SUBAGENTS

Claude Code's Explore subagent runs on your main model, and CLAUDE_CODE_SUBAGENT_MODEL alone won't move it. Three ways to put it on Haiku 5.5, with test runs.

Cheap subagents like DeepSeek, Kimi and GLM suit drafts and exploration only when their output is visible. A shared canvas makes that work reviewable.

Claude Code is turning into an orchestration layer for agent teams. Here is how subagents, MCP, hooks, and long context fit together in 2026.

Spawn isolated workers with independent context windows.

Researcher, auditor, reviewer, and other ready-made subagent types.

Route specific MCP servers only to specific subagents.

Continue a subagent's work across sessions.

Fire when subagents spawn and finish.

Spawn subagents to handle complex hook logic.