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A cloud agent works on a managed computer in a sandbox. It has a working directory, files, command-line tools, and a saved harness session. Accepted work continues independently of your browser, so closing the app or signing out does not stop it.

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Automatic sleep and wake-up

An enabled agent can sleep after more than two minutes of observed inactivity. This is an eligibility threshold, not a promise to stop exactly two minutes after a reply. Fractal checks for unfinished work before sleeping. Foreground requests, queued input, background tasks, model calls, scheduled jobs, unfinished deliveries, or running processes can keep the computer awake. Quiet output alone does not establish that the agent is idle. Before stopping, Fractal drains work and synchronizes the transcript. New activity wakes an enabled sleeping agent using its saved session and computer. Work arriving while the computer is stopping remains pending and can wake it afterward. A request waiting for startup can show Starting up. A request being delivered can show Sending…. Queued means it is waiting behind active work; these states describe different stages.

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What survives sleep

Saved files and session history survive normal stop/start cycles. An agent can return to a script, downloaded data, or an unfinished file after it wakes. Running processes and in-memory timers do not survive a stopped computer. For durable future work, use Fractal schedules instead of relying on a shell process or timer to remain alive. Unknown processes or incomplete activity observations can prevent safe automatic sleep. A finished foreground answer does not necessarily mean all background work has finished.

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Browse the agent’s files

Open the agent’s Files browser to inspect its working directory.
  1. Expand folders to see their contents.
  2. Select a file to open its preview.
  3. Use Files options → Show hidden files to include hidden entries.
  4. Use Refresh files after the agent creates or changes files.
  5. Open a file’s File options → Download to save a copy.
If the computer is asleep, the browser can show Waking agent… while it starts. If loading fails, retry after checking the agent’s status. A missing folder, an unavailable runtime, or a path outside the workspace can prevent access.
The browser exposes the agent’s working directory and its contents. It is not a browser for your own computer or an unrestricted view of every operating-system path in the sandbox.
For example, ask:
Save the analysis script and its input data in a project folder, then tell me the paths so I can inspect and download them.
The Files browser is useful for inspecting working material. To request changes to a file, give the agent its path and describe the desired edit.

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Files, repositories, and Pages

A local file does not automatically become a Page or a committed repository change. Ask the agent to publish or commit the result when that is the intended outcome.

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Costs and deletion

Waking the computer can incur runtime costs. Sleep stops execution, but retained storage can still have a cost. See Spending and limits. Deleting a cloud agent removes its managed computer, runtime files, and saved progress. Download or publish anything you need first. Published Pages are separate outputs and remain subject to their retained author’s access rules. Use Disable when you want to keep an agent stopped while preserving it. See Agent settings for lifecycle controls.