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Watch an agent's background work

While it works, an agent can start a command that keeps running in the background, such as a dev server or a long test run, or hand part of the work to a subagent of its own. Each one is listed over the prompt while it runs, and you can read it, or stop a shell, without stopping the agent.

Only Claude and Codex report what they start, so only their work shows in this list. When another runtime starts a subagent of its own, the agent is running it and this list stays empty; you can still read the agent's own account of it in the conversation.

Before you start

  • An agent on a runtime that tells the app about its background work: today Claude and Codex. The app goes by what the runtime says about itself, not by its name.

Steps

See what is running (Mac)

  1. Open the agent's conversation. While anything runs in the background, a block over the prompt is headed In the background · 2 (or however many there are). The agent's row in the list says so too, for example 1 shell, 1 subagent in the background.
  2. Read a row. Each has the name the runtime gave it, what it is running or was asked to do, and how long it has been going (0:37). Hover over the name to see a shell's whole command.
  3. Click Output to open what a shell has printed so far, or Steps to see what a subagent is doing, step by step, in the Background pane of the sidebar.

The conversation also says when each one started and ended, for example Started “Run the test suite” in the background and Shell “Run the test suite” finished, with Steps or Output beside it.

Stop a shell

Click Stop on its row. The row says Stopping… until the runtime has stopped it, then Stopped · 0:02. Nothing else the agent is doing stops.

A subagent has no Stop: neither Claude nor Codex can stop one on its own. Its row says stops with the agent. To stop it, stop the agent (Command-.).

Look back at what ran

Open the Background pane in the sidebar (View ▸ Background, Command-6). It lists what the agent has had in the background lately, newest first, including what has ended, each saying how: Finished, Failed, Stopped or Ended with the turn, with how long it ran. Ended rows have no Stop, but Output and Steps still open. Until the agent starts something, the pane says Nothing in the background.

On iPhone and iPad

On iPhone, a line over the prompt says 2 in the background ›. Tap it for a sheet with each one and Stop on shells; the sheet closes by itself when the last one ends. On iPad, the block over the prompt is the same as the Mac's. Steps opens a subagent's steps in a sheet of their own.

Background work ends with the turn

A shell or subagent belongs to the turn that started it. When the runtime is let go at the end of the turn, anything still running is marked Ended with the turn, and the conversation says so once. Claude keeps its turn open until its subagents have finished, so it is usually a shell that is ended this way.

If it doesn't work

  • Nothing is listed, but the agent said it started something. Its runtime does not tell the app about background work. Use the Terminal pane to see what is running in the agent's folder.
  • … can't be stopped on its own. Stop the agent to stop it. The runtime refused the stop. The row goes back to running; stop the agent instead.