Codex sub-agents burn a 5-hour budget in 5 minutes, leaving a user baffled on how to configure them
PresentationMany7589 · reddit · 2026-10-04
A Redditor running Codex with three sub-agents plus an orchestrator found the setup devoured their entire 5-hour usage budget in just 5 minutes.
- Their downgrade attempts all failed: first an Astra-light orchestrator spawning 6.1 sol medium agents, then Astra-light + two Luna medium agents + one 6.1 sol high agent for the heavy lifting.
- Baseline comparison: a single 6.1 sol task at extra-high effort ran 30 minutes using only 10% of the budget — yet enabling sub-agents made costs spike like a waterfall.
- The user is asking for a beginner-friendly explanation of how sub-agents are supposed to be configured and used cost-effectively.
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