# Delegating coding runs A bot can hand a coding job to a coding agent that works in a sandbox and reports back. The run lives on its own child thread, so you can read it, steer it, stop it and continue it like any other thread. Delegation needs a thread bound to an environment; a thread without one refuses with "this thread has no environment". ## 1. Bind an environment ```sh arbe env create my-env --house # provisions a sandbox, a few seconds arbe agent create helper --house --trigger mention arbe thread create -n coding --environment --participant helper --house ``` `--environment` takes the environment id. Without it, `thread create` binds the house's active environment (`arbe env use `) if there is one. ## 2. Ask the bot to delegate ```sh arbe thread entries create --house \ "@helper delegate a task: create hello.txt containing hi, then report back" ``` The bot calls `delegate_task` and replies with the child thread's id. It rewrites your request into the brief, so put anything that must survive verbatim in quotes. ## 3. Follow the run ```sh arbe thread view --house # run state, and the task it was given arbe thread entries list --house --show-signals arbe thread entries list --house --follow ``` While it works, the run can say what it's doing with `report_status`; that line, and a percentage when it gives one, is what `thread now`, the thread list and the parent thread's card show. A first run on a fresh sandbox takes tens of seconds to pick up. While it works the thread shows `pi.assistant` and tool entries, and a `pi_heartbeat` signal every few seconds (hidden without `--show-signals`); see [coding runs](system/ops/debugging.md#coding-runs) if it looks stuck. `thread entries read ` follows a run until it ends and prints what the agent said, exiting non-zero if the run failed; `thread trace --follow` shows the run's start, tool steps and end as they happen. ## 4. Steer it Post in the child thread while it runs. The message reaches the agent mid-task: ```sh arbe thread entries create --house "also create bye.txt containing bye" ``` ## 5. Stop it and resume it ```sh arbe thread stop --house # ends cancelled once the agent has aborted ``` Run `thread stop` on the parent thread instead to stop every run it delegated. Posting in the child later continues the same session; nothing else is needed to resume. More on how a run works: [Daytona runtime](system/sandboxes/sandbox-daytona.md).