Coordinate work across projects
5 minute read · Chats & Local Agents
A larger idea may involve work in more than one project. Linked tasks let a coordinator assign a bounded piece to another project chat while keeping its progress and result visible.
- Delegate a concrete result
- Let the app handle the waiting
- Delegate a result, not an open-ended role
- Follow progress without constant polling
- Send corrections and review the combined result
- Linked task status and actions
- Continue in an existing chat
Delegate a concrete result
Tell the coordinator what belongs to each project and which actions are allowed. A useful assignment names the outcome, the relevant project and checks, rather than “do everything.” Repeated delegation of the same assignment can reuse its linked chat instead of creating duplicates.
Each linked task keeps its own checkout, branch, provider session and permissions. Delegating does not grant automatic commit, push or deployment. Approvals still belong to you.
Let the app handle the waiting
Active subchats appear as an indented tree under their parent in the sidebar. Click a child to open its conversation; Back returns to the parent. A pending question or approval highlights the child and its parent so you can find the chat needing attention. The chat also offers a subchats summary for inspecting linked work.
Completed and failed child conversations are cleaned up after their result has been handed back and no pending work still needs them. The parent keeps the result or failure needed to continue. Cleanup does not remove the checkout or undo changes. A child with an unanswered question, pending approval or follow-up stays available until that work is resolved.
While a child works, the coordinator can do independent work. If only waiting remains, the app monitors locally and resumes the coordinator when a result or approval arrives.
Progress refers to the assigned run, not an unrelated later conversation. A failed child remains a failed result with its evidence; the coordinator should explain what remains.
Keep Vortex running for local coordination. This is not a hosted agent fleet or a remote scheduler. Read permission choices and parallel changes.
Delegate a result, not an open-ended role
Routine assignments use a lighter available model from the coordinator's provider and account. Complex work may use the coordinator's stronger model with an explicit reason. When no suitable lighter model is available for a routine assignment, refresh the model list or keep the work in the coordinating chat. Linked tasks cannot enable Fast mode: they use the standard service tier. Parallel work still consumes provider usage, so delegate a useful independent result rather than creating extra chats just to finish sooner.
A useful assignment identifies the project, bounded task, allowed changes and evidence to return. For example: “Inspect the API validation in this project, add the missing title check and return the changed files plus the focused test result. Do not deploy.” The coordinator can discover project chats and delegate through Vortex's linked-task tools.
Each child retains its own chat record, provider session and access mode, while multiple child chats can use the same project checkout and files. The coordinator must coordinate shared edits, especially when assignments touch the same files. Up to ten linked tasks run at once per coordinator; further assignments wait for a slot. The current safety cap is 100 queued or running assignments. A queue can also mean the target chat or working copy is busy; it is not always a concurrency limit. A stable assignment key allows a repeated delegation request to reuse the linked chat instead of opening duplicate chats. Delegation does not itself grant permission to commit; automatic commit is disabled for the assignment by default.
Follow progress without constant polling
The linked-task panel and status tool report the exact assigned run, bounded recent progress, requested approvals and result. The coordinator can continue independent work while children run. When only waiting remains, it yields and the desktop monitors locally. Results or attention can resume the coordinator in a later provider turn.
This waiting behavior is local coordination. It does not host the child on a cloud runner and is not a guarantee about a provider's billing policy. Vortex and the device must remain available for local monitoring and execution.
Send corrections and review the combined result
Send a follow-up to the existing assignment with the intended run rather than creating another delegation. Stable request IDs prevent repeated messages from being enqueued twice. Stopping targets that linked run. A child failure or approval request should stay visible instead of being converted into coordinator success.
When results arrive, check that they answer the requested task and include useful evidence. The coordinator still needs to verify interfaces and combined behavior. Passing a child test in one project does not prove that the whole app works with another project's change. See checks for practical acceptance evidence.
Linked task status and actions
| Status / control | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Subchats | Active children appear in the sidebar tree. Open the child with a question or approval; inspect its handoff in the parent after cleanup. |
| Queued | Accepted but waiting for a slot or an available target chat/working copy. Reuse the assignment instead of submitting duplicate work. |
| Working | The linked agent is carrying out its assignment. |
| Review / completed result | The worker has returned a result for integration/review. It is not proof that the whole feature has passed checks. |
| Failed / stopped | Work ended without normal completion or was cancelled. Read the result before retrying a potentially completed mutation. |
| Open subchat | Opens the child's own conversation and evidence. Use Back at the top to return to its parent. |
| Stop | Requests cancellation of that active work; it does not revert completed edits. |
| Actions | Rename, pin, archive or delete the selected subchat. These affect that chat, not its sibling chats. |
Reuse an existing assignment when continuing the same result rather than creating another copy. Verify how its changes interact with the rest of the project. See parallel work and worktrees and Workspace activity and project mentions.
Continue in an existing chat
You can ask the coordinator to send a bounded task to an existing conversation, including one in another workspace. It first finds the exact chat and uses its saved provider, model, permissions and project boundaries. The message contains only the explicit relevant request, rather than copying hidden history. Follow-ups reuse the same assignment; the result returns to the coordinator automatically.
An existing recipient chat keeps its own identity and configuration. New linked assignments use the model-selection rules above. In either case, inspect a failure, correct the task when appropriate and retry the same assignment. A failed child must not remain as permanent sidebar clutter after its handoff has been consumed.