Workspaces and panes

The Agents view works like a terminal multiplexer built for agents: workspaces → tabs → splits → panes. Each pane is a terminal or a chat with an agent, with state detection, notifications and resume after restart.

Layout model

Level	What it is	Where it comes from
Workspace	A project directory or one of its worktrees	A pane belongs to the workspace whose path matches its directory best. Sessions outside any project land in Other directories.
Tab	A set of panes in one workspace	+ on the tab bar, Ctrl+B c or ⌘T. Double-click a tab to rename it.
Split	A tree of horizontal and vertical splits	Drag the dividers with the mouse.
Pane	An agent terminal, a shell or a chat	New session, split shortcuts, the CLI, pipelines or tasks.

Terminals live in the app’s main process, so switching views or tabs, or reloading the window, does not interrupt them. A reopened pane replays its last output. The layout is saved continuously.

When a tab has three panes, Skribly opens the next session in a new tab so panes do not get too narrow. Sessions started from outside, by the CLI, pipelines or tasks, also get a place in the layout.

Workspace sidebar

The Workspaces sidebar on the left (toggle with its button or Ctrl+B b) shows:

• one group per project, with a main row and one row per worktree (the branch name);
• under each workspace, its sessions with the agent’s avatar, its @name and its state; click one to go to its pane;
• a badge in the header with the number of sessions waiting for you;
• + next to a project to create a worktree, and a trash icon next to a worktree to remove it.

The state of a tab, workspace or project is the most important state among its panes, in this order: waiting for a decision → done → working → starting → ready → finished.

Pane header

Element	Action
Checkbox	Selects the pane for broadcast
Avatar and title	Double-click to rename (Enter saves, Esc cancels)
@name	The session’s name for the CLI and MCP
Branch	The session works in a separate worktree
Machine	The session runs on an SSH machine
resumed	The pane was restored after a restart
State badge	Opens Why this state?
Hand-off	Hands the work to another agent
Split right, split down	Opens New session next to this pane
Maximise	Same as Ctrl+B z
Close	Asks first when the agent is working or waiting

Agent states

State	Label	Meaning
starting	starting	The session has just been created
working	working	The agent is working: there is activity in its output
blocked	waiting for a decision	The agent asks for approval or a choice and waits for you
done	done	The agent finished its turn and you have not seen the result yet
idle	ready	Result seen; the agent waits for the next prompt
exited	finished	The process has exited

States come from what the agent shows, with no plugins or hooks in the agent:

• The agent’s screen. Each terminal has an invisible twin that renders the same stream, so Skribly reads the rendered screen rather than raw escape codes. Each agent has rules for waiting for a decision and working, such as Claude Code’s “Do you want to…?” question or Codex’s approval dialog. Generic rules catch (y/n), “Press Enter to continue” and password prompts. The rules are conservative: a false waiting for a decision is worse than a late one.
• Output activity. With no matching rule, output in the last 1.5 seconds means working. After 2.5 seconds of silence the turn ends: done if there was real work you have not seen, otherwise ready.
• Agent recognition. Skribly checks the foreground process and the screen, so a plain terminal pane where you start codex by hand gets Codex’s avatar and rules.
• Viewing. A visible done pane in a focused window becomes ready.
• Process exit. The session becomes finished.

Why this state?

Click the state badge in a pane header. The dialog shows the state, the recognised agent, the source (screen pattern, output activity or process exit), the foreground process, the rule that matched and the last 24 lines of the screen. A program that keeps redrawing something, like a clock or a progress bar, shows as working.

Notifications

Where	When
Badge on the Agents icon	The number of sessions waiting, or working when nothing waits
Status bar	“N working · M waiting”
In-app message	An agent you cannot see asks for a decision or finished its turn
System notification	An agent asks for a decision, or finished a turn after at least 15 seconds of work, while no Skribly window has focus. Clicking it opens the pane. Plain shells do not notify.
skribly notify	An agent or a script sends one itself

Turn system notifications off in Settings → Editor & notifications → Notifications.

The agent overview shows every agent’s screen at once. Arrow keys pick a session, and Enter or a number opens it.

Worktrees for agents

A worktree is a separate directory with the same git history, so two agents in two worktrees never overwrite each other’s files.

1. In the workspace sidebar, hover over a project and click +, or choose + New worktree… in New session.
2. Enter the branch and the base. An existing branch is checked out; a new one is created from the base, by default the project’s base branch.
3. Click Create. The worktree appears as its own workspace.

Detail	Value
Directory	~/.skribly/worktrees/<repo>/<branch>, or the folder set in Settings → Sessions & control → Worktree directory
Removal	The trash icon runs git worktree remove and git worktree prune. The branch is kept. With uncommitted changes, Skribly asks before forcing it.
Refresh	Every 30 seconds, so worktrees created in a terminal show up too