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