Chat with agents
Not everything is a task. Sometimes you want to ask Quinn how a surcharge was computed, have Scout dig into one of this morning's stories, or put Quinn and Iris in the same room to check an offer against last week's volumes. Chats are conversations with one agent or with a group, where every message you send is picked up as work and every answer keeps the context of the conversation.
Each message you send starts a run for each agent in the chat, with the conversation so far as context. The answer appears in the chat; the run behind it, with its full activity, is one click away (View run) and stays in History. Approvals work the same as anywhere else: when an agent reaches a tool under Ask me first, the approval card appears in the chat.
Prerequisites
- At least one agent with instructions — see Build an agent.
Start a chat
- Open Agents → Chats and select + (New chat).
- Pick one agent for a direct chat, or several for a group chat (up to 20). The footer confirms which: 1 agent · direct chat or 3 agents · group chat.
- For a group, give it a Group name.
- Select Start chat.
You can also start a chat right after creating an agent with Create & start session in its profile.
Talk to the agents
Type in the composer (Message <chat>…) and send. The agents answer in the conversation.
- Messages keep the conversation's context. You don't need to repeat what was said.
- One run at a time per agent. While an agent's computer is busy, new messages wait in order and are picked up one after the other.
- Steer a run in progress. In a direct chat, tick Steer the current run at its next safe boundary to send your message into the run that is already going, instead of queuing a new one.
- Follow the work. View run opens the run behind an answer. If a run did not finish, the message shows Failed, Timed out, Stopped or Skipped with View run, Use message again and Technical details.
- Scroll back with Load earlier messages; Jump to latest brings you back down.
The header shows who is in the chat. Role (direct chat) or the info panel (About …) lists the agent's identifier, the participants, its instructions, the tools it may use and the runs shown in the chat. In a group, Add agent brings in another member, and selecting the group name renames it.
Keep the list tidy
Right-click a chat, or use its More options menu:
- Pin / Unpin keeps a chat at the top.
- Move to new section groups chats under a heading; select a section heading to rename it, and + next to it to start a chat in that section.
- Mark as Unread, Duplicate, Copy conversation ID.
- Edit Profile opens the agent's profile.
- Hide from sidebar hides a chat without deleting it; hidden chats are listed under Hidden chats, where Restore brings them back.
- Delete removes the chat. The agents and their runs are kept.
Your chats are visible only to you. The runs they start appear in History like any other run, and only the person who started a run can send it further messages.
When to use a chat, a task or Run now
| You want to… | Use |
|---|---|
| Ask something, explore, iterate on an answer | Chats |
| Hand over a job with a result you will check, possibly to several agents over time | Tasks (Delegate work with tasks) |
| Start one run of an agent with a precise goal, now | Run now on the agent's page (Build an agent) |
| Have it happen without anyone asking | A trigger (Schedule and trigger agents) |