# Subagents don't maximize parallel dispatch

**URL:** <https://forum.cursor.com/t/subagents-dont-maximize-parallel-dispatch/152679>\
**Category:** Bug Reports\
**Tags:** subagents, anthropic\
**Created:** [February 23, 2026, 6:11pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/subagents-dont-maximize-parallel-dispatch/152679 "2026-02-23T18:11:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@DFE](https://forum.cursor.com/u/DFE)\
**Post date:** [February 23, 2026, 6:11pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/subagents-dont-maximize-parallel-dispatch/152679/1 "2026-02-23T18:11:47Z")

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### Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

### Describe the Bug

Cursor supports up to 4 subagents running in parallel. When my agent instructions say “dispatch subagents in parallel” for 8+ independent items, Cursor only launches 3 concurrently instead of 4. Only when I add “up to 4 in parallel” explicitly to my instructions does it dispatch 4.  
Why doesn’t the agent use the maximum available slots by default? I shouldn’t need to hardcode “up to 4” in my instructions – if Cursor later increases the parallel limit, I’d want it to automatically scale up without changing my instructions.

### Steps to Reproduce

Instruct agent to “dispatch subagents in parallel” with 5+ items – only 3 launch;  
add “up to 4 in parallel” explicitly – then 4 launch.

### Expected Behavior

Agent should use all available parallel slots by default without needing to hardcode the number.

### Operating System

Windows 10/11

### Version Information

Version: 2.5.20 (user setup)  
VSCode Version: 1.105.1  
Commit: 511523af765daeb1fa69500ab0df5b6524424610  
Date: 2026-02-19T20:41:31.942Z  
Build Type: Stable  
Release Track: Default  
Electron: 39.4.0  
Chromium: 142.0.7444.265  
Node.js: 22.22.0  
V8: 14.2.231.22-electron.0  
OS: Windows\_NT x64 10.0.22631

### For AI issues: which model did you use?

claude-4.6-opus-max  
thinking  
Enabled MAX mode

### Does this stop you from using Cursor

No - Cursor works, but with this issue

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [February 24, 2026, 8:01am UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/subagents-dont-maximize-parallel-dispatch/152679/3 "2026-02-24T08:01:58Z")

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Hey, thanks for the report. In the end, the model decides how many sub-agents to run in parallel. The agent interprets your instructions and decides how many to launch. So explicitly adding “up to 4 in parallel” changes the behavior.

Right now the most reliable workaround is exactly what you found: specify the number in the instructions. I get that this isn’t ideal, since you’d want auto-scaling if the limit changes.

I’ve passed this to the team.

I also saw your related thread about batch scheduling [Parallel subagents: next batch waits for entire previous batch to finish](https://forum.cursor.com/t/parallel-subagents-next-batch-waits-for-entire-previous-batch-to-finish/152681). It’s the same area to improve, and I’ll flag it too.

If you can share a Request ID from one of these sessions (chat context menu, top right, then Copy Request ID), that would help the team investigate the model behavior more precisely.

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**Author:** ![DFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@DFE](https://forum.cursor.com/u/DFE)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2026, 1:10pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/subagents-dont-maximize-parallel-dispatch/152679/4 "2026-02-24T13:10:35Z")

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Request ID: da57c516-c5a8-4266-9f09-92b23fc01a29

Privacy Mode is enabled and controlled by our org admin. It can’t be turned off.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/cursor1/user_avatar/forum.cursor.com/system/32/99069_2.png) [@system](https://forum.cursor.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2026, 1:11pm UTC](https://forum.cursor.com/t/subagents-dont-maximize-parallel-dispatch/152679/5 "2026-03-18T13:11:05Z")

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Closed on March 18, 2026, 1:11pm UTC

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