# NousResearch/hermes-agent · Subagent prompt bloat and oversized toolsets

## Open now

- 2 issues, 0 PRs open on GitHub.
- #11431: Bug: multi-round subagent runs become very slow due to oversized child toolsets, blocking delegation shutdown, and heavy session persistence
- #42809: delegate_task: subagent system prompt includes unnecessary bloat causing false context-overflow errors

These issues and fixes address unnecessary content in subagent system prompts and toolsets, particularly skills tools being passed to leaf subagents, which causes prompt bloat, false context-overflow errors, and performance degradation in multi-round delegation.

## TL;DR

- 6 member(s): 2 open issue(s), 0 closed issue(s), 0 open PR(s), 0 merged PR(s), 4 PR(s) closed without merging.
- No fix has been merged to main; one or more PRs were attempted (see below).
- **Recommended:** review the prior/competing PR(s) below. A fix was attempted but not merged; your case may extend or revive that work.

## Maintainer resolution verdict

- Internal-tracker verdict over this cluster's issue members: `unresolved`. This is distinct from the fix status above. Weigh it yourself.

## How this cluster was grouped

- Link evidence (`STRUCTURAL_PARTIAL`): some members are connected by structural evidence (shared changed files, or a closing/superseded reference); the rest are joined by an automated relevance judgement over their text.
- Members outside that structural core may belong to a different underlying problem.
- Pairwise link density `0.29`: the share of member pairs that carry a link, counting a structural link in full and a relevance-only link at 0.36. `1.00` means every pair is linked.

## Open related issues

- #11431: Bug: multi-round subagent runs become very slow due to oversized child toolsets, blocking delegation shutdown, and heavy session persistence
- #42809: delegate_task: subagent system prompt includes unnecessary bloat causing false context-overflow errors

## Prior & competing PRs

- **#42822: fix(delegate): reduce subagent system prompt bloat**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `superseded_by_pr`; implication `superseded`; refs `#42809`, `#76081`
- **#42823: fix(delegate): strip skills toolset from leaf subagents**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `silent_close`; implication `active`
- **#42831: fix(delegate): strip skills toolset from leaf subagents**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `superseded_by_pr`; implication `superseded`; refs `#42822`, `#42809`
- **#76081: fix(delegate): block skills tools from leaf subagents to reduce prompt bloat**. closed without merge
  - maintainer direction: category `partial_fix`; implication `needs_llm`; refs `36bce1113d94`, `#42809`, `#42823`, `#42831`, `#42822`, `#76081`, `#42822`, `#76081`, `#42822`, `#76081`, `#42823`, `#76081`, `#42831`, `#42831`, `#76081`, `#42823`, `#42822`, `#76081`, `#76081`, `#42822`, `#42822`, `#76081`, `#42822`, `#42823`, `#42831`, `#42822`, `#76081`, `#76081`, `#42822`, `#76081`, `#42822`, `#42822`, `#42823`, `#42831`, `#1`, `#1`, `#15803`, `#14532`, `#6`, `#1`, `#9`, `#374151`, `#4338`, `#42809`, `#42822`, `#42823`, `#42831`, `#76081`

## Fix status

- No merged fix on record.
- Subsystem: `agent`