background-agent-pings

Background Agent Pings

Trust system reminders as agent progress notifications. Don't poll.

Pattern

When you launch a background agent, continue working on other tasks. The system will notify you via reminders when:

• Agent makes progress: Agent <id> progress: X new tools used, Y new tokens
• Agent writes output file (check the path you specified)

DO

1. Task(run_in_background=true, prompt="... Output to: .claude/cache/agents/<type>/output.md")
2. Continue with next task immediately
3. When system reminder shows agent activity, check if output file exists
4. Read output file only when agent signals completion

DON'T

# BAD: Polling wastes tokens and time
Task(run_in_background=true)
Bash("sleep 5 && ls ...")  # polling
Bash("tail /tmp/claude/.../tasks/<id>.output")  # polling
TaskOutput(task_id="...")  # floods context

Why This Matters

• Polling burns tokens on repeated checks
• TaskOutput floods main context with full agent transcript
• System reminders are free - they're pushed to you automatically
• Continue productive work while waiting

Source

• This session: Realized polling for agent output wasted time when system reminders already provide progress updates