every sub-agent this chat started, and what each one is doing

The model can hand part of a job to a sub-agent with its task tool: a separate agent with its own context that does the work and reports back. A delegated step can take minutes, so DGC shows every sub-agent the chat has started and what each one is doing, instead of one spinner.

Personal definitions in ~/.dgc/agents/ are available in any workspace. A project's .dgc/agents/ definitions load only after you trust that project, because a definition can select its own model host and an environment key. Trusting an already-open terminal or editor loads them without a restart. Isolated tasks and fleet workspaces use the approved source project's definitions rather than loading new definitions from their scratch checkout.

• Every sub-agent started in this chat, including the ones that finished, failed or were stopped. This is the same rule Claude Code uses. Nothing shows until the first one starts.
• The mark says whether any is working. A diamond (◆) means an agent is waiting for you: a permission, or a plan to review. A filled dot (●) means at least one is queued or running. An empty ring (○) means none is working any more.
• How many are working right now is next to the count: ● 5 agents · 2 working.
• The count starts again when you start a new chat, clear it, or resume another session. A rewind drops the agents that were started after the point you go back to.

The status bar shows the count after the shortcut hints:

● 2 agents        ● 5 agents · 2 working        ◆ 5 agents · 1 needs you        ○ 5 agents

Under 80 columns it shortens to ●2, ●2/5, ◆5 or ○5 and moves to the front of the bar.

/agents lists the agents in this chat above the sub-agent settings, and works while a turn is running. Each row has the agent's state, its task description, and what DGC knows about it: what it is doing now, the agent type, the model when it is not the chat's own, how long it ran, its tool calls and its tokens. An agent started by another agent is indented under it. The /dashboard entry of a busy chat says how many of its agents are working. The classic dgc prompt prints the same list without colour.

A pill at the start of the controls under the prompt shows ● 2 agents (only the number in a narrow panel). Hover it to read how many are working. Click it for the list:

• a summary such as 5 agents · 2 working · 3 finished;
• one row per agent with the same facts the terminal shows, updated as it works;
• click a row to jump to that agent's step in the conversation;
• Sub-agent settings opens Settings ▸ Agents, where the sub-agent model and host are chosen.

The list is for looking. Stop ends the whole turn, including every agent. When the chat is reopened, the list comes back from the saved session and shows each earlier agent's final state. If DGC's backend stops, the agents that were still running are marked stopped.

• The list shows up to 64 agents, the working ones first; the count stays exact beyond that.
• Descriptions and failure messages are redacted the same way the transcript is. A row shows the first line of a failure message.