Sandboxes
How a cloud session's computer starts, sleeps, wakes, and recovers, and what each status means.
Every cloud session gets its own sandbox: an isolated cloud computer started from your environment's current image. The computer can sleep, shut down, or be deleted without deleting the conversation.
Lifecycle at a glance
| State | Files | Running processes | How it gets back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ready / Working | Kept | Running | — |
| Asleep | Kept | Kept for a quick wake | Send a message (or Wake up) |
| Shut down | Kept | Ended | Send a message (or Start) |
| Deleted | Gone | — | Choose Repair session and follow the recovery prompt; chat history is kept |
| Failed | Depends on the failure | — | Repair session |
Sleep and wake are automatic
You don't need to manage the computer to save cost. When the agent has finished and nobody is using the session's workspace, the computer goes to sleep after a short idle period. A computer left asleep for a long time is shut down; files are kept.
To bring it back, send a message (or open a workspace tab such as Desktop, Terminal or Files). Alan wakes or starts the computer before the agent continues. While it comes back, the transcript shows a short checklist ("Alan is waking up…", Waking up, Starting and the agent name, Workspace ready).
If the workspace panel is open while the computer rests, it shows:
| Placeholder | Text |
|---|---|
| Asleep | Computer asleep — "Send a message or open a workspace tab to wake the computer." |
| Shut down | Computer shut down — "Send a message or open a workspace tab to start the computer." |
| Deleted | Computer deleted — "This session's workspace was deleted. Chat history is preserved." with Repair session |
| Failed | Workspace unavailable, the error, and Repair session |
A Wake up or Start button appears when the computer doesn't wake automatically or a wake attempt failed.
Status labels
The session's execution details show the computer's status next to Cloud; a task's header chip shows it too.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Setting up workspace | A new computer is being created from the image |
| Starting workspace / Waking up | Coming back from shut down or asleep |
| Connecting / Connecting agent | The computer is up; the agent is connecting |
| Ready | Running and idle |
| Working | The agent is working |
| Going to sleep / Asleep | Sleeping; files and processes are kept |
| Shutting down / Shut down | Stopped; files are kept |
| Saving snapshot / Preparing workspace | A maintenance step; tools reconnect when it's done |
| Repairing session | Alan is restoring the session's connection |
| Unresponsive / Disconnected | The computer or agent stopped responding; see Runtime recovery |
| Failed | Setup or start failed |
| Deleted / Ended | The workspace is gone; chat history is kept |
Recovery actions
When something goes wrong, a banner above the composer offers the right action. They differ in what they keep:
| Action | What it does | Files |
|---|---|---|
| Wake up | Resumes an asleep computer | Kept, with running apps |
| Start | Starts a shut-down computer | Kept |
| Repair session | Restores the session's connection without replacing an existing computer | Kept |
| Restart computer | Restarts the existing computer; running processes end | Kept |
| Rebuild computer | Replaces the workspace, offered only when repair isn't enough | May be lost |
Rebuild computer asks first: "Rebuild computer? Replaces the workspace. Uncommitted or unpushed files may be lost." Commit and push anything you need before confirming.
Session changes do not update the environment's image automatically. Commit and push code you want to keep. Build a new image when you want those changes included in the starting environment for future sessions.