Stop when done, or keep a session awake

You can have a session stop as soon as its work is finished, or, the other way round, keep a long job from being stopped while it runs.

How it works

What you do	What the agent does
Ask it to “stop when this is done”	Arms a stop, and stops once the current turn ends
Choose “Stop when this turn ends” in the ⋯ menu	The same stop is armed, and it stops once the current turn ends
Choose “Keep awake (4h)” in the ⋯ menu	For 4 hours, neither this session nor the workspace is stopped for being idle

Either way, the stop is the resumable stop. The conversation stays, and you can resume it later from where it stopped.

Stop when it is done

Use it when you leave a long job running overnight and want the session stopped once it has finished. There are two ways to ask, and both set the same thing.

• Ask the session: send “stop when this is done”. The session arms the stop itself
• Set it yourself: choose “Stop when this turn ends” in the ⋯ menu

Once armed, the row carries the badge “Stops when the running turn ends (resumable)”. You get one notification when it stops.

• The stop happens after the running turn ends. It will not stop while a question is waiting for you or while work is still going
• Sending a new instruction releases it. “Stop when you are done” was said about the work in front of it at the time
• To take it back, choose “Don’t stop after this turn” in the ⋯ menu. This also takes back a stop the session armed
• Only a running session can be armed

Note

This is tidying, not cost control. A session that has finished is not what keeps the workspace awake, so stopping it does not change when the workspace stops. You get the memory it held back right away, and a list where “finished” reads as “stopped”. Idle auto-stop does the same later, but it skips a session you have open, so stopping one while you watch is something only this can do.

Keep a session awake

An idle workspace stops on its own. Use this when something must not be stopped, such as a long build, or ssm work you leave running with the terminal closed.

1. Choose “Keep awake (4h)” in the session row’s ⋯ menu
2. The row shows “Exempt from idle-stop (… left)” with the time remaining

• Meanwhile, neither the session nor the workspace is stopped for being idle
• It lapses on its own after 4 hours. To end it sooner, choose “Stop keeping awake”
• The time limit is deliberate: an exemption set once and forgotten is how a workspace ends up running for a month

Related

• Stop and resume a session
• Stop a session that spends too much with a budget
• Clear away finished sessions