# Cannot spawn agents of a different thinking level than ones which are currently selected in the model list **URL:** \ **Category:** Bug Reports\ **Tags:** subagents, grok\ **Created:** [July 18, 2026, 2:52pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cannot-spawn-agents-of-a-different-thinking-level-than-ones-which-are-currently-selected-in-the-model-list/166075 "2026-07-18T14:52:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 5
**Author:** ![deanrie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/deanrie/32/1263_2.png) [@deanrie](https://forum.cursor.com/u/deanrie)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2026, 3:20pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cannot-spawn-agents-of-a-different-thinking-level-than-ones-which-are-currently-selected-in-the-model-list/166075/5 "2026-07-18T15:20:42Z")
Hey, thanks for the detailed report. I see the screenshot with a live test via the agent, thanks for running it. That really helps confirm the behavior. Your read is correct: which Grok effort variant a subagent can use depends on what’s selected in the model picker. When it was set to Medium, spawning `cursor-grok-4.5-high` was rejected. After switching the picker to High, it went through (`cursor-grok-4.5-high agent ok`). Within a single session, you can’t use High, Medium, and Low at the same time, only the currently selected variant. For now, there are two workarounds: - Change the Grok effort in the picker before starting the chat. The saved variant is what decides what subagents can access, or keep separate chats per effort. - Don’t specify a model for the subagent at all. Then it will inherit the parent model. This is a known limitation on our side, I’ve reported it internally. No timeline for a change yet, but if I get an update I’ll reply in the thread. --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.cursor.com/t/cannot-spawn-agents-of-a-different-thinking-level-than-ones-which-are-currently-selected-in-the-model-list/166075)._