The agents window
Understand every region of the CLI and desktop UI — timeline, status line, background task bar, tool cards.
CLI
Inside the neox REPL, from bottom to top:
1. Input box
The line with the > prompt. Enter submits, Shift+Enter adds a line, Esc interrupts the current generation.
Start with / to open command completion (/help, /clear, /model, /compact, etc.).
2. Status line
The thin strip just above the input box, showing two live readouts:
- Context budget — e.g.
21% · ok · 42.0k/200k. Green means plenty of room; yellow means you're close to the limit and may want the agent to summarize progress; red means/clearor start a new session. - ⏰ Wake-up countdown — when the agent has scheduled a delayed self-wake, this shows time until the next wake (e.g.
5m30s) and the reason; if more wake-ups are pending, the count appears in parentheses.
3. Background task bar
Appears only after the agent has started background commands (npm run dev / docker build, etc.). One task per line, showing the command, its status, and elapsed time: a spinner while running, a check mark with exit code when done, a cross on failure, a distinct mark when killed.
Press Tab to focus this bar, then ↑↓ to select, Enter to expand output, Del to kill the process. Completed tasks notify the agent automatically.
4. Timeline (main chat stream)
The newest message sits at the bottom. Message block styles:
| Style | Meaning |
|---|---|
> your words | Your input |
| Streaming text | The agent is generating |
| Card | Tool calls and their results, reports from background subagents, scheduled-task triggers |
Tool-call results render as cards for easy scanning.
Desktop app
The desktop app mirrors the CLI's features with a richer layout:
- Main timeline — the center area, same as the CLI, with rich text, code highlighting, and diff rendering
- Right-pane canvas — dedicated home for browsers, documents, spreadsheets, diffs, plans, and other artifacts; see Surfaces
- Context budget — a usage badge near the input box; click it to see the per-part breakdown
- Files and Git — open in the right pane to browse the workspace and the agent's changes
- Integrated terminal — opens in the right pane, sharing the agent's working directory; you can run commands manually too
- Skills — quick access in the sidebar, or manage them under Settings → Agent → Skills
Interrupting / canceling
| Scenario | CLI | Desktop |
|---|---|---|
| Interrupt an in-progress agent response | Esc | Red "Stop" button |
| Kill a background task | Del in the task bar | X on the task card |
| Quit entirely | Ctrl+C twice | Close the window |
A single Ctrl+C gracefully interrupts the current generation; it takes two to actually quit the CLI (prevents accidental exits).Multiple sessions
CLI: /session lists and switches. Desktop: click in the session list on the left. Each session has its own chat history, current model, and working directory.