sessions
run a pipeline once with one set of inputs, follow it as a chat, and answer what needs you.
A session is one pass through a pipeline with one set of inputs. Press Start and the pipeline spawns runs, hands results from card to card, and stops when everything has published, failed or been stopped.
sessions and the switcher
The Sessions panel on the left lists every session, newest first, each with a status line and age: running, needs approval, done or idle. New adds one with empty inputs. Click a session to select it: the cards and output nodes then show that session's results only, so an old session keeps its own results.
- Rename. Click the active session's name in the top bar.
- Inputs are per session. The input node edits the selected session while it is idle and freezes once it starts. For a second batch, make a second session; do not edit the first.
- Stop. The square button on a running row, then click stop? to confirm. It aborts every run still working and retires them. Work already published stays.
- Delete. The bin, confirmed with sure?. Disabled while runs are open: stop first. Deleting hides the session; runs it already made stay in their processes' tables.
- Cost. The dollar button in the top bar opens the session's cost breakdown, per run and per item.
On a phone, the panel becomes a dropdown in the top bar.
fan-out and combine
A run often publishes several results. What the next card does with them is yours to choose, on the upstream card's split / combine chip:
| mode | the next step gets |
|---|---|
| split (default) | one run per result: 5 results start 5 runs |
| combine | all of a run's results as one set, in one run |
When several upstream cards wire into one input, the converging wires have the opposite choice: separate starts a run per result, combine waits until every upstream has published and then hands over everything at once.
Fan-out is why a session can grow: one input picture can end as many runs. Each card's row of numbered tabs (all, 1, 2, 3…) narrows the card to one run, with a coloured dot for its state.
the deliverables panel
In chat view, the right-hand Deliverables panel is the session's standing answer to "where are we?": a progress bar with done/total, a count of what needs you and what is working, and one row per step with its state (pending, working, needs you, done, failed, stopped) and thumbnails of what it produced. Staged work shows its previews before anyone has approved it. Click a step to open its run. The panel is hidden on narrow screens.
the session chat
Switch the top bar from Build to Chat (or open ?view=chat on the pipeline's address). The session reads as a conversation: each pixie that picks up a run speaks in turn, with beats for picked up, staged, published and failed. A fuchsia number on the Chat tab counts runs waiting for you.
- Before you've started, the chat shows the input form and Start session.
- Approve, redo or stop staged work right in the stream: see approvals.
- The box at the bottom, message the crew…, sends your message to every run still working. Use the reply arrow on one pixie's message to talk to that run only.
pip, the pipeline voice
Pip is the only agent on a pipeline canvas: there are no resident pixies here, they arrive with their cards. Click Pip, the draggable character, to start a voice call (Wake Pip and set up your pipeline by voice). Pip reads the pipeline, searches your processes, adds cards, connects them, sets the input fields, adds output nodes and chooses what feeds each card, live on the canvas as you talk. Mute with the mic button, end with the X. Pip ends the call himself if nobody is there.
timeouts
A pipeline does not wait forever:
| a run that is… | times out after |
|---|---|
| running and has never staged or published | 2 hours |
| staged, waiting for your approval | 48 hours |
A timed-out run is marked timeout in the ledger and its tab on the card shows a red dot. Published work stays.
limits & good to know
- Starting needs at least one process wired to the input node. A card fed by another card never starts on its own.
- Start refuses a session that has a required input with nothing behind it, and says which.
- Starting twice is safe: a card already spawned for this session is not spawned again.
- Combined results are grouped by the run they came from, so a pile of results never blends two lineages.
related
checked against the product · 2026-10-23