Steer or stop a run
Only the task's assignee can talk to a run or stop it. If the task isn't yours,
assign it to yourself first with the assignee control under Properties on
the task page (it reads Assign this task or Assigned to <name>). Anyone
else can type in the composer, but their message or stop is not delivered.
Open the run
Open the task and select the run under Activity, or open it from Runs in the team sidebar. The Run page shows the agent's steps as they happen, with a working indicator while the run is queued or working.
If the row says Queued, no runner has claimed it yet. If it stays that way, see Troubleshoot a run.
Say something to the agent
Write in the box at the bottom of the Run page that reads Say something…, and press Enter. Shift+Enter makes a new line. To add files, select +, or drop or paste them on the box.
The agent gets your message within a few seconds, in the middle of what it is doing: its current turn is interrupted and your words become the next thing it reads. Its reply and the steps that follow appear on the same page.
While the run reads Waiting for you, the box reads Answer the question to continue the run…, and what you send answers the agent's question and the run carries on. When the question is an approval, select Approve or Dismiss on its card, or select Open in the inbox.
If the page says "The task has moved to another station. Messages here reach no one.", the task has left this station. Open the task to find the run that holds it now.
Send work back to a station
When the task has finished at a station or stands there with nothing running, the box on a run at that station reads Say what to change. <Station> starts again…. Say what to change and press Enter. A new run starts at the station and picks up its earlier conversation with your message, and its agent passes the task on from there. To have an earlier station redo work, tell the current station's agent where to hand it: Code Review can hand it to Implementation or Spec.
Stop the run
While a runner is working the run, and with the composer empty and nothing attached, the send button becomes a square Stop button. Select it. The Run page does not offer it while the run is Queued.
The agent is stopped where it is and the task comes back to you. An item opens in your inbox with "A person stopped the run. The task is back with you." The task stays at the same station. To carry on there, reply to the item, which starts a new run at that station; see Answer the inbox.
The same Stop button is in the inbox item's composer while a run works on it.
Park or close the task
To stop work on the task, move it to Backlog; to close it, move it to Completed, as in Add a task and move it along a line. A working run is stopped, one waiting for an answer is ended, and one still queued is withdrawn and shows as Superseded.
Related
- Tasks, runs and the inbox: run states.
- How a conversation survives between runs, on why the next run at the same station picks up where the stopped one left off.