# What are agents?

Agents in Solo are AI coding tools that you [configure in **Settings → Agents**](./setting-up-tools.md) and launch inside a project. Regular commands stream terminal output and can also accept terminal input. Terminal-backed agents use terminal input for conversational prompts and follow-up questions.

Agents use your own binaries, your own auth, your own skills, your own configuration. Solo is, at it's core, a very good terminal. We do not interfere with the agents installed on your computer. If a new CLI agent comes out tomorrow, you can simply [add it in Solo](./setting-up-tools.md) without waiting for us to update anything!

## Agents vs. regular commands

| | Commands | Agents |
|--|----------|--------|
| **Purpose** | Run dev servers, build scripts, workers | AI-assisted coding and development |
| **Interaction** | Stream output and accept terminal input | Type prompts, have a conversation |
| **Sidebar section** | Commands | Agents |
| **Status indicators** | Starting / Running / Stopping / Stopped / Exited / Failed | [Working / Planning / Idle](./idle-detection.md) while running; Starting / Stopping / Stopped / Exited / Failed otherwise |
| **Closing** | Stop button (no confirmation) | **Remove agent** context-menu action (running agents always confirm; stopped-agent confirmation can be suppressed) |
| **Summaries** | Excluded from automatic summaries | Optional, when available |

## Supported agent tools

Solo ships with built-in support for these AI coding agents:

- **Claude**
- **Codex**
- **Amp**
- **Gemini**
- **OpenCode**
- **Copilot**
- **Kimi**
- **Antigravity**

You can also [add custom agent tools](./setting-up-tools.md) — any CLI-based AI tool that works in a terminal.

## How agents appear in the sidebar

Agents show up in the **Agents** section for a project. [Section order](../sidebar/reordering-sections.md) is user-configurable, so it isn't always literally at the top.

Each agent instance:

- Starts with the tool name. A custom display name or an enabled terminal-title update can change what the sidebar shows.
- Shows a state indicator. While running, **Working** and **Planning** animate and **Idle** is static; non-running terminal-backed agents use lifecycle indicators.
- Can display an auto-generated **[summary line](./auto-summarization.md)** below its name when a summary is available.

You can have multiple agent instances running simultaneously — one per task or topic.

## Nested agents

If one agent [starts another agent](../workflows/agents-spawning-agents.md) through Solo's [MCP tools](../mcp-tools/overview.md), the child can appear nested under the parent. Child rows can be collapsed under the parent, and collapsed parents can show how many subagents are hidden.

## Getting started

1. Configure which agent tools are available in **Settings → Agents**. See [Setting up agent tools](./setting-up-tools.md).
2. Launch an agent from a project. The **New agent/terminal** shortcut defaults to `Cmd+T` on macOS and `Ctrl+T` on other platforms, and can be changed or disabled in **Settings → Hotkeys**. See [Launching agents](./launching-agents.md) for all launch paths.
3. For a complete first run, follow [Build, review, and land one change](../workflows/build-review-land.md). When a task has several independent lanes, use the [agent orchestration workflow](../workflows/agent-orchestration.md).

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Are you a human? Read this doc on the web: https://soloterm.com/docs/agents/what-are-agents