While it runs
Work is happening that the user is not doing, and they need to know it is progressing, what it is touching, and how to stop it.
Narrating every step buries the one that matters; narrating nothing turns a long run into a hang. Show what a supervisor would need to intervene, not everything the system knows.
8 patterns for this moment
Each one is a different way to resolve the tradeoff above.
A running log of steps and tool calls as they happen, collapsible to a one-line summary.
Progressive text rendering that makes latency legible and lets users bail early.
Elapsed time, step count and honest expectation-setting for work measured in minutes or hours.
A persistent list of agent runs with status, so async work is inspectable instead of invisible.
Recurring autonomous work on a visible schedule, with results delivered into an existing surface.
Incoming work sorted, routed or drafted before the user arrives, with the reasoning available on tap.
AI-added fields and tags applied automatically, marked so users can see and undo the machine's edit.
Skeletons and partial components render as the agent's structured output arrives.
Audit checklist for this moment
Walk one flow through these questions. Ticks are saved in this browser.