Agents

An agent is a running CLI process managed by Tide Commander. When you spawn one, the server forks a real subprocess — claude --output-format stream-json, codex exec --experimental-json, or opencode run --format json — and streams its output back to the UI in real time. The character you see on the battlefield is a live handle to that process.

What an agent has

Every agent carries a fixed set of properties from the moment it’s spawned:

Property	What it is
ID	Short random string (abc123). Used by the API and boss delegation.
Name	Human-readable label you assign.
Working directory	The cwd the subprocess runs in. File reads and writes happen relative to this path.
Provider	Which CLI is running: claude, codex, or opencode.
Class	Visual identity + default instructions + default skills.
Session ID	The underlying CLI session. Survives server restarts and can be resumed.
Context meter	How much of the model’s context window is currently consumed (the “mana bar”).

Lifecycle

An agent moves through four states:

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> spawning : + New Agent
    spawning --> idle : process ready
    idle --> working : command sent
    working --> idle : turn complete
    working --> error : process died / watchdog
    error --> idle : auto-restart
    idle --> [*] : deleted

Tide Commander’s watchdog monitors the subprocess. If the tmux session dies unexpectedly, it auto-restarts the agent (up to three attempts) and resumes the same session so no context is lost.

Session resume

CLI sessions are stored on disk by the provider — Claude Code at ~/.claude/projects/, Codex similarly. When an agent restarts, Tide Commander passes --resume <sessionId> so the model receives the full prior conversation. You can close the UI, reboot the machine, and resume exactly where you left off.

Resume from anywhere

Sessions are keyed to the machine running the server. Open the UI on any device on the same network to resume an in-progress session without losing context.

Context tracking

As a conversation grows, the model’s context window fills. The context meter in the agent card and inspector shows the percentage consumed. When an agent approaches its limit, use the Snapshot feature to preserve the conversation and start a fresh session.

Classes

Classes bundle a 3D model, default instructions, and skills into a reusable template. See Classes.

Snapshots

Save a conversation and all files it touched before the context fills. See Snapshots.