Stale page: the huddle is being renamed and rebuilt as the Task Manager, so this page will be rewritten. Treat what it says as out of date until then.

The add box inbox

The box at the bottom of the huddle (add an item for claude) does not just make an item from what you type. It hands your words to the project's most recently active agent session, which splits them into separate items, gives each a title, files each into the right group, and follows any direction you led with. Your original words are kept for good.

Where to find it

The bottom of the huddle, in the sidebar and every pop-out. Its list select says which list the entry goes to; it follows the project of the terminal tab you are on.

How to use it

Type what you want, in plain words. Several requests in one go are fine.
Optionally lead with a direction:
- backlog (or back burner, later): file it in todo, not worked yet.
- now (or do x now, start): file it and start it.
- ask (or question): file it as a question.
- nothing: file it as open.
A direction can apply to one request inside the entry: "backlog dark mode, now fix login" files two items in two states.
Press add or Enter. To type several items line by line, press the lines key beside the box: each line becomes its own entry, Enter is a new line, and Cmd/Ctrl+Enter adds.
The entry shows at the top of the list as a pending filing... row until a session files it.
Each filed item carries a from the add box line with your original text.

What happens behind it

The entry is stored with your raw text and sent at once to the list's most recently active live agent session. With no live session, the newest asleep one is woken. A new session is never started for it.
A busy or refusing session leaves the entry queued; it is retried every few seconds while it waits.
Nothing is lost: if no session files it within the fallback time (two minutes by default), the server adds it as one plain item with your text, exactly as typed.

Settings

Setting	Default	Where	What it does
file through a session	on	edit project modal, per project	off: the add box makes the item directly, as it used to
inbox fallback seconds	120 (15 to 3600)	swarm settings page	how long an entry waits before it is added as a plain item

The shared list has no session, so the add box always makes its items directly.

Examples

You type "fix the login bug and add dark mode". The session files two items, "login bug" and "dark mode", each in its group, both open.
You type "backlog rewrite the help copy". It is filed in todo with the title "help copy rewrite", and nobody works it until you ask.

Troubleshooting

An entry sat on filing... then appeared as one plain item. No session filed it in time (none running, or all busy). The text is exactly what you typed; edit or split it by hand, or ask an agent to.
The items landed on the wrong list. Check the add box's list select before adding; it follows your active terminal tab, not the list on screen.

For AI: key facts

An inbox send reads huddle inbox: ... file entry N with task_manager_entry_import and quotes the raw text (line breaks may be flattened to " / ").
File it with task_manager_entry_import {inbox_id, items: [{title, text, group?, state?, ask?, perceived_ask?}]}; state is open, todo, working or question. Give each item its perceived_ask: one line saying what you understood the owner to want. Never create the items with task_manager_add instead, or the entry falls back and duplicates them.
Split separate asks into separate items; keep one task with steps as one item. Drop the leading direction words from text. Do not copy the raw text into the item: it already shows as from_inbox.
task_manager_entries_list shows open entries with their full text. A late call (the entry already fell back or was filed) is refused; do not retry.
Entry statuses: queued, filing, filed, fallback. Routes: POST /api/v1/cplugs/huddle/lists/{key}/inbox, GET .../inbox/{id}, POST .../inbox/{id}/file, GET/PUT .../lists/{key}/inbox-prefs {file_through_session}.

updated 2026-10-11