Agent mode

Agent mode is the working half of the Estelle page. Use it to discuss a task, let Estelle read the relevant code and account state, and approve the action you want it to take. Ask is the other mode: use it when you want a cited answer without starting work.

Open Estelle and choose Agent above the message box. Choose a repository scope when the task concerns one repository.

#When to use Agent mode

• Build or fix code in a Silo, or split a larger task into parallel work.
• Start an Estelle CI run, a Twice test, a Security scan, or Atlas work.
• Create, change, pause, or resume an Automation.
• Run a browser or desktop task on a cloud machine.
• Check running work, production issues, sessions, or credit usage.
• Send context to an agent, or stop or restart an agent you control.

Use Ask instead when you only want an explanation, a decision recalled, or sources to read yourself. If you ask for an action in Ask mode, Estelle offers Switch to Agent mode and send it; it does not perform the action there.

#Delegate a change

1. Describe the outcome

   Name the repository and the behaviour you want. Include constraints and the evidence that would make the result acceptable, such as a test to add or a command that should pass.

   text

   In acme/web, reject an empty email on the sign-up form, show "Enter your email", and add a test for it.

   Attach a specification, screenshot, or other supporting file if it would help. Agent mode can also read your indexed code before proposing anything.

2. Review the proposal

   Estelle proposes one action at a time. Read the card's task, repository, settings, and expected effect before choosing. Change it puts your request back in the composer for revision.

   Choose Allow once to run that proposal. Refuse it runs nothing. Where Always allow is offered, it also permits later actions of that type in the workspace; choose it only if you want to skip those future confirmations. An Automation that can push or open pull requests also requires its risk acknowledgement.

3. Read the result

   The card reports Done, a refusal, or an unsuccessful action, with Open it when there is a result to inspect. A started run is not yet a finished result: follow its session, build, or run and read the evidence it produces.

Only the current proposal can be decided, and a proposal can run at most once. Starting a new chat clears the conversation; it does not cancel work already confirmed.

#Review plans and evidence

An Agent-mode build or a Silo launched with a task can propose a plan before changing code. Open Orchestra → Plans to review it.

• Edit step titles, reorder steps, add steps, or remove them.
• Read the plan's assumptions and the check proposed for each step.
• Allow the plan once, allow similar plans for its scope, or refuse it.
• If the agent later proposes a change of course, compare the added, removed, and changed steps before deciding.

While the plan runs, completed steps can carry evidence: a commit, pull request, test result, command, screenshot, or link. Open that evidence rather than treating a checked step alone as proof of the outcome. See Orchestra.

#Follow or correct running work

Ask about current work in the same conversation. Estelle can show live cards for builds, sessions, automations, CI, Twice, Monitoring, On-call incidents, Prism reviews, and usage. A card can represent live progress or a snapshot; open the underlying item for its full record.

To add a constraint, correction, or file to a build that is already running, say which build it concerns. Estelle can route your words and attachments to that build and tells you where they went. If the target is ambiguous, it asks instead of guessing. Routing context is not approval to start a new action.

Some cards offer actions such as pausing, stopping, rerunning, or fixing. Those actions return to the same proposal-and-confirmation flow.

#Pin context for your next message

Choose Pin to conversation on a card to have Estelle re-read that item as context for your next Agent-mode message. Pins apply to the next message, not every future message. You can keep up to five; adding another removes the oldest. Remove a pin from the chips above the composer.

#Attach files

Use the paperclip, drag files onto the composer, or paste them. Wait for each file to show Ready before sending; failed uploads are not included. Files attached to a build request also reach its coding agent.

The composer says when only part of a file was kept or part was withheld. Check that disclosure before relying on the answer.

#Limits

• Stop waiting for the answer stops waiting for the current reply. It does not cancel a confirmed build or stop its Silo; use Orchestra or Estelle Cloud for that.
• A proposal runs only after you allow it. Context routed to an existing build is the exception: it adds your words to work already running rather than starting a new action.
• Agent mode does not deploy your application. Review and merge pull requests yourself unless you have explicitly enabled auto-merge; see Autonomy.

#Related