Chorus can start and steer agent work on machines you keep online. This page explains that
model — what an online agent is, how a project fixes work to one, how a single conversation
follows an idea, and how you interrupt, resume, or take over — then points to the page where
you actually do each thing. For the collaboration workflow those agents run, see
[The AI-DLC workflow](/guides/ai-dlc-workflow/); for the plugin commands they expose, see
[Commands and skill routing](/guides/plugin-commands/).

## What an online agent is

An **online agent** is a `chorus daemon` process, authenticated with an agent API key, that
holds a live connection to Chorus. While it runs, Chorus can reach it to start work, send a
follow-up instruction, interrupt a running turn, or resume a stopped one — without you
touching the machine.

Each connection is addressed by three things: the **agent** identity (the API key), the
**host** it runs on, and the **working directory** (`cwd`) it serves. One daemon can host
several independent agents — each with its own key and identity — and serve several
directories per agent; every registered `(agent, host, directory)` combination becomes its
own addressable target. Chorus shows every connection's presence (online or offline, with its
backend, host, and directory) in **Settings → Agents**.

![Online agents presence panel listing a connection by agent, backend, host, and working directory, with an idle status](/images/agent-operations/presence-online-agents.webp)

## How a project gets a fixed directory

A project can be **fixed** to a specific online agent and working directory. Once fixed,
agent work started from that project's UI routes to the same connection and directory, and
the working-directory picker is hidden — you do not re-choose the target each time. See
[Create a project](/guides/create-a-project/) for how to set, replace, or clear that
preference.

## One session per idea

Each idea has a single conversation, so every time you start agent work on that idea it
reaches the same conversation. If you start work on the idea from a different working
directory, Chorus **moves** that one session to the new directory rather than starting a
second conversation, so the idea keeps one continuous history.

## Interrupt, resume, and take over

While an agent is working you can **interrupt** the current turn, **resume** a stopped
conversation with added context, or **take over** the conversation from a terminal using its
copied session ID. These controls act on an existing conversation rather than starting a new
one. See [Interrupt and resume a session](/guides/session-recovery/).

OpenClaw connects through the OpenClaw gateway rather than `chorus daemon`, so it is a
gateway-model connection — see [OpenClaw](/reference/agents/openclaw/).

## Where to do each thing

Each capability of the online-agent model has one place you perform it and one page that
documents it in full.

| Capability | Where you do it | Read more |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Interrupt and resume | The conversation's **Interrupt** and **Resume** controls | [Interrupt and resume a session](/guides/session-recovery/) |
| Start work (queued while busy) | Start or continue agent work from a project item; a request for a busy directory is queued until it is free | [Start work on a remote agent](/guides/remote-control/) |
| `(agent, host, cwd)` addressing | Register each working directory when you start the daemon (repeatable `--cwd`) | [Operate the Chorus daemon](/guides/daemon-operations/) |
| Presence | **Settings → Agents** shows each connection's online state, backend, host, and directory | [Connect an agent runtime](/guides/operator-onboarding/) |
| Remote start | Pick an online directory, enter an instruction, then **Start session** | [Start work on a remote agent](/guides/remote-control/) |
| Ad-hoc "continue in an online directory" | Hand a new idea to an online agent from the new-idea dialog's conversational mode | [Capture an idea](/guides/capture-an-idea/) |
| Multi-backend (Claude Code, Codex, Kiro, Pi, DeepSeek Harness) | Choose the backend per connection with `--agent` | [Agent platforms](/reference/agents/) |