diff --git a/packages/core/src/agents/background-agent-resume.test.ts b/packages/core/src/agents/background-agent-resume.test.ts
index af20fe101e..e165f00619 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/agents/background-agent-resume.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/agents/background-agent-resume.test.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import { AgentTerminateMode } from './runtime/agent-types.js';
 import { AgentEventEmitter } from './runtime/agent-events.js';
 import { AgentHeadless } from './runtime/agent-headless.js';
 import {
+  FORK_DEFAULT_MAX_TURNS,
   FORK_SUBAGENT_TYPE,
   buildChildMessage,
 } from '../tools/agent/fork-subagent.js';
@@ -96,6 +97,7 @@ describe('BackgroundAgentResumeService', () => {
       getMaxSessionTurns: () => -1,
       getMaxToolCalls: () => -1,
       isTrustedFolder: () => true,
+      isInteractive: () => false,
       getProjectRoot: () => tempDir,
       getCliVersion: () => 'test-version',
       getGeminiClient: () => undefined,
@@ -1351,6 +1353,9 @@ describe('BackgroundAgentResumeService', () => {
         { role: 'model', parts: [{ text: 'Working silently' }] },
       ],
     });
+    expect(createArgs?.[4]).toEqual({
+      max_turns: FORK_DEFAULT_MAX_TURNS,
+    });
     expect(createArgs?.[5]).toEqual({
       tools: [{ name: 'Bash' }, { name: 'Read' }],
     });
diff --git a/packages/core/src/agents/background-agent-resume.ts b/packages/core/src/agents/background-agent-resume.ts
index f2ee6d0e98..7ed3630192 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/agents/background-agent-resume.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/agents/background-agent-resume.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import { createApprovalModeOverride } from '../tools/agent/agent.js';
 import type { ApprovalMode } from '../config/config.js';
 import {
   FORK_AGENT,
+  FORK_DEFAULT_MAX_TURNS,
   FORK_SUBAGENT_TYPE,
   runInForkContext,
 } from '../tools/agent/fork-subagent.js';
@@ -48,11 +49,7 @@ import type { SubagentConfig } from '../subagents/types.js';
 import { BUBBLE_APPROVAL_MODE } from '../subagents/types.js';
 import { EXCLUDED_TOOLS_FOR_SUBAGENTS } from './runtime/agent-core.js';
 import { ToolNames } from '../tools/tool-names.js';
-import type {
-  PromptConfig,
-  RunConfig,
-  ToolConfig,
-} from './runtime/agent-types.js';
+import type { PromptConfig, ToolConfig } from './runtime/agent-types.js';
 import type {
   AgentBootstrapRecordPayload,
   NotificationRecordPayload,
@@ -1168,7 +1165,7 @@ export class BackgroundAgentResumeService {
       agentConfig,
       promptConfig,
       {},
-      {} as RunConfig,
+      { max_turns: FORK_DEFAULT_MAX_TURNS },
       toolConfig,
       eventEmitter,
     );
diff --git a/packages/core/src/tools/agent/agent.test.ts b/packages/core/src/tools/agent/agent.test.ts
index 0135225f99..5915294938 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/tools/agent/agent.test.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/tools/agent/agent.test.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ import { ToolNames } from '../tool-names.js';
 import { type Config, ApprovalMode } from '../../config/config.js';
 import { SubagentManager } from '../../subagents/subagent-manager.js';
 import type { SubagentConfig } from '../../subagents/types.js';
+import { BUBBLE_APPROVAL_MODE } from '../../subagents/types.js';
+import { FORK_AGENT, FORK_DEFAULT_MAX_TURNS } from './fork-subagent.js';
 import { AgentTerminateMode } from '../../agents/runtime/agent-types.js';
 import {
   AgentHeadless,
@@ -1313,6 +1315,37 @@ describe('AgentTool', () => {
       expect(AgentHeadless.create).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     });
 
+    it('caps fork turns and uses bubble approval mode', async () => {
+      const mockLoadedSubagent: SubagentConfig = {
+        name: 'general-purpose',
+        description: 'General-purpose agent',
+        systemPrompt: 'You are a general-purpose agent.',
+        level: 'builtin',
+        filePath: '<builtin:general-purpose>',
+      };
+      vi.mocked(mockSubagentManager.loadSubagent).mockResolvedValue(
+        mockLoadedSubagent,
+      );
+
+      const invocation = (
+        agentTool as AgentToolWithProtectedMethods
+      ).createInvocation({
+        description: 'some task',
+        prompt: 'do the thing',
+        subagent_type: 'fork',
+      });
+      await invocation.execute();
+
+      expect(AgentHeadless.create).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+      const createArgs = vi.mocked(AgentHeadless.create).mock.calls[0];
+      // RunConfig (5th positional) carries the detached-fork turn cap so a
+      // fire-and-forget fork can't loop unbounded.
+      expect(createArgs[4]).toEqual({ max_turns: FORK_DEFAULT_MAX_TURNS });
+      // The fork agent uses `bubble` approval so its permission prompts surface
+      // to the parent's Background-tasks UI instead of being auto-denied.
+      expect(FORK_AGENT.approvalMode).toBe(BUBBLE_APPROVAL_MODE);
+    });
+
     it('omitting subagent_type uses general-purpose, not fork', async () => {
       // Restored contract: omission resolves to the awaitable general-purpose
       // subagent (inline result), never a fork — even in interactive mode.
diff --git a/packages/core/src/tools/agent/agent.ts b/packages/core/src/tools/agent/agent.ts
index deb4f216c9..f2257fb91c 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/tools/agent/agent.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/tools/agent/agent.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ import { BUBBLE_APPROVAL_MODE } from '../../subagents/types.js';
 import { AgentTerminateMode } from '../../agents/runtime/agent-types.js';
 import type {
   PromptConfig,
-  RunConfig,
   ToolConfig,
 } from '../../agents/runtime/agent-types.js';
 import {
@@ -37,6 +36,7 @@ import type { AgentExternalInput } from '../../agents/runtime/agent-types.js';
 import type { Content, FunctionDeclaration } from '@google/genai';
 import {
   FORK_AGENT,
+  FORK_DEFAULT_MAX_TURNS,
   FORK_SUBAGENT_TYPE,
   FORK_PLACEHOLDER_RESULT,
   buildForkedMessages,
@@ -1298,7 +1298,7 @@ class AgentToolInvocation extends BaseToolInvocation<AgentParams, ToolResult> {
       agentConfig,
       promptConfig,
       {},
-      {} as RunConfig,
+      { max_turns: FORK_DEFAULT_MAX_TURNS },
       toolConfig,
       eventEmitter,
     );
diff --git a/packages/core/src/tools/agent/fork-subagent.ts b/packages/core/src/tools/agent/fork-subagent.ts
index 7854846eef..1b2e1e4f9c 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/tools/agent/fork-subagent.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/tools/agent/fork-subagent.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { AsyncLocalStorage } from 'node:async_hooks';
 import type { Content } from '@google/genai';
 import type { Config } from '../../config/config.js';
 import type { SubagentConfig } from '../../subagents/types.js';
+import { BUBBLE_APPROVAL_MODE } from '../../subagents/types.js';
 
 export const FORK_SUBAGENT_TYPE = 'fork';
 
@@ -33,10 +34,17 @@ export const FORK_AGENT = {
   tools: ['*'],
   systemPrompt:
     'You are a forked worker process. Follow the directive in the conversation history. Execute tasks directly using available tools. Do not spawn sub-agents.',
-  approvalMode: 'default',
+  // `bubble` surfaces this fork's permission prompts to the parent's Background-
+  // tasks UI; a detached fork has no inline UI, so 'default' would auto-deny them.
+  approvalMode: BUBBLE_APPROVAL_MODE,
   level: 'session' as const,
 } satisfies SubagentConfig;
 
+// Turn cap for a detached fork — fire-and-forget background work nobody awaits,
+// so an unbounded reasoning loop burns tokens silently. Matches claude-code's
+// fork cap of 200.
+export const FORK_DEFAULT_MAX_TURNS = 200;
+
 // Recursive-fork guard. A fork child keeps the `agent` tool in its declarations
 // for byte-identical cache parity with the parent, so tool-availability
 // stripping is no longer an option. Instead, mark the async frame as "inside a