Thread Lifecycle

A thread (a sessions row) is always in one of five states. You move it with a handful of buttons; the server moves it on its own only to suspend, archive or prune it. Full UI detail is in Working in the Desktop App; the mechanism is in docs/architecture/sessions-and-runner.md.

draft      ── first message ─────────────────────► running
draft      ── Close, ×, 24 h sweep ──────────────► deleted
running    ── run ends, idle, crash, Hand off ───► suspended
running    ── Close, ×, Continue in a new thread ► closed
suspended  ── write ─────────────────────────────► running
suspended  ── Close, ×, Continue in a new thread ► closed
closed     ── write ─────────────────────────────► running
closed     ── 30 days ───────────────────────────► archived
closed     ── Continue in a new thread ──────────► (stays closed; new thread running)
archived   ── Continue in a new thread ──────────► (stays archived; new thread running)

States

State	Label (row / chat header)	Composer	Where it shows
draft	New / New	Open. The first message starts the thread; runner and instance can be changed only here.	Only in the window that created it, and in other windows of the same account after they refresh the node’s threads. Nobody else sees it.
running	Running / Running; Waiting on me while a question is open	Open. During a turn, Stop (Esc) replaces Send.	Work sidebar, Overview, node’s Threads tab.
suspended	Suspended / Suspended	Open. Writing resumes the thread.	Work sidebar, Overview, node’s Threads tab.
closed	Done / Closed	Open. Writing reopens the thread.	Node’s Threads tab only.
archived	Archived / Archived	None (“This thread is archived.”).	Node’s Threads tab, behind “Show archived”.

archived is the only state with no way back. Its transcript is kept, so Continue in a new thread still works from it.

What you do

Action	Where	Available in	Effect	Transition
New task	Detail pane, + on a node in the Work sidebar	always	Creates an empty thread with the organisation’s default runner and instance, composer focused.	→ draft
Send (Enter)	Composer	draft, running, suspended, closed	draft: names the thread from the message and starts the first run. running: delivers the message to the live run. suspended/closed: resumes the CLI conversation (--resume) while it exists, otherwise starts from a handoff: the handoff file when one was written, else the thread’s whole transcript as this device has it. The chat then shows a marker that the agent continued from a handoff, not the live conversation.	draft/suspended/closed → running
Stop (Esc)	Composer, during a turn	running	Cancels the current turn only. The run stays, the next message is an ordinary one.	none
Close thread	Chat header, Close on a Threads-tab row	draft, running, suspended	draft: deleted. Otherwise ends the live run. No dialog, no summary.	draft → deleted; → closed
× on a thread	Work sidebar, both arrangements	draft, running, suspended	Same as Close thread.	same as Close thread
× on a node	Work sidebar	always	Removes the node from the open list. Its threads keep running.	none
Continue in a new thread	Chat header (accent colour from 80 % of the context window); Threads-tab row of a closed or archived thread	running, suspended, closed, archived, with the transcript on this device	Starts a new thread on the same node whose agent gets a summary of this one; a running or suspended thread is closed, a closed or archived one keeps its state. Writes wip/sessions/<id>-handoff.md when the node has a mirror here. Refused on a device that does not hold the transcript.	running/suspended → closed; new → running
Hand off to another device	Chat header	running, suspended, with a mirror of the node and the transcript on this device	Ends the run and writes wip/sessions/<id>-handoff.md for another machine to continue from.	running → suspended
Continue from handoff	Node’s Threads tab, “Handoffs to continue from”	a handoff file synced to this device	Starts a new thread from the file. The source thread is untouched.	new → running
Rename	Chat header, double-click in the sidebar, Threads-tab row	all but archived	Saves the name; summaries no longer rename the thread.	none

What the server does on its own

When	What	Transition
The run ends without Close thread: the agent finished, a provider error or limit, the process died	Suspends, writes no summary.	running → suspended
No activity for PORTUNI_RUN_IDLE_MS (default 30 min) and no turn in flight	Ends the run, suspends.	running → suspended
Startup finds a running row whose process is gone (crash, restart, lost host)	Ends the open run rows, suspends.	running → suspended
Startup finds a draft older than 24 hours	Deletes it.	draft → deleted
Startup of the process that owns the graph db finds a thread closed more than 30 days ago	Archives it. The row, runs, audit and handoff file stay.	closed → archived

A thread’s own MCP connection dropping never ends a thread the app drives: its row stays running and the agent’s next connection binds back to it. A session opened by hand from a CLI is different: its connection is the session, so a drop suspends it.