# 2026-03-13

## Subagent reliability investigation
- Fresh implementation subagent launch for subagent/ACP reliability failed immediately before doing any task work.
- Failure mode: delegated run was spawned with model `glm-5`, which resolved to provider model `zai/glm-5`.
- Current agent auth profiles across installed agents include `openai-codex:default`, `litellm:default`, and `github-copilot:github`; there is no `zai` auth profile configured in agent auth stores.
- Verified by inspecting agent auth profile keys under:
  - `/home/openclaw/.openclaw/agents/*/agent/auth-profiles.json`
- Relevant OpenClaw docs confirm:
  - subagent spawns inherit caller model when `sessions_spawn.model` is omitted
  - provider/model auth errors like `No API key found for provider "zai"` occur when a provider model is selected without matching auth
  - multi-agent auth is per-agent via `~/.openclaw/agents/<agentId>/agent/auth-profiles.json`
- Conclusion: the immediate failure was caused by an incorrect explicit model selection in the spawn request, not by missing auth propagation between agents.
- Corrective action: retry fresh delegation with `litellm/glm-5` (the intended medium-tier routed model for delegated implementation work in this setup).
- Will explicitly requested on 2026-03-13 to use `gpt-5.4` for subagents for now while debugging delegation reliability.
- Will also explicitly requested that zap keep a light eye on active subagents and check whether they look stuck instead of assuming they are fine until completion.