Manage multiple agents with agent view changedagent-view
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227227The row you pressed `←` from also keeps a bold, undimmed name after you move the selection with the arrow keys or the mouse, so you can tell which session you came from.
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229If a tool is running when you press `←`, Claude Code waits up to about ten seconds for it to finish before backgrounding, and the response continues in the background session. Press `←` again to background immediately instead of waiting. When in-flight work can't carry over to the background session, the `Background this session?` dialog appears first, the same as with [`/background`](#from-inside-a-session).
229If a tool is running when you press `←`, Claude Code waits up to about ten seconds for it to finish before backgrounding, and Claude continues the response in the background session. Press `←` again to background immediately instead of waiting. When in-flight work can't carry over to the background session, Claude Code shows the `Background this session?` dialog first, the same as with [`/background`](#from-inside-a-session).
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231The ten-second limit doesn't apply while [subagents](/docs/en/sub-agents) are running. Claude Code keeps waiting so their work carries over, and shows a `Still backgrounding after the current tool` notice while it waits; press `←` again to background without waiting, which restarts the subagents from the beginning.
231The ten-second limit doesn't apply while the [foreground subagents](/docs/en/sub-agents#run-subagents-in-foreground-or-background) Claude started in the conversation are still running. Claude Code keeps waiting so their work carries over, and shows a `Still backgrounding after the current tool` notice while it waits. Press `←` again to background without waiting, which restarts those subagents from the beginning. Claude Code doesn't wait for the subagents a [dynamic workflow](/docs/en/workflows) is running. When a workflow has subagents running, Claude Code shows the `Background this session?` dialog instead.
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233233Claude Code doesn't background the session while you have unsent text in the prompt input, because the text stays in your terminal's input box and wouldn't move to the background session. If you type into the input while Claude Code waits to background the session, it cancels the switch with `Backgrounding cancelled — you have unsent text in the input. Send it or clear it, then press ← again.`
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395395#### What carries over when you background
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397Backgrounding starts a fresh process that resumes from the saved conversation, and in-flight work moves to it: running background shell commands, backgrounded subagents, dynamic workflows, and scheduled tasks you created with [`/loop`](/docs/en/scheduled-tasks) all carry over and keep running there. A subagent moves together with everything it started, so it carries over only when all of that work can move too. To stop in-flight work instead of carrying it over, set the [`CLAUDE_DISABLE_ADOPT=1`](/docs/en/env-vars#variables) environment variable; Claude Code then asks you to confirm before backgrounding.
397Backgrounding starts a fresh process that resumes from the saved conversation, and in-flight work moves to it: running background shell commands, backgrounded subagents, dynamic workflows, scheduled tasks you created with [`/loop`](/docs/en/scheduled-tasks), and Claude's [automatic replies to artifact comments](/docs/en/artifacts#let-claude-reply-to-comments-on-its-own) all carry over and keep running there. A subagent moves together with everything it started, so it carries over only when all of that work can move too. To stop in-flight work instead of carrying it over, set the [`CLAUDE_DISABLE_ADOPT=1`](/docs/en/env-vars#variables) environment variable; Claude Code then asks you to confirm before backgrounding.
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399Work that can't carry over, such as a running [monitor](/docs/en/tools-reference#monitor-tool), is stopped, and a backgrounded subagent that owns a monitor is stopped along with it. When any such work is running, Claude Code shows a `Background this session?` dialog so you can confirm before it's stopped.
399When a [dynamic workflow](/docs/en/workflows) still has subagents running, Claude Code asks before backgrounding with the `Background this session?` dialog, which says how many subagents would restart. Choose `Stay` to let them finish first. If you confirm, Claude Code replays the run in the background session: subagents that were still running start over from the beginning, so the tokens they used so far are spent again. See [Resume after a pause](/docs/en/workflows#resume-after-a-pause) for which completed subagents return their saved results and which run again.
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401Claude Code stops work that can't carry over, such as a running [monitor](/docs/en/tools-reference#monitor-tool), and stops a backgrounded subagent that owns a monitor along with it. When any such work is running, Claude Code shows the `Background this session?` dialog so you can confirm before it stops the work.
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401403Once in the background, the session can start new subagents, monitors, and background commands, and those keep running across later detach and reattach.
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403405Configuration flags from the original launch carry through to the backgrounded session, so its MCP servers, settings, and fallback model remain in effect:
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686688Background work the session itself started at the top level is handed off when its process is stopped, restarted, or updated, including on Windows. The next process started for that session picks the work back up:
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688690* A background shell command that finished in the meantime is reported as completed with its output
689* A dynamic workflow resumes from where it left off
691* A dynamic workflow resumes the same way it does when you [background the session](#what-carries-over-when-you-background): subagents that were still running start over
690692* A [background subagent](/docs/en/sub-agents#run-subagents-in-foreground-or-background) resumes from its own transcript
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692694Work whose state lives only inside the process itself stops with it instead of being handed off. That's shell commands a subagent started, which the resumed subagent can start again, and running [monitors](/docs/en/tools-reference#monitor-tool), whose event stream can't be moved to another process.
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749751### Backgrounding shows a `Background this session?` dialog
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751If pressing `←` to background the current session shows a `Background this session?` dialog, the session has in-flight work that can't move to the background session, such as a running [monitor](/docs/en/tools-reference#monitor-tool), and Claude Code won't silently stop it. The dialog names the work that will be stopped and, separately, counts the tasks that carry over. Run `/tasks` to see everything that's running, then confirm to background anyway or choose `Stay` to let the work finish first. See [What carries over when you background](#what-carries-over-when-you-background) for which task kinds carry over and which are stopped.
753If you press `←` to background the current session and Claude Code shows a `Background this session?` dialog, the session has in-flight work that backgrounding would stop, restart, or leave running unattended, and Claude Code asks before it does any of those:
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755* **Work that can't move**: the session has work that can't move to the background session, such as a running [monitor](/docs/en/tools-reference#monitor-tool). The dialog names the work Claude Code would stop and, separately, counts the tasks that carry over.
756* **A workflow with running subagents**: a [dynamic workflow](/docs/en/workflows) still has subagents running. The workflow itself carries over, but its running subagents restart from the beginning, and the dialog says how many.
757* **Automatic artifact replies**: Claude is [replying to comments on an artifact on its own](/docs/en/artifacts#let-claude-reply-to-comments-on-its-own). Those replies continue in the background session, and the dialog says so.
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759Run `/tasks` to see everything that's running, then confirm to background anyway or choose `Stay` to let the work finish first. See [What carries over when you background](#what-carries-over-when-you-background) for which kinds of work carry over and which Claude Code stops.
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753761### Prompt rejected as too short
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