fix(tui): handle timeout/error subagent statuses in /agents (#26687)

Accept delegation timeout/error statuses in the TUI subagent model, normalize unknown status strings defensively, and harden /agents overlay rendering/sorting so unknown statuses cannot crash glyph/color lookup. Add regression tests for live event normalization and disk snapshot replay.

ui-tui/src/__tests__/createGatewayEventHandler.test.ts

@@ -737,6 +737,61 @@ describe('createGatewayEventHandler', () => {
     expect(getTurnState().activity).toMatchObject([{ text: 'boom', tone: 'error' }])
   })
 
+  it('accepts timeout/error subagent terminal statuses and ignores stale live events', () => {
+    const appended: Msg[] = []
+    const onEvent = createGatewayEventHandler(buildCtx(appended))
+
+    onEvent({
+      payload: { goal: 'timeout child', subagent_id: 'sa-timeout', task_index: 0 },
+      type: 'subagent.start'
+    } as any)
+    onEvent({
+      payload: { goal: 'timeout child', status: 'timeout', subagent_id: 'sa-timeout', task_index: 0 },
+      type: 'subagent.complete'
+    } as any)
+
+    expect(getTurnState().subagents.find(s => s.id === 'sa-timeout')?.status).toBe('timeout')
+
+    // Late start/spawn updates must not clobber terminal timeout/error states.
+    onEvent({
+      payload: { goal: 'timeout child', subagent_id: 'sa-timeout', task_index: 0 },
+      type: 'subagent.start'
+    } as any)
+    onEvent({
+      payload: { goal: 'timeout child', subagent_id: 'sa-timeout', task_index: 0 },
+      type: 'subagent.spawn_requested'
+    } as any)
+
+    expect(getTurnState().subagents.find(s => s.id === 'sa-timeout')?.status).toBe('timeout')
+
+    onEvent({
+      payload: { goal: 'error child', subagent_id: 'sa-error', task_index: 1 },
+      type: 'subagent.start'
+    } as any)
+    onEvent({
+      payload: { goal: 'error child', status: 'error', subagent_id: 'sa-error', task_index: 1 },
+      type: 'subagent.complete'
+    } as any)
+
+    expect(getTurnState().subagents.find(s => s.id === 'sa-error')?.status).toBe('error')
+  })
+
+  it('normalizes unknown subagent.complete statuses to completed', () => {
+    const appended: Msg[] = []
+    const onEvent = createGatewayEventHandler(buildCtx(appended))
+
+    onEvent({
+      payload: { goal: 'weird child', subagent_id: 'sa-weird', task_index: 2 },
+      type: 'subagent.start'
+    } as any)
+    onEvent({
+      payload: { goal: 'weird child', status: 'mystery_status', subagent_id: 'sa-weird', task_index: 2 },
+      type: 'subagent.complete'
+    } as any)
+
+    expect(getTurnState().subagents.find(s => s.id === 'sa-weird')?.status).toBe('completed')
+  })
+
   it('drops stale reasoning/tool/todos events after ctrl-c until the next message starts', () => {
     // Repro for the discord report: ctrl-c interrupts, but late reasoning/tool
     // events from the still-winding-down agent loop kept populating the UI for

ui-tui/src/__tests__/spawnHistoryStore.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+
+import { clearSpawnHistory, getSpawnHistory, pushDiskSnapshot } from '../app/spawnHistoryStore.js'
+
+describe('spawnHistoryStore status normalization', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    clearSpawnHistory()
+  })
+
+  it('keeps timeout/error statuses from disk snapshots', () => {
+    pushDiskSnapshot(
+      {
+        finished_at: 1_700_000_001,
+        label: 'status test',
+        session_id: 'sess-1',
+        started_at: 1_700_000_000,
+        subagents: [
+          { goal: 'timeout child', id: 'sa-timeout', index: 0, status: 'timeout' },
+          { goal: 'error child', id: 'sa-error', index: 1, status: 'error' }
+        ]
+      },
+      '/tmp/snap-timeout-error.json'
+    )
+
+    const statuses = getSpawnHistory()[0]?.subagents.map(s => s.status)
+
+    expect(statuses).toEqual(['timeout', 'error'])
+  })
+
+  it('falls back unknown disk statuses to completed', () => {
+    pushDiskSnapshot(
+      {
+        finished_at: 1_700_000_011,
+        label: 'unknown status test',
+        session_id: 'sess-2',
+        started_at: 1_700_000_010,
+        subagents: [{ goal: 'mystery child', id: 'sa-unknown', index: 0, status: 'mystery_status' }]
+      },
+      '/tmp/snap-unknown.json'
+    )
+
+    const status = getSpawnHistory()[0]?.subagents[0]?.status
+
+    expect(status).toBe('completed')
+  })
+})

ui-tui/src/app/createGatewayEventHandler.ts

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import { rpcErrorMessage } from '../lib/rpc.js'
 import { topLevelSubagents } from '../lib/subagentTree.js'
 import { formatToolCall, stripAnsi } from '../lib/text.js'
 import { fromSkin } from '../theme.js'
-import type { Msg, SubagentProgress } from '../types.js'
+import type { Msg, SubagentProgress, SubagentStatus } from '../types.js'
 
 import { applyDelegationStatus, getDelegationState } from './delegationStore.js'
 import type { GatewayEventHandlerContext } from './interfaces.js'
@@ -54,6 +54,26 @@ const pushThinking = pushUnique(6)
 const pushNote = pushUnique(6)
 const pushTool = pushUnique(8)
 
+const KNOWN_SUBAGENT_STATUSES = new Set<SubagentStatus>([
+  'completed',
+  'error',
+  'failed',
+  'interrupted',
+  'queued',
+  'running',
+  'timeout'
+])
+
+const normalizeSubagentStatus = (status: unknown, fallback: SubagentStatus): SubagentStatus => {
+  if (typeof status !== 'string') {
+    return fallback
+  }
+
+  const normalized = status.toLowerCase() as SubagentStatus
+
+  return KNOWN_SUBAGENT_STATUSES.has(normalized) ? normalized : fallback
+}
+
 export function createGatewayEventHandler(ctx: GatewayEventHandlerContext): (ev: GatewayEvent) => void {
   const { rpc } = ctx.gateway
   const { STARTUP_RESUME_ID, newSession, resumeById, setCatalog } = ctx.session
@@ -180,8 +200,9 @@ export function createGatewayEventHandler(ctx: GatewayEventHandlerContext): (ev:
 
   // Terminal statuses are never overwritten by late-arriving live events —
   // otherwise a stale `subagent.start` / `spawn_requested` can clobber a
-  // `failed` or `interrupted` terminal state (Copilot review #14045).
-  const isTerminalStatus = (s: SubagentProgress['status']) => s === 'completed' || s === 'failed' || s === 'interrupted'
+  // terminal state from complete (failed/interrupted/timeout/error).
+  const isTerminalStatus = (s: SubagentProgress['status']) =>
+    s === 'completed' || s === 'error' || s === 'failed' || s === 'interrupted' || s === 'timeout'
 
   const keepTerminalElseRunning = (s: SubagentProgress['status']) => (isTerminalStatus(s) ? s : 'running')
 
@@ -648,7 +669,7 @@ export function createGatewayEventHandler(ctx: GatewayEventHandlerContext): (ev:
           ev.payload,
           c => ({
             durationSeconds: ev.payload.duration_seconds ?? c.durationSeconds,
-            status: ev.payload.status ?? 'completed',
+            status: normalizeSubagentStatus(ev.payload.status, 'completed'),
             summary: ev.payload.summary || ev.payload.text || c.summary
           }),
           { createIfMissing: false }

ui-tui/src/app/spawnHistoryStore.ts

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { atom } from 'nanostores'
 
 import type { SpawnTreeLoadResponse } from '../gatewayTypes.js'
-import type { SubagentProgress } from '../types.js'
+import type { SubagentProgress, SubagentStatus } from '../types.js'
 
 export interface SpawnSnapshot {
   finishedAt: number
@@ -21,6 +21,26 @@ export interface SpawnDiffPair {
 
 const HISTORY_LIMIT = 10
 
+const KNOWN_SUBAGENT_STATUSES = new Set<SubagentStatus>([
+  'completed',
+  'error',
+  'failed',
+  'interrupted',
+  'queued',
+  'running',
+  'timeout'
+])
+
+const normalizeSubagentStatus = (status: unknown, fallback: SubagentStatus): SubagentStatus => {
+  if (typeof status !== 'string') {
+    return fallback
+  }
+
+  const normalized = status.toLowerCase() as SubagentStatus
+
+  return KNOWN_SUBAGENT_STATUSES.has(normalized) ? normalized : fallback
+}
+
 export const $spawnHistory = atom<SpawnSnapshot[]>([])
 export const $spawnDiff = atom<null | SpawnDiffPair>(null)
 
@@ -128,7 +148,7 @@ function normaliseSubagent(raw: unknown): SubagentProgress {
     parentId: s(o.parentId) ?? null,
     reasoningTokens: n(o.reasoningTokens),
     startedAt: n(o.startedAt),
-    status: (s(o.status) as SubagentProgress['status']) ?? 'completed',
+    status: normalizeSubagentStatus(o.status, 'completed'),
     summary: s(o.summary),
     taskCount: typeof o.taskCount === 'number' ? o.taskCount : 1,
     thinking: (arr<string>(o.thinking) ?? []).filter(x => typeof x === 'string'),

ui-tui/src/components/agentsOverlay.tsx

@@ -57,25 +57,33 @@ const FILTER_LABEL: Record<FilterMode, string> = {
 }
 
 const STATUS_RANK: Record<Status, number> = {
+  error: 0,
   failed: 0,
   interrupted: 1,
+  timeout: 1,
   running: 2,
   queued: 3,
   completed: 4
 }
 
+const statusRank = (status: string): number => STATUS_RANK[status as Status] ?? STATUS_RANK.error
+
 const SORT_COMPARATORS: Record<SortMode, (a: SubagentNode, b: SubagentNode) => number> = {
   'depth-first': (a, b) => a.item.depth - b.item.depth || a.item.index - b.item.index,
   'tools-desc': (a, b) => b.aggregate.totalTools - a.aggregate.totalTools,
   'duration-desc': (a, b) => b.aggregate.totalDuration - a.aggregate.totalDuration,
-  status: (a, b) => STATUS_RANK[a.item.status] - STATUS_RANK[b.item.status]
+  status: (a, b) => statusRank(a.item.status) - statusRank(b.item.status)
 }
 
 const FILTER_PREDICATES: Record<FilterMode, (n: SubagentNode) => boolean> = {
   all: () => true,
   leaf: n => n.children.length === 0,
   running: n => n.item.status === 'running' || n.item.status === 'queued',
-  failed: n => n.item.status === 'failed' || n.item.status === 'interrupted'
+  failed: n =>
+    n.item.status === 'error' ||
+    n.item.status === 'failed' ||
+    n.item.status === 'interrupted' ||
+    n.item.status === 'timeout'
 }
 
 const STATUS_GLYPH: Record<Status, { color: (t: Theme) => string; glyph: string }> = {
@@ -83,7 +91,9 @@ const STATUS_GLYPH: Record<Status, { color: (t: Theme) => string; glyph: string
   queued: { color: t => t.color.muted, glyph: '○' },
   completed: { color: t => t.color.statusGood, glyph: '✓' },
   interrupted: { color: t => t.color.warn, glyph: '■' },
-  failed: { color: t => t.color.error, glyph: '✗' }
+  failed: { color: t => t.color.error, glyph: '✗' },
+  timeout: { color: t => t.color.warn, glyph: '⌛' },
+  error: { color: t => t.color.error, glyph: '⚠' }
 }
 
 // Heatmap palette — cold → hot, resolved against the active theme.
@@ -111,7 +121,8 @@ const formatRowId = (n: number): string => String(n + 1).padStart(2, ' ')
 const cycle = <T,>(order: readonly T[], current: T): T => order[(order.indexOf(current) + 1) % order.length]!
 
 const statusGlyph = (item: SubagentProgress, t: Theme) => {
-  const g = STATUS_GLYPH[item.status]
+  // Defensive fallback for cross-version snapshots with unknown statuses.
+  const g = STATUS_GLYPH[item.status] ?? STATUS_GLYPH.error
 
   return { color: g.color(t), glyph: g.glyph }
 }

ui-tui/src/components/thinking.tsx

@@ -327,7 +327,11 @@ function SubagentAccordion({
   const aggregate = node.aggregate
 
   const statusTone: 'dim' | 'error' | 'warn' =
-    item.status === 'failed' ? 'error' : item.status === 'interrupted' ? 'warn' : 'dim'
+    item.status === 'error' || item.status === 'failed'
+      ? 'error'
+      : item.status === 'interrupted' || item.status === 'timeout'
+        ? 'warn'
+        : 'dim'
 
   const prefix = item.taskCount > 1 ? `[${item.index + 1}/${item.taskCount}] ` : ''
   const goalLabel = item.goal || `Subagent ${item.index + 1}`

ui-tui/src/gatewayTypes.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import type { SessionInfo, SlashCategory, Usage } from './types.js'
+import type { SessionInfo, SlashCategory, SubagentStatus, Usage } from './types.js'
 
 export interface GatewaySkin {
   banner_hero?: string
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ export interface SubagentEventPayload {
   output_tokens?: number
   parent_id?: null | string
   reasoning_tokens?: number
-  status?: 'completed' | 'failed' | 'interrupted' | 'queued' | 'running'
+  status?: SubagentStatus
   subagent_id?: string
   summary?: string
   task_count?: number

ui-tui/src/types.ts

@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ export interface ActivityItem {
   tone: 'error' | 'info' | 'warn'
 }
 
+export type SubagentStatus = 'completed' | 'error' | 'failed' | 'interrupted' | 'queued' | 'running' | 'timeout'
+
 export interface SubagentProgress {
   apiCalls?: number
   costUsd?: number
@@ -36,7 +38,7 @@ export interface SubagentProgress {
   parentId: null | string
   reasoningTokens?: number
   startedAt?: number
-  status: 'completed' | 'failed' | 'interrupted' | 'queued' | 'running'
+  status: SubagentStatus
   summary?: string
   taskCount: number
   thinking: string[]