background-tasks

Fire off long-running commands — builds, test suites, servers — without blocking the agent conversation. The bg_bash tool returns a task ID immediately. Check output with task_output and status with task_status at any time.

A status widget shows running background tasks. The /bg command lists and manages all active tasks.

Why it matters: Starting a dev server, running a full test suite, or compiling a large project shouldn’t freeze the conversation. Background tasks let the agent continue working while processes run independently.

1 Background task running with status widget 2 Retrieving background task output

Relationships with other extensions

tasks

Background bash tasks appear in the tasks widget alongside the task board and running agents. Each background task shows the truncated command string and elapsed duration, capped at 5 visible entries with overflow.

In the combined widget, background tasks render below agents with a spacer line. On wide terminals they share the right column; on narrow terminals they stack at the bottom. See tasks — responsive layout for the full layout behavior.

subagent

Background tasks and background subagents are different things. Background tasks are raw shell commands (bg_bash). Background subagents are full agent processes with their own context. Both appear in the same widget but in separate sections — agents first (with colored names and live activity), background tasks below (with command strings and durations).

custom-footer

The footer doesn’t show background task counts directly — that information lives in the tasks widget. The footer focuses on token usage, cost, git state, and subagent counts. This avoids duplicating information that’s already visible in the widget above it.