How to see what each Claude Code subagent does while it runs
HB Code lists the subagents of a session under Agents in the top bar. Each subagent opens a timeline of its own beside the chat, with the commands it ran, the files it read, and its edits.
HB Code is a desktop app for Mac and Windows. It runs Claude Code and Codex on your own computer with your own Claude and ChatGPT plans.
Steps
- Open a Claude session on the desktop. The Agents control in the top bar shows the count of agents in the session. It pulses while an agent runs or waits for you.
- Click the control. The list Agents in current session has a row for each subagent with its name and its status. A status is Starting, Running, Completed, Failed, Interrupted, or Stopped.
- Look for the marker Needs approval or Needs input. It shows on the row of a subagent that waits for you.
- Click a row. The Subagent timeline opens beside the chat. Its header shows the task, status, model, effort, usage, and duration of the subagent.
- Click a command, a file, or an edit in that timeline. It opens in the same viewer as in the main thread.
- In the iPhone or Android app, open Sub-agents in the session. Select a row to read the thread of that subagent.
Notes
- The main thread has no row for a subagent. The subagents of a Claude session show only in the Agents list.
- You can't write to a Claude Code subagent. Only its parent agent does.
- A Codex subagent shows in the same list. You can write to it when Codex reports that it takes direct input.
- After a run, the status comes from the files that Claude saved. A subagent with no saved outcome shows Running while its last transcript message is less than 10 minutes old, and Interrupted after that.