Helper sessions

An agent can start sessions of its own: another agent like itself, working in parallel on a separate piece of the job. It hands over the task, waits for the result, and closes the helper when it's done, while you watch every helper in its own tile.

What it looks like

Ask a session something like "split out the flaky test fix into its own branch and keep going on the webhook". The agent starts a helper named fix-flaky-tests, on a new branch in a worktree of its own, with the whole task as its first prompt. The helper appears as a tile in the same project, with its own Git panel. The first agent carries on, checks back when it's ready, reads what the helper did, and closes it.

The dialog asking whether checkout-api may start a session
What you see when an agent asks to start a helper.

What an agent can do

Through LlamaTree's built-in MCP server, the same one that shows panels and messages, an agent gets these tools for the sessions it started:

ToolDoes
start_sessionStarts a helper (same agent and options) with a name and a first prompt, in this session's folder, a folder of the same project, or on a new branch in a new worktree.
send_promptTypes and sends another prompt, once the helper is idle.
get_sessionHow it's doing: working, idle, waiting on a permission prompt, or stopped, with its last prompt and reply.
wait_for_sessionWaits until it stops working, up to 110 seconds at a time.
answer_promptApproves (this once) or declines a permission prompt the helper is waiting on.
interrupt_sessionPresses Esc in it.
stop_sessionEnds its agent, leaving the session for you to look at.
close_sessionStops it and removes it from LlamaTree. Its conversation is kept to resume, and a worktree made for it stays.

Agents only ever drive sessions they started themselves, never yours.

You decide

The first time an agent wants to start a session, LlamaTree shows you its name, folder, command and first prompt. Allow it just this once, whenever that session starts one, or whenever a session in the project starts one. A helper that wants to start helpers of its own is always asked about on its own rule.

Permissions › Agents sets three abilities for every session, project or all sessions:

AbilityWith no rule
Start sessionsYou're asked each time
Answer its sessions' permission promptsAllowed
Close its sessionsAllowed

Pause agents in Permissions stops every session starting or driving others at once.

Limits and safety