Tasks & Lifecycle

A task is a unit of agent work bound to exactly one workspace VM. You start it with a prompt; an agent runs inside an isolated VM until it finishes a turn or needs your input. This page describes the states a task actually moves through.

Persisted states

A task’s persisted status is one of four values:

Status	Meaning
`queued`	The task is created and waiting to start — its prompt and any follow-up messages are queued.
`processing`	The agent is actively working inside the task’s workspace.
`awaiting_input`	The agent finished a turn or paused, and the task is waiting for you.
`errored`	The task hit an error and stopped.

There is no terminal “completed” state. When the agent finishes a turn successfully, the task parks back in awaiting_input — ready for your next message. A task lives across many turns this way. Starting a task is gated by an admission check: Aether confirms your plan allows the VM size, your billing state is in good standing, and you have enough credits. If a check fails, the start is refused with credits_exhausted, tier_forbids_vm_size, or billing_blocked.

Awaiting-input kinds

When a task is awaiting_input, the reason is one of three kinds. This is what drives the question-and-answer (halt/resume) flow:

Kind	Triggered by	What it means
`message`	A finished turn or a user stop	The agent is idle, ready for your next message.
`questions`	The agent asking a question	The agent needs answers before it can continue.
`plan`	The agent proposing a plan	The agent wants you to approve a plan before acting.

You resume the task by responding — see aether task respond or the respond endpoint.

Display statuses

The persisted status is the execution contract. The web app, the CLI, and usage reports surface a slightly different set of display statuses that fold in pull-request and CI outcomes:

Display status	Meaning
`running`	The agent is actively working.
`awaiting_input`	The task is waiting for you.
`awaiting_ci`	The task’s pull request is waiting on CI.
`merged`	The task’s pull request was merged.
`unmerged`	The task’s pull request was closed without merging.
`errored`	The task stopped on an error.
`archived`	The task was archived.

Display statuses are presentation labels for the UI and usage filters. The persisted contract is the four states above — queued, processing, awaiting_input, errored.

Working with tasks

Run a task and watch it: aether run.
Manage tasks individually: aether task.
Over the API: Tasks API.

​Persisted states

​Awaiting-input kinds

​Display statuses

​Working with tasks

Persisted states

Awaiting-input kinds

Display statuses

Working with tasks