evidence
Copilot CLIcli · current
Supported
Target
current GitHub Copilot CLI documentation · dated-documentation
Environment
local-default
Observed
2026-08-28
  • runtimedefault maximum nesting depth is 6; usage-based billing can configure subagents.maxDepth up to 256
Evidence
Claude CLIcli · current
Unsupported
Target
current Claude Code subagent documentation · dated-documentation
Environment
local-default
Observed
2026-08-28
  • runtimethe restriction applies to Claude Code subagents; separate agent-team teammates and independently dispatched sessions use different orchestration models
Evidence
Copilot Chatdesktop · current
Supported
Target
current VS Code subagent documentation · dated-documentation
Environment
preview-enabled
Observed
2026-08-28
  • feature-flagrequires `chat.subagents.allowInvocationsFromSubagents`; disabled by default
  • runtimenesting depth is capped at 5
Evidence
  1. 1. Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Anthropic explicitly states that Claude Code subagents cannot spawn their own subagents and advises against granting the Agent tool to a child.
  2. 2. Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Gemini CLI recursion protection prevents subagents from seeing or invoking other agents, including when the all-tools wildcard is granted.
  3. 3. Evidence checked 2026-08-28: GitHub Copilot CLI supports nested subagents with a default maximum depth of 6 and a configurable maximum of 256 for usage-based billing.
  4. 4. Evidence checked 2026-08-28: VS Code disables child-to-child delegation by default but supports nested subagents behind `chat.subagents.allowInvocationsFromSubagents`, with a maximum depth of 5.