Workflow Control

Reliant gives you control over running workflows. You can pause execution, update parameters on the fly, and send messages to specific threads.

Pause and Resume

Pause a running workflow when you need to:

Review what’s happening before it continues
Update parameters before the next step
Send a message to a specific sub-agent thread
Take a break and continue later

To pause: Click the pause button in the chat header.

To resume: Click resume, or simply send a new message. Sending a message to a paused workflow automatically resumes it.

What happens when paused:

The workflow stops at its current point
All state is preserved—it will continue exactly where it left off
The chat shows a “paused” indicator
You can view the conversation, update parameters, or branch

Updating Parameters While Running

You can change workflow parameters without stopping the workflow. Changes take effect on the next iteration of the agent loop.

Common parameter updates:

mode: Switch from agent to manual for more control, or to plan for read-only
temperature: Adjust creativity/focus
model: Switch to a different model

To update parameters:

Open the parameters panel (click the gear icon in the chat header)
Change the values you want to update
Changes are applied immediately via a signal to the running workflow

When changes take effect:

Most parameter changes apply on the next LLM call
Mode changes affect the next tool execution decision
The current in-flight operation completes with old parameters

Messaging Specific Threads

When a workflow spawns sub-agents, each runs in its own thread. While the workflow is paused, you can send messages to specific threads.

To message a sub-agent thread:

Pause the workflow
Select the thread you want to message (from the thread selector)
Type your message and send
The workflow resumes with your message added to that thread

Why only while paused? When a workflow is running, the active agent is writing to its thread. Sending a message while the agent is mid-thought could create confusion. Pausing ensures clean handoff—you send your message, then the agent continues with the new context.

Use cases:

Provide additional guidance to a stuck sub-agent
Correct a misunderstanding before the agent continues
Inject information the agent needs but didn’t find

Automatic Pause on Failure

When a workflow step fails after retries, Reliant automatically pauses the workflow instead of failing completely. This gives you a chance to:

Review what went wrong
Fix the underlying issue (file permissions, network, etc.)
Resume to retry the failed step

The chat shows what failed and why. After fixing the issue, click resume to continue.

Manual Intervention Pattern

For workflows that need human guidance, you can use pause/resume as a collaboration pattern:

Agent works autonomously
You pause when you see something interesting
Review the state, add context via message
Resume to let the agent continue with your input

This is especially useful with multi-agent workflows where you want to guide the direction without micromanaging every step.