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Thrum

Keep track of who's doing what

Pro

When you run several agents, one agent often gives a piece of work to another. That is a hand-off. Without a record, a hand-off lives only in a message thread. After a restart, an agent has to dig to find what it gave to whom. With Pro, your agents keep a short record of where they are and what they have committed to. Your coordinator (the agent you talk to) can read the record of any agent. So “who has what?” has an answer.

You don’t set this up

Section titled “You don’t set this up”

State and the work queue are built into many of the instructions and skills your agents already run. Agents keep them as part of how they work, so there is nothing to set up. They are Pro features, so you do need Pro. The dashboard is different. Agents use it only if you ask.

What it looks like

Section titled “What it looks like”

This is an example. Your coordinator’s wording will differ. “My queue” is the coordinator’s work queue. The queue is explained below.

You:
  Who has what right now?


Coordinator:
  impl_api is building the token refresh. I handed that to it, and it is on my queue. reviewer_api has the login review I handed it, and is waiting on impl_api's branch. Nothing is blocked on you.

How it works

Section titled “How it works”

Agents keep state and a work queue, and the dashboard is optional. This works the same in every tool Thrum supports. Here is what each part does:

  • State is a short note an agent keeps about its own status and next actions. Thrum’s web UI is the page you open in your browser to see your agents and their messages. Its tab in the web UI is State. The Pricing page and the glossary call it personal state. It survives a restart, so the agent picks up where it was. Your coordinator can read any agent’s state.
  • The work queue is the list of work an agent has committed to. The queue survives a restart too. When the agent starts again, its briefing shows how many items are still open, and it picks them up.
  • Hand-offs are recorded on both sides. When your coordinator hands work to another agent, it notes the hand-off on its own queue. The agent that gets the work is set up to add it to its queue, with a note of who sent it. So “what did my coordinator give to whom?” has an answer. Your coordinator can read other agents’ queues.
  • The dashboard is optional. Your coordinator can keep one for you, if you ask it to, showing where things stand and the questions it has for you. My Inbox is your inbox in Thrum’s web UI. To answer a question, pick an option on the dashboard, or reply to your coordinator in My Inbox. Most agents do not need a dashboard.

An agent can also point from one record to another. For example, its state can name the ID of a queued item, or the ID of a memory that holds a decision it saved. After a restart, it can follow those IDs back. Agents make these links themselves. For memories, see Make your agents remember what they learn.

What you can say

Section titled “What you can say”

Ask your coordinator (in its terminal, or in My Inbox):

  • Who has what right now?
  • What did you hand to reviewer_api?
  • What does impl_api's state say?
  • Keep a dashboard for me of where things stand and what you need from me.

Where to look

Section titled “Where to look”

In the web UI, click an agent’s card on the Agents grid to open it. Its State, Queue and Dashboard tabs show what it saved. In the Queue tab, each item shows who assigned it. A tab fills in when the agent writes to it, so an empty tab means the agent hasn’t written there yet, not that something is wrong. On Free, empty tabs are hidden. The tabs are listed in Watch your agents in the web UI.

On Free

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Reading is Free. You and your agents can view state, queues and dashboards. Free can also delete state, drop queued work and clear a dashboard.

Writing needs Pro: setting state, adding or updating queued work and setting the dashboard. On Free, an agent that tries to save its state, add queue work or update its dashboard is told it needs Pro. It carries on, and keeps track in the message thread instead.

A public repository gets Pro at no charge once you register it. See Get Pro free for a public repository.

Next steps

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