Phases

Phases break an initiative into an ordered list of sub-goals, each with its own objective and optional constraints. The agent works through the phases sequentially — giving you control over the structure and boundaries of how a complex initiative is executed.

Defining Phases

Phases are defined in the create dialog's collapsible Phases section. Every initiative needs at least one phase, and each phase needs a goal — the dialog won't let you save otherwise. Phases render as an accordion: only one phase form is expanded at a time, and a collapsed phase shows its goal as a summary line. A phase whose goal is still missing is marked with a warning so incomplete phases are easy to spot.

Phases can be added, removed, and reordered with the move up/down buttons on each phase's header (up to 20 phases per initiative; the last remaining phase cannot be removed).

Each expanded phase provides the following fields:

• Goal (required) — what the agent should accomplish in this phase.
• Description (optional) — additional context or instructions for this phase.
• Instrument constraints (optional) — a restricted list of instruments the agent is allowed to use during this phase. The dropdown stays open while you pick, so you can select several instruments in a row.
• Persona (optional) — the persona the agent uses while working on this phase.
• Knowledge (optional) — knowledge items from your knowledge base that are injected into this phase's requests while it runs.

How Phases Work During Execution

When an initiative with phases is started, the agent executes phases in the defined order. Each phase has its own status tracking — pending, in progress, completed, skipped, or failed. The agent completes one phase before moving on to the next, and progress in the sidebar shows overall initiative progress across all phases.