Harness spec 3.3.0: the Subagents setting is Min and Max, one range with two handles, counting the agent itself

loop.json subagents.setting: min/max are "Min" and "Max" (not fewest/most), with a hint and a short
form saying the numbers include the session's own agent - 1 is the agent alone, Max 4 the agent and
up to three subagents. team.md §2 and subagents.md §4 state that, and the UI rule: one range from 1
to the cap with two handles (a slider; two numbers on one line in a terminal). team_add says the
size includes the caller. Conformance team: max 2 is the lead and one task subagent.

Still 3.3.0, unreleased: edited in place.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

harness/README.md

@@ -88,8 +88,10 @@ Written ahead of both implementations as LLeMbas CLI 02c7282; both carry it in t
   limit, else "This model serves one request at a time: name another model, on another server,
   for subagents." — and nothing else is picked. A member is refused for these too, and still only
   waits for a full model.
-- **The offer**: the `agents {min, max}` setting is shown as **Subagents** (*fewest*, *most*;
-  `loop.json` `subagents.setting`), and with it the team tools, when subagents are enabled and at
+- **The offer**: the `agents {min, max}` setting is shown as **Subagents** (**Min**, **Max**;
+  `loop.json` `subagents.setting`) — one range from 1 to the cap with two handles, and a hint that
+  the numbers count the session's own agent: 1 is the agent alone, Max 4 the agent and up to three
+  subagents — and with it the team tools, when subagents are enabled and at
   least one model could serve: the session's, with the capacity, or any usable model off its
   one-model server. `context.note.team_own` tells the model, and `subagents.setting.own` the
   person, when the session's model cannot serve subagents itself.

harness/conformance/team.json

@@ -810,6 +810,59 @@
         }
       ]
     },
+    {
+      "about": "The count includes the lead: max 2 is the lead and one subagent. A second task while the first runs is refused; once it is done there is room again.",
+      "start": {
+        "min": 1,
+        "max": 2,
+        "capacity": {}
+      },
+      "steps": [
+        {
+          "op": "call",
+          "by": "lead",
+          "tool": "task",
+          "args": {
+            "prompt": "Find the grammar."
+          }
+        },
+        {
+          "op": "call",
+          "by": "lead",
+          "tool": "task",
+          "args": {
+            "prompt": "x"
+          }
+        },
+        {
+          "op": "task_done",
+          "by": "lead"
+        },
+        {
+          "op": "call",
+          "by": "lead",
+          "tool": "task",
+          "args": {
+            "prompt": "x"
+          }
+        }
+      ],
+      "expect": [
+        {
+          "result": null,
+          "delivered": {}
+        },
+        {
+          "result": "The team is full: it has as many agents as the person allows (2). Give the work to a member already on it (team_send), or stop one (team_stop) first.",
+          "delivered": {}
+        },
+        null,
+        {
+          "result": null,
+          "delivered": {}
+        }
+      ]
+    },
     {
       "about": "Lowering max stops nobody: the members stay, and nothing is added until the size is under it. The lead keeps its team tools while it has members.",
       "start": {

harness/loop.json

@@ -74,10 +74,12 @@
       "after": "[\\p{L}\\p{N}_\\-/]|[.:][\\p{L}\\p{N}]"
     },
     "setting": {
-      "about": "How the agents {min, max} setting (team.md §2) is shown to a person: label, the names of min and max, and `own` beside it when the session's model cannot serve subagents itself (subagents.md §4).",
+      "about": "How the agents {min, max} setting (team.md §2) is shown to a person: one range from 1 to the cap with two handles, `min` and `max` naming them; `label` beside it, `hint` (or `short` where one line has no room) saying what the numbers count — the session's own agent included, so 1 is that agent alone and Max 4 is it and up to 3 subagents; and `own` beside it when the session's model cannot serve subagents itself (subagents.md §4).",
       "label": "Subagents",
-      "min": "fewest",
-      "max": "most",
+      "min": "Min",
+      "max": "Max",
+      "hint": "The count includes this agent: 1 is this agent alone, with no subagents; Max 4 is this agent and up to 3 subagents.",
+      "short": "1 is this agent alone",
       "own": "This model serves one request at a time: subagents need another model, on another server, named in the chat."
     }
   },

harness/subagents.md

@@ -69,8 +69,11 @@ and `task` keeps its rule for a model that is already full (`loop.json` `capacit
 ## 4. When subagents are offered
 
 The size setting `agents {min, max}` (`team.md` §2) is shown as **Subagents** — `subagents.setting`:
-the label, and *fewest* and *most* for `min` and `max` (defaults 1 and 4, at most `cap` 32, kept
-with the chat). It, the team tools and `blocks/team_lead.md` are **offered** when both hold:
+the label, and **Min** and **Max** for `min` and `max` (defaults 1 and 4, at most `cap` 32, kept
+with the chat). **The numbers count the session's own agent**: Min 1 / Max 1 is the agent alone,
+with no subagents; Max 4 is the agent and up to three subagents (`subagents.setting.hint`). A UI
+shows the setting as **one range from 1 to `cap` with two handles, Min and Max** (Min never past
+Max): a slider in a graphical UI, two numbers on one line in a terminal, each moved on its own. It, the team tools and `blocks/team_lead.md` are **offered** when both hold:
 
 1. Subagents are enabled for the session (`team.md` §2, rule 1).
 2. **At least one model could serve as a subagent**: S itself, when it serves two or more requests

harness/team.md

@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ and numbers `loop.json` `team` (and the size notes in `context.note`); the promp
 ## 2. The size setting, and when a team is offered
 
 A chat has the setting **`agents: {min, max}`** — the agents the team may have, the lead included.
+**The numbers count the chat's own agent**: `1` is that agent alone, with no subagents; `max` 4 is
+that agent and up to three subagents. Nothing that shows or reads the setting counts subagents only.
 
 - `1 ≤ min ≤ max ≤ cap`. `cap` is the instance's (LLeMbas) or the global configuration's (the CLI),
   default `loop.json` `team.agents.cap` (32); a project's configuration never raises it. A value
@@ -51,7 +53,11 @@ system prompt — when both hold, and only then:
    `parallel` nor `single_session` is set — a hosted API; `models/schema.json`); or any other model
    the person may use that is not on the chat's model's one-model server (`capacity.group`).
 
-The setting is shown as **Subagents**, *fewest* to *most* (`loop.json` `subagents.setting`).
+The setting is shown as **Subagents**, with **Min** and **Max** (`loop.json` `subagents.setting`):
+**one range from 1 to `cap` with two handles**, Min and Max, where Min never passes Max — a slider in
+a graphical UI; in a terminal, the two numbers on one line, each moved on its own. Beside it, its
+hint (`subagents.setting.hint`, or `short` where a line has no room): the count includes the agent,
+and 1 is the agent alone. Never *fewest* / *most*, and never a count of subagents alone.
 
 Both are fixed for as long as the system prompt is (`context.md` §10, rule 4: a model switch makes
 a new prompt and a new list). Otherwise the setting is not shown and none of the four tools is

harness/tools/team_add.json

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
     "cli": [],
     "llembas": []
   },
-  "description": "Add a member to your team and start it at once, in the background, on its part of the work. You lead: members do the work while you plan, coordinate and review — once you have a member, tools that change things are refused to you.\n\n- `name` is how everyone addresses it: lowercase letters, digits and hyphens, after what it owns (`parser`, `api-tests`), unique in the team.\n- `role` is one line: what it owns. `task` is its brief and must stand on its own — it sees nothing of this conversation: what to do, when it is done, and what to report.\n- `goal` is the team's goal in a line; your first member needs it, and every member is told it.\n- `lead: true` lets it add members of its own and lead an area; it then manages as you do.\n- The person sets how many agents the team may have; past that this is refused. When the model is already serving as many requests as it can at once, the member waits for a slot and starts when one frees.\n- Its final reply comes to you as its report. Meanwhile team_send messages it, team_read shows the team and the room, team_stop stops it.\n- Agents: {{agents}}",
+  "description": "Add a member to your team and start it at once, in the background, on its part of the work. You lead: members do the work while you plan, coordinate and review — once you have a member, tools that change things are refused to you.\n\n- `name` is how everyone addresses it: lowercase letters, digits and hyphens, after what it owns (`parser`, `api-tests`), unique in the team.\n- `role` is one line: what it owns. `task` is its brief and must stand on its own — it sees nothing of this conversation: what to do, when it is done, and what to report.\n- `goal` is the team's goal in a line; your first member needs it, and every member is told it.\n- `lead: true` lets it add members of its own and lead an area; it then manages as you do.\n- The person sets how many agents the team may have, you included; past that this is refused. When the model is already serving as many requests as it can at once, the member waits for a slot and starts when one frees.\n- Its final reply comes to you as its report. Meanwhile team_send messages it, team_read shows the team and the room, team_stop stops it.\n- Agents: {{agents}}",
   "parameters": {
     "type": "object",
     "properties": {