Sub-agent costs are too high and too opaque

WTF!

I’m seeing unexpectedly high costs whenever sub-agents are used in Codex CLI. The feature is useful, but the current cost behavior makes it hard to use safely in normal development workflows.

Main issues:

• Sub-agent usage can multiply spend very quickly.
• Cost impact is not clearly shown before launching sub-agents.
• It is hard to predict final cost from the prompt or plan.
• There are not enough guardrails to prevent accidental overspend.
• I am easily $350 over my Pro Plan for a week.

## What I need:

• A global session budget that hard-stops execution well before you all tell me, "Sorry we have to screw up your job and tell you to buy credits" _on Day 2 of the week for a Pro User_.
• A post-run cost breakdown by sub-agent , because I have no way to manage that unless _I totally turn off the feature._

Bottom Line

• You are showing off sub agents while draining pro users, and pretty much everyone, while claiming they are cheaper. Yes, they really are cheaper, but you put the onus of managing that on us without cost controls.

I want to keep using sub-agents, but right now the pricing transparency and controls are not sufficient for practical day-to-day use. Please prioritize cost visibility and budget controls.