---
title: Task States and Details
description: Understand Runner's progress states and inspect the work behind a result.
---

**What this covers:** You will know whether a task is working, waiting, finished, interrupted, or needs another attempt.

Task states tell you what Runner needs next. The detail view and project canvas help you review
the work without guessing from the last chat message alone.

**Entry path:** Open a store project → select a conversation → inspect the current task card and
choose **Details** when available.

## Before you start

- Confirm the current conversation and latest task before acting on a state.
- Keep the visible error or waiting question available until recovery succeeds.
- Do not treat a completed task as proof that Preview, publication, or an outside provider succeeded.

## Task states

| State | Meaning | What to do next |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Running | Runner is actively working on the request. | Follow progress, open **Details**, or choose **Stop** if the task should not continue. |
| Waiting for input | Runner needs your choice or missing information. | Answer the active question or choose **Skip** so Runner can use its best judgment. |
| Completed | Runner finished the current turn. | Review the message, details, preview, and any changed project area. |
| Failed | Runner could not finish the turn. | Read the error and details, then choose **Try again** when offered or send a narrower request. |
| Stopped | You or Runner interrupted the turn. | Review the partial work, then send a new instruction if the task should continue. |

A completed task means the conversation turn ended successfully. It does not by itself prove
that a store was published, a payment occurred, or an external service accepted a change.

## Review the work

1. Select **Details** on the task.
2. Follow the step-by-step entries to understand what Runner attempted.
3. Open **Usage** when shown to review the displayed credits, tool calls, and agent activity.
4. Review the work plan when the task includes one.
5. Use **Preview** or **Storefront** to inspect the customer-facing result.
6. Open other relevant canvas tabs, such as a file or result Runner surfaced.
7. Use **Add tab** to open another available view, and **Close tab** to remove a view from the canvas.
8. Review **Version History** when you need to compare or locate an earlier project state.
9. Send a focused follow-up that names any remaining issue.

Depending on the task, Runner can also show a transcript outline, a **Topology** view, or a
**Kanban** view. These are contextual views, not steps that appear for every request.

## Review a storefront version from a completed work card

> **Conditional:** Version labels and historical previews require the staged conversation-version-card rollout and storefront checkpoints. Older projects without saved version history can still show **Preview** on the latest storefront work card; that action opens the current live preview rather than an exact historical version. If no work-card action appears, open [Preview](../storefront-and-publishing/preview-your-store.mdx) directly.

| Control or state | What it means or does |
| --- | --- |
| **v…** | Identifies the storefront version shown on the completed work card. |
| **Current Version** | Marks the project's latest version. |
| **Published** | Marks a version associated with a completed publication; it does not prove checkout still works. |
| **Building…** | The version is not ready to preview yet. |
| **Build failed** | The version could not reach a preview-ready state. Open **Details** and keep any visible failure context before asking Runner to fix it. |
| Storefront image or **Preview** | Opens the exact ready version when version data exists. On the latest card of an older project without version history, it opens the current live storefront preview instead. Older unmatched cards do not show **Preview**. |
| **Publish** | Appears only for an unpublished current version and opens publication checks. It is not shown for a historical or already-published version. |
| Version information is refreshing | The storefront image, **Preview**, and current-version **Publish** stay in place but are temporarily disabled. Selecting them does nothing until the refresh finishes. |

Use the version label before judging a screenshot or selecting **Publish**. A ready historical preview is still read-only until you deliberately restore or publish a current version through the available flow.

## Conversation controls

| Control | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| **Details** / **Hide Details** | Opens the step-by-step task record in the canvas, or returns the canvas to **Storefront**. Hiding it does not remove the task record. |
| **Try again** | Starts another attempt for a failed task when the action is offered. |
| **Jump to latest message** | Moves the conversation to the newest entry. |
| Transcript outline | Lets you move to a visible section of a longer task record. |
| **Preview** or **Storefront** | Opens the project's customer-facing work view. |
| **Add tab** | Opens the list of canvas views available for this project and task. |
| **Close tab** | Removes the selected view from the canvas; it does not delete the underlying project content. |

## If progress looks stuck

- Check whether an unanswered question is waiting lower in the conversation.
- Open **Details** to identify the last completed step.
- Use **Jump to latest message** if the conversation is scrolled away from the active state.
- Do not repeatedly select **Try again** while another attempt is already running.
- If you stop a task, review partial results before asking Runner to continue.

## Related guides

- [When Runner asks a question](./answer-runner-questions.mdx)
- [Chat with Runner](./chat-with-runner.mdx)
- [Chats and history](./chats-and-history.mdx)
- [Understand store statuses](../workspace/store-statuses.mdx)
- [Version history](../storefront-and-publishing/version-history.mdx)