Threads

A thread is one conversation with one teammate. You write what you need, and the thread shows everything the teammate does about it, step by step, until it is done or needs you.

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Start a thread

Choose New thread, the round + at the top of the sidebar, and write what the teammate should work on. You can also start one from Today, from a project, or from anywhere with ⌘⇧K (Ctrl+Shift+K), which opens a quick box for a teammate and project. Before you send, you can set:

• The teammate: on Today and in the quick box, under Send to.
• Project: No project, or one of your projects. The thread gets the project’s brief and memory.
• In the + menu, Run on: which computer runs it. Shown when more than one is online.
• In the + menu, Account: which of your AI accounts it uses. Shown when you have more than one that fits.

A pick other than the default shows as a chip in the composer; its × goes back to the default.

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Write to a teammate

Enter sends, Shift+Enter adds a line. Write as in a chat: while the teammate works, your message goes into its turn at its next step, and its reply covers it with the rest. Your messages show at the end of the thread as you sent them, the teammate’s status under them. One the turn cannot take (it waits on an approval, or ends meanwhile) is read in the next turn, with every other message waiting. Until the teammate reads it, a message’s … menu gives it to the turn now, sends it to a sub-thread (the teammate starts a sub-thread for it and carries on), edits it or removes it.

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Attach files

Choose Attach files in the + menu, drag files onto the thread, or paste them. Up to 10 files per message, 500 MB per file.

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Mention with @

Type @ to mention:

• Teammates: brings them into the thread.
• Projects, Apps, Repositories, Designs, Design systems, Library files, Threads and Computers: points the teammate at them.
• Secrets: lets the teammate use that secret in this thread. See Secrets.

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The + menu

• Teach a task: record yourself doing a task on the cloud computer so the teammate learns it as a skill. Cloud computer only. See Brigade Cloud.
• Continue on…: move the thread to another computer (see below).
• Effort: how hard the teammate thinks, from Low to Max.

Type / at the start of a message for commands: /visual, /design, /goal (work until a goal is reached), and your workspace’s skills by name.

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What a thread shows

• Steps. Each command run, file read or edited, search and browser action is a line you can open. Steps in a row fold into one line, such as “Ran 3 commands, read 2 files”. A turn longer than 30 seconds folds under Worked for its duration. While it works, the thread shows how many steps and how long.
• Background work. When a teammate runs sub-agents or commands in the background, the thread lists them and stays Working until they finish and the teammate has read their results. You can still send a message meanwhile.
• Cards. Plans, approvals, questions, pull requests, and a line for each sub-thread started.
• Tickets. What the teammate is waiting on shows in a card above the conversation, and under Needs you.
• Details. Choose the title at the top to open the details panel: the computer’s live screen (cloud computer only), the thread’s menu, its sub-threads, and its Outputs, including the changed files. Choose a changed file to see the diff.
• Preview. The eye button at top right starts or opens the preview of an app the teammate builds. See Code and previews.

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Statuses and filters

A dot beside each thread in the sidebar shows where it stands: Threads that need you come first, then working ones, then the rest. Filter threads, next to Threads, filters by Status (Needs you, Working, Unread, Failed), by teammate and by project, and shows threads you put off with Do later and Archived ones.

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Stop a run

While a teammate works, a round stop button appears in the composer, labeled Stop and the teammate’s name. Choose it to end the turn. The thread shows Interrupted, and any queued messages run next.

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Answer a teammate

A teammate can end its reply with up to three buttons, such as “Send it” or “Not yet”. Choosing one sends its text as your message. Two buttons do more:

• Merge merges the pull request the teammate opened. Owners and admins only, while it can merge.
• Preview starts the app’s preview without a new turn, while none runs.

When a teammate offers options, it shows a card with 2 to 6 of them. Choose Pick this one, or write what you want instead.

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Sub-threads

A teammate can hand part of the work to a sub-thread, for another teammate or to work in parallel. Send to a sub-thread on a queued message makes one too. Sub-threads sit folded under their parent in the sidebar; open them with the arrow after its title. The parent shows when a sub-thread needs you, and the sub-thread’s last message goes back to the parent. A sub-thread reports to its parent once all its own work is done, its background work included. If its run is stopped and tried again (for example when the computer runs short of memory), the report waits for the new try.

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Threads a teammate starts

Work that goes on by itself, rather than report back, gets a thread of its own in the sidebar: a bigger goal that came up while you talked about something else, or work Chief hands to another teammate. The teammate starts it with a brief that stands alone, and says in its reply what went where. The new thread runs on the same accounts and computer, says in its first line who started it and from which thread, and links back to it in its details. With lines of a list, it works on them as if you had handed them over. The teammate that started it can still write in it later.

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Move a thread to another computer

Choose Continue on… in the + menu and pick a computer. The next message you send moves the thread; you can send it empty. If your machine is offline, the thread offers Continue on the cloud computer or Wait. Only the member who started the thread can move it. The thread picks up from what is on GitHub and in the conversation. Files that exist only on the first computer stay there. See Your computer or Brigade Cloud.

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Who sees a thread

Every member of the workspace sees every thread and can watch it live. Only the member who started a thread writes in it, because it runs on their AI subscription: others see that it runs on that member’s subscription. The member who started it also answers its approvals and questions; a few approvals wait for an owner or admin instead.

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Organize threads

The ⋮ menu on a thread has: Pin, Do later (puts it aside, for you only), Rename, Archive, and Delete, which removes it for good with its files (the member who started it, or an admin).