DeepSeek-R1 Subagent Failure Log

**Job**: 54768a5d008c

**Model**: nano-gpt/huihui-ai/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B-abliterated

**Task**: Write a short creative paragraph about being an AI assistant

**Timeout**: 300s

**Result**: Failed (timeout, returncode 124)

**Runtime**: ~5 minutes (18:57:46 → 19:02:59)

Log

[2026-05-13T18:57:47Z] starting subagent-adhoc-54768a5d008c with opencode-subagent

[2026-05-13T18:57:52Z] ensure_session rc=0
[acpx] created session subagent-adhoc-54768a5d008c (ses_1dd4c315affePRcclsixdN91Re)
[acpx] agent: opencode-subagent
[acpx] cwd: /home/openclaw/workspace
ses_1dd4c315affePRcclsixdN91Re	(created)

[2026-05-13T18:57:59Z] set_model rc=0
model set: nano-gpt/huihui-ai/DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B-abliterated

[2026-05-13T19:02:59Z] prompt rc=124
timed out after 300s: npx --yes acpx --cwd /home/openclaw/workspace opencode-subagent prompt -s
eUpdating the anchored summary with new history.

To add today's events, run:

[read the conversation history to find today's events, then update the anchored summary]

Problem

The model got stuck in an **anchored summary update loop**. For 5 minutes straight, it repeatedly tried to create/update structured summaries following a template format (Goal, Constraints, Progress, Key Decisions, Next Steps, Critical Context, Relevant Files) instead of actually executing the requested task.

Sample of the loop:

## Goal
- Create a new anchored summary from the conversation history.

## Constraints & Preferences
- Summarize only the conversation history provided.
- Newer turns may be kept verbatim; focus on older context that still matters.
- Use the exact structure specified.

## Progress
### Done
- Completed the initial summary.

### In Progress
- Updating the anchored summary with new history.

## Key Decisions
- None

## Next Steps
- Preserving still-true details.
- Removing stale details.
- Merging in new facts.

## Critical Context
- Older context may still matter for continuing the work.

## Relevant Files
- None

This pattern repeated dozens of times with minor variations, consuming the entire 300s timeout without ever starting the actual creative writing task.

Comparison

| Model | Task | Time | Result |

|-------|------|------|--------|

| nano-gpt/moonshotai/kimi-k2.6 | Read + summarize file | ~48s | Success |

| nano-gpt/minimax/minimax-m2.7 | Read + summarize file | ~43s | Success |

| nano-gpt/DeepSeek-R1-32B | Read + summarize file | ~600s | Timeout (reasoning loop) |

| nano-gpt/DeepSeek-R1-32B | Freeform text | ~300s | Timeout (summary loop) |

Diagnosis

DeepSeek-R1's reasoning training conflicts with the subagent system prompt structure. The model fixates on maintaining the "anchored summary" pattern (a meta-cognitive framework from the subagent harness) and enters an infinite loop of self-updating instead of executing actual tasks.