Agent windows explained

An agent window is a named, living pane — Alex · Claude Code — that runs a real agent CLI on your machine and streams its work into a transcript. Around that transcript sit the controls you need to supervise: an input with Send, a Stop button while running, a token meter, a status glow, transcript Copy/Export/Clear, and a Loop this action that turns the last exchange into a self-improving loop.

Anatomy

• Title bar: name (rename anytime: rename Alex to Atlas), brand label, status dot, per-pane gear (styling), minimize/close.
• Transcript: your messages and the agent’s streamed output. Claude Code replies render live as they’re written — the reply text grows in place and each tool the agent runs shows as an activity line (⚙ Bash — npm test), so long tasks never look hung. Long sessions stay fast (old lines beyond 3,000 drop off). In Streaming Mode, secret-shaped strings render masked.
• Input bar: type and Send — or route from the command bar without touching the window.
• Token meter: running usage estimate for the pane.
• Glow & status: the border glows while running, with a brighter arc sweeping clockwise around it as an indeterminate progress indicator; the arc clears and a toast announces completion.
• Card flip: flip Alex shows the card’s back — its last prompt — for at-a-glance supervision.

The profile behind the name

Every named agent has a persistent, on-disk profile: work history (categorized automatically), skills, a backlog, and notes. It accumulates across sessions and windows — the identity is the name. This is also what Hermes consults when routing work.

Under the hood

Each message runs the agent’s CLI non-interactively with your local credentials. The agent also receives a one-line identity preamble (who it is in your workspace), so addressing it by name always makes sense to it.