---
name: Background tasks — run_in_background only, never add a shell `&`
description: When launching a long-running command as a background task (run_in_background:true), do NOT also append a shell `&`/`disown`/`nohup`. The shell forks the command and exits 0 immediately, orphaning it — a blocking wait then never delivers its result. Run it in the FOREGROUND of that shell; the harness does the backgrounding.
type: feedback
---

When you want a long-running command (e.g. `ask-forum.sh --wait`, a poll loop, a blocking
watcher) to run in the background, use the Bash tool's **`run_in_background: true`** and run
the command in the **foreground of that shell** — a bare `bash script.sh ...` with **no
trailing `&`, no `disown`, no `nohup`**.

**Why:** appending `&` forks the command off inside the shell; the shell then reaches the
end and exits **0 immediately**. The harness sees exit 0 and reports the task "completed"
right away, while the forked process is orphaned (and often killed). A blocking `--wait`
that was supposed to sit for minutes and deliver an answer instead returns nothing — its
result is never captured or notified.

**How to apply:**
- Background wait, CORRECT: `Bash(command="bash .claude/scripts/ask-forum.sh --wait <id> --timeout 1800", run_in_background=true)` — the wait truly blocks server-side, costs zero tokens while pending, and the harness pings you the instant it completes.
- WRONG: `Bash(command="bash ... --wait ... &", run_in_background=true)` and `... & disown` — orphans the wait, "completes" instantly, no answer.
- The two mechanisms are redundant: `run_in_background` IS the backgrounding. Never stack a shell `&` on top of it.

**Incident:** hit TWICE in one session (2026-07-08) building the [[ask-forum]] flow — each
time the "background wait" for a Discord reply exited 0 instantly and never delivered the
answer, which looked like the reply was lost and forced the user to manually prompt "did
they answer?". Logged as `--friction` in `errorlog.md`. Related: [[ask-forum]].
