side-conversation

side-conversation

Start a second conversation, seeded with a short brief, in a new terminal tab. This session goes on with its own task. The new conversation shows under this one in the Conversations list while both are in the same group.

When

• Only when the user asks, or agrees after you offer. It opens a tab on the user's screen, so never start one on your own.
• Offer it when a second task comes up that is not needed to finish the current one.
• It is not a subagent: no result comes back to this session, and the user talks to the new conversation. When this session needs the answer, delegate instead.
• It is not a handoff: this session does not end. To pass this same task to the next agent, use the handoff skill if it is installed.

Write the brief

The brief becomes the new conversation's first prompt. It follows the handoff format, cut to what a fresh session needs:

<The goal, as one plain sentence.>

## Acceptance
## Context
## Report back

• First line: the goal as one plain sentence. It becomes the new row's title.
• Acceptance: what done looks like, when it is not obvious.
• Context: branch, paths relative to the project root, decisions already made, limits. Name files; do not paste them.
• Report back: what to tell the user at the end.
• Leave out a heading that would be empty. Keep the brief under 40 lines.
• Never write secrets, tokens, or .env values.
• Do not write the Continues line: the command adds it.

Run

From the folder the work belongs in, pass the brief on standard input through a quoted heredoc, so the shell expands nothing in it:

agnostic-ai conversations start <<'BRIEF'
Write the release notes for the parser change.

## Context
Branch main. The change is in internal/parser/.

## Report back
The draft, and any change you were unsure about.
BRIEF

Add --tool claude, --tool codex or --tool cursor only when the user names the tool. Without it, the new conversation uses this session's tool.

After

• Say in one line what started and where, from the command's output.
• Go on with the main task. Do not wait for the side conversation or read its transcript.

When it refuses

• Show the message. It says why: no session found, the tool is not installed, an empty or long brief, or no tab could be opened.
• Do not work around it: no hand-written terminal scripts, no typing into another terminal. When the message gives a line to run, pass it to the user.
• If agnostic-ai is not on PATH, say so.
• In a sandbox that blocks writing the brief file or controlling the terminal, the command fails. Ask the user to allow it, or to run it themselves.