Follow work in progress
While CLIO works, its latest activity group opens so you can follow its operations. A newer visible entry folds the earlier automatic group. Groups you open or close yourself keep that choice, including when you reopen a panel. Completed history starts folded; expand a group to inspect it. You can read a command, inspect a result, and open the details of delegated work. The Work summary on the right keeps ongoing work accessible while you read the conversation.
Tools, tasks, and todos
Section titled “Tools, tasks, and todos”| Item | What it represents | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Tool call | One operation requested by the agent, such as reading a file, running a command, or asking a question. | The conversation’s activity collection and Tool calls. |
| Background task | Work that can continue after the operation that started it returns. Examples include a shell job, a delegated agent, or a task from a connected tool. | Background tasks, its linked details, and recorded task results. |
| Child agent | A delegated agent carrying out an assignment with its own conversation and operations. | Child agents and the child’s conversation. |
| Todo | A checklist item describing planned work. Its status is maintained by the agent. | Todos in the Work summary and full Work view. |
A tool call can start a task. For example, delegation returns an accepted assignment while the child agent continues working. A todo can describe that assignment, but marking a todo complete does not independently verify the task’s output.
Inspect a tool call
Section titled “Inspect a tool call”Tool calls start collapsed. Open a row when you need its details. A Run row separates the Command from the Output. Long output may offer a full saved version; use that link when the preview is insufficient. Other tools show their input and the returned result.
An exit code or failure belongs to that operation. Read its output and CLIO’s explanation to see whether it recovered, needs your input, or left work incomplete. A later successful call does not erase an earlier failure from the record.
The activity collection also includes injections, such as a todo reminder or a background result delivered to the agent. Expand one to see the context CLIO supplied.
Follow background work
Section titled “Follow background work”Open a task’s details to inspect its assignment, status, and available result. For a child agent, follow its conversation to inspect the operations behind the returned summary. The parent may continue independent work while a task runs.
| Status or result | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Accepted or queued | CLIO accepted the work; a final result is not yet available. |
| Running | The operation or delegated agent is still working. |
| Input required | Work needs a response or approval before it can proceed. |
| Completed or turn ended | The operation or agent turn ended. Inspect the returned result to learn whether the assignment succeeded. |
| Failed, cancelled, or interrupted | Work ended without ordinary completion. Inspect the reason and any retained output. |
For an audit, look for the actual checks and their outcomes. “Completed” alone does not establish that data passed validation or that every requested file was created.
Send a follow-up to a child agent
Section titled “Send a follow-up to a child agent”Click a child agent to open its conversation in a workspace tab, keeping the parent visible. Shift-click opens the child in the center. Keyboard activation works the same way: Enter opens a tab; Shift+Enter opens the center. The child tab also has a Make central button.
Open the child from Child agents, then type in its follow-up box and select Send. This works in the side panel and when the child’s conversation is central. Your message goes to that child using its configured model and behavior.
While the child is running, the message joins its work at the next supported boundary. After its turn ends, a follow-up starts another turn in the same conversation. The child keeps its relationship to the parent; Return to parent takes you back there.
An unsent draft survives closing and reopening the child view or moving it between the side panel and the central column. Enter sends; Shift+Enter adds a line. If a send fails, retrying the unchanged draft preserves its request identity so a lost acknowledgement does not create a second message.
Understand a wait
Section titled “Understand a wait”A wait observes work already started. It does not launch another copy of the task. Wait for all tasks waits for every selected task to settle; Wait for any task returns when one settles. A bounded wait can return with tasks still pending. An immediate status check can therefore show no collected results while work runs.
The agent’s ordinary task wait has no deadline by default. If a task remains pending after a wait returns, inspect whether the agent requested a timeout or an immediate check. Stopping a wait and cancelling its background task are separate actions. Use the task’s cancellation control when you intend to stop that work.
Long-running goals can also park until a task finishes and resume when its result arrives. See Goals, loops and scheduled work.
Follow the session plan
Section titled “Follow the session plan”For larger work the agent can keep a session plan: a Markdown document with its approach, the threads of work and what it has found. It is separate from the todo list, which tracks individual steps.
- Planning first. In Plan mode, or when the agent decides you should approve an approach before anything changes, it writes the plan while only reading, then asks you to approve it.
- Planning while working. Outside Plan mode the agent can write a plan to carry out itself and keep it current as findings change its direction.
The plan appears in the Plan section of Work, with its status, the plan file’s name and the plan itself:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft, in plan mode | Being written in Plan mode. |
| Approved, being worked on | You approved it, and the agent is carrying it out. |
| active | The agent wrote it outside Plan mode to carry out itself. Nobody approved it. |
| Done or Abandoned | The agent closed it. |
Choose Edit plan to change it yourself, then Save plan. The agent receives your version at its next step, marked as your edit, and treats it as your direction.
While a plan is open, the agent is reminded of it when it changes and after its context
is compacted. If an active plan goes 25 steps without an update to it or to the todo
list, the agent gets a
one-line note and decides whether the plan needs one. When the agent marks a plan done,
CLIO tells it how many threads the plan still marks as open or active, or that no thread
carries a state such as [open] or [closed].
Focus on current todos
Section titled “Focus on current todos”Pending and in-progress items appear first. Show completed reveals finished items when you need the history. A count such as 3/5 current means three items remain open out of five total.
Open Show completed when you need the history. The current items remain above the finished ones, and Hide completed returns to the focused list.
Use the checklist to understand the plan and the tool results to check the work. You can ask:
Show what is still running, what needs my answer, and the evidence for the checks that finished.