# Project pause > Stops every open agent of a project at a clean point, at the end of its turn, never in the middle of its reasoning, and tells you when you can really close AgentsRoom (to install an update, close your laptop, or keep your credit for another project). - Area: Desktop app - Plans: All plans - Last checked against the product: 2026-10-21 - Web page: https://agentsroom.dev/docs/pause-agents ## What it does Stops every open agent of a project at a clean point, at the end of its turn, never in the middle of its reasoning, and tells you when you can really close AgentsRoom (to install an update, close your laptop, or keep your credit for another project). While the project is paused, nothing restarts its agents on its own. Resume brings them back later. Two modes: - **Quick pause**: each working agent is told to stop for now; its console closes as soon as its turn ends (an idle agent closes right away). Resume reopens the same conversations. - **Long pause**: each agent is told to stop and to write a resume summary. AgentsRoom keeps the summary, then closes the console. Resume starts a NEW conversation from that summary, so a long conversation is not reloaded whole and your quota is spared. **Video (1 min 19 s):** [Project pause, shown in the real app](https://youtu.be/80j_GmeGJtU). Three agents on one project, two of them mid-task, get a long pause: each finishes its turn and writes its resume summary, the panel says every agent is paused and AgentsRoom can be closed, then Resume brings them back right where they stopped. ## Where to find it Inside a project, in the agents toolbar under the agent search: the **Pause** button (two bars icon, tooltip and label "Pause the project"), next to the megaphone ("Message every agent"). It shows while the project has open agents, a pause in progress, or a paused state. A strip at the top of the agent list shows the paused state with a **Resume** button; once every agent is down it reads "Every agent is paused: you can close AgentsRoom.". ## How to use it 1. Click **Pause** in the agents toolbar. 2. Pick **Quick pause** or **Long pause**, then **Pause now** / **Pause with summaries**. 3. Follow each agent: "Finishing its turn", "Writing its resume summary", "Paused". **Close now** ends one console without waiting (its conversation is kept). 4. Once the bubble says **"Every agent is paused: you can close AgentsRoom."**, quit, update or close the laptop. 5. Later, click **Resume** (strip at the top of the agent list, or the Pause button). The bubble closes with a click anywhere outside it; while it is open, a click on the strip's Resume button only closes the bubble, so close it first or use the Resume of the bubble itself. With a long pause, an idle agent is also asked for its resume summary: it goes through "Writing its resume summary" for a few seconds before "Paused". Opening one paused agent by hand resumes only that agent; the project stays paused for everything else until you click Resume. ## Settings - `projectPause` (project, read-only over MCP): `{ mode, pausedAt }` while the project is paused. Written by the Pause / Resume gestures only, stored with the project settings on your account, so every machine sees the same state. ## Agent tools (MCP) - `project_pause` (personal assistant only): `action: "pause" | "resume" | "status"`, `projects` (names or ids), `except` ("everything except AgentsRoom"), `mode` (`quick` / `long`). `status` answers "can I close the app?" (`safeToClose`). Every other agent is refused: an agent never pauses its colleagues. - While a project is paused, `agents_spawn`, `agents_resume` and `backlog_start_next` refuse to start anything in it. ## Providers All providers. The stop request is plain text: Claude Code reads it during the turn, Codex and some others read it once the turn ends; either way the console closes only after the turn. Resuming the same conversation needs a provider that supports resume; a long pause works with every provider since it starts a fresh conversation. ## Mobile Same feature on the phone: project screen, **...** menu, **Pause the project** (or **Resume**). The sheet shows the same modes, the same per-agent progress and the same "you can close AgentsRoom" line. A strip at the top of the agent list shows the paused state. The desktop runs everything. ## Limits - Agents of a running team (Agent Teams) are left running: the team run manages their consoles. They are listed in the pause bubble. - The personal assistant is never paused. - A turn that never ends is reported as "Its turn is not ending" after 30 minutes: AgentsRoom never kills an agent mid-turn by itself, use Close now. - Long pause on an agent running on a remote SSH host: the summary file lives on the host and may not be readable; the agent is then reported "No summary written" and Close now keeps its conversation for a normal resume. - While paused, scheduled tasks and triggers of the project are skipped (not caught up after the resume); webhook deliveries received meanwhile are not replayed. A run you start by hand still runs. ## Common questions - **Can I close my laptop while agents are working?** Pause the project, wait for "you can close AgentsRoom", then close it. Resume later. - **How do I update AgentsRoom without losing work?** Pause each active project, wait for every agent to be paused, then install the update. Paused agents do not restart at launch. - **I am low on credit, can I keep only one project running?** Pause the others, or ask your personal assistant: "pause everything except AgentsRoom". - **Will resuming eat my quota?** A quick pause reopens the same conversation (the context is reloaded). A long pause resumes from a short summary instead. - **How do I pause all my agents before closing my laptop?** Click the Pause button ("Pause the project") in the agents toolbar, pick Quick pause or Long pause, confirm, and wait for "Every agent is paused: you can close AgentsRoom." Video: https://youtu.be/80j_GmeGJtU - **Is there a video that shows it?** Yes, a long pause of three agents and their resume, filmed in the real app: https://youtu.be/80j_GmeGJtU - **Does an agent message wake a paused agent?** No. The message waits in its inbox until the project resumes. ## Related - [Agent Messaging](https://agentsroom.dev/docs/agent-messaging.md): the broadcast that tells every open agent something. - [Restore Session](https://agentsroom.dev/docs/restore-session.md): how a conversation is resumed. - [Assistant (personal assistant)](https://agentsroom.dev/docs/assistant.md): the personal assistant that can pause projects for you.