What a task is
A task asks an agent for an outcome, not one answer. The agent keeps working, turn after turn, in the conversation you gave it in, until it judges the outcome true and says it is done. Each turn is an ordinary run.
An agent holds one task at a time. While one is underway or paused, the target icon opens Edit task for the agent, and a schedule or trigger that fires is skipped. To give a different task, Stop this one first.
Anyone in the project except a viewer can give, change, pause or stop a task. It runs with the access of the person who gave it; whoever changes its goal or resumes it takes that over.
Give a task
Open the task dialog
In the agent's conversation, click the target icon beside the composer, Give the agent a task.
Say what done looks like
Under What does done look like? describe the outcome, up to 4,000 characters. Write a test the agent can check, not a list of steps.
Choose when it starts
Start offers Now, On a schedule and When something happens. The last two swap the budget, the idea choice and Start for an editor that saves the task as an automation; see below.
Set a budget, if you want one
Budget is a whole number of credits for all the task's runs; when it is spent, the task ends as Budget used. Blank means it runs until it is done or stuck. Each run still keeps to the agent's Spend cap.
Decide what happens when an idea fails
Keep exploring, the default, drops what failed, picks the next most promising direction and says why in the conversation. It stops only for what a person alone can give: a permission, data, money, or a real trade-off. Ask me stops at a failed idea and offers you its choices.
Click Start
The goal appears as a Task bubble, and the task bar above the composer reads Working on the task.
An agent with Make trading decisions set, in any mode, is refused a task with A permission this agent holds keeps its tools off, so it cannot work on a task. See Make trading decisions.
On a schedule or when something happens
On a schedule opens the schedule editor inside the dialog, with a Budget each time; Create automation saves it. Each time it runs, the agent works on the task until it is done.
When something happens opens the trigger editor. When picks the event: News, Price move (% today), Analyst ratings, SEC 8-K disclosures or Corporate guidance; see Sources. In takes the ticker, Of the condition, and At most caps the times a day, with a budget each time. Save saves it.
Both kinds are set to Keep exploring and listed under Automations for the agent as Task · and the name. Turn it on now is ticked by default; untick it to review the automation first. See Automations.
How a task keeps going
When a turn settles, the next starts at once. While a turn is working, what you send is a note the agent reads at its next step, without stopping.
When a turn asks for approval, the bar reads Waiting for you and the task waits until a project editor or above answers. See answering a request.
The task bar
The bar sits above the composer while a task is live, and after it ends until you clear it. While it works, it shows the time it has run, the credits spent (for example 182 of 500 credits) and the goal; an ended task shows the agent's summary.
| Label | What it means | Buttons |
|---|---|---|
| Working on the task | A turn is running or about to start. | Edit, Pause, Stop |
| Waiting for you | An approval card waits in the conversation. | Edit, Pause, Stop |
| Paused | You paused it, or it paused itself and says why. | Edit, Resume, Stop |
| Task done | The agent marked it done. | Summary, Continue, Clear |
| Needs your call | The agent stopped and offers you two to four choices. | Summary, Clear, and the choices |
| Stuck | A task that stopped before choices existed. Tell it what to do. | Summary, Resume, Clear |
| Budget used | The budget is spent. | Summary, Add N more, Clear |
The controls
- Edit changes the goal, the budget, or what happens when an idea fails. Before you click Save changes, the dialog shows the sentence the agent will be told.
- Pause lets the turn in flight finish and starts no new one. Resume carries on from where it was.
- Stop ends a live task, including a turn in flight, after you confirm Stop this task? On an ended task it reads Clear and only dismisses the bar.
- Continue restarts a finished task with what you typed. Add N more on Budget used adds the same budget again and resumes.
- On Needs your call, click a choice, lettered from A, with the agent's own pick marked Recommended. A choice that ends the task clears it.
A paused, stuck or done task also resumes on your words, and on Needs your call you can type something else instead of choosing. The composer reads Tell it what to do next…, and its send button Send and continue.
When it pauses itself
A task pauses and shows why in the bar:
- three failed turns in a row
- no progress two turns running: two turns in a row finished without using a tool, or in a team task two of the lead's reviews
- the workspace’s daily requests are used
- the person who gave it lost access
- it now makes trading decisions, except in a team task
- the channel or its lead is gone, in a team task
A turn you stopped does not count. Fix the cause, then Resume.
When the budget runs out mid-turn, the agent finishes the turn without tools and writes the Budget used summary: what it tried, found and would do next.
Team tasks
A channel with a lead takes a task the same way, or with /task followed by the goal. Its bar counts the cards waiting, with Approve all when more than one waits, and its Stop asks Stop the whole team? See Give the team a task.