What is a Task?

A task is an agentic unit of work that a Handler performs — whether in response to a user request, or as a background task triggered by a schedule or webhook. A task can include any number of subtasks, tool calls, and thought processes as the Handler works through what's been asked of it. It also acts as a permanent record of how the work was performed, so you or your Handler can go back and understand it later.

Want to check how your Handler is progressing on a task, or understand how it tackled something it's already finished? The Task Details page is where you go to dig in.

Opening a Task

There are a few ways to get to a task:

• From the Handler Dashboard or Tasks list, click on any task to open it
• From Slack, click the "View conversation in Handle" link at the top of the thread to open the conversation in Handle, then click on the task status message in the conversation view to jump straight to the task

Getting the Lay of the Land

When you open a task, you'll immediately see:

• The task title and how long it's been active or when it completed
• For finished tasks, a result summary with a green check mark showing the outcome at a glance

Handlers typically break work into a tree of nested subtasks. The breadcrumb trail at the top shows you exactly where you are in that tree — from the root task all the way down to the subtask you're currently viewing. Click any ancestor to zoom back out.

Seeing What's Happening Now

The Working On section shows subtasks that are currently active and unblocked — the work your Handler is doing right now. For each one, you'll see:

• A status indicator — orange dot for active, hourglass for blocked