The UI

What you seeCopy Anchor Link

Change the layout or turn animations off in /config. With animations off, every effect draws one still frame. VS Code and the mobile app draw still frames, and the mobile app has no Reply button. Built and tested on Claude Code 2.1.288.

The status lineCopy Anchor Link

The status line is where a running task shows. It stays visible while /diff is open, which a pane does not.

The task text is cut to 32 characters. The line updates once a second while a task runs, so the time ticks and the spinner steps; with animations off the spinner is a still ●.

The bandCopy Anchor Link

Two lines above the prompt, only while a task runs or waits. The first is the wire, Claude ┄●┄ fake, with a packet going out when you send and coming back when the result lands. Under it is a row of chips, one per running or waiting task. The band goes about 2 seconds after the last task ends. It shares the slot with other mods and yields to surveys.

The workers paneCopy Anchor Link

Run /a2a to open it. It never opens on its own, so a running task does not switch the dock away from /diff. In a fullscreen terminal it docks beside the transcript, 32 columns wide, as a tab next to /diff. Otherwise it is a short block above the prompt. It does not take the keyboard until you move into it.

It is drawn for narrow widths and holds down to 24 columns:

• A header, ⇄ a2a, with the number of workers and live tasks at the right. Once a task has finished, Clear done appears there. It hides finished tasks from the pane only; the transcript cards still know them.
• An agent tree under the header: Claude, then one branch per worker with a count for each state it has, such as ● 1 ? 1 ✓ 4. Press a worker's name to fold its box to one line, and again to open it.
• One rounded box per worker, titled ▾ (open) or ▸ (folded), with its A2A version at the right and its tasks inside. A box lists three tasks, running and waiting ones first. +N more lists all of them, and show less goes back to three.
• A task is one line, and the line is the button: press it to open the task, press it again to close it. Only one task is open at a time. A running task has a progress bar and its age under the line. A waiting task ends with a violet reply ↵.
• An open task shows its result, its question or its latest status message, then the actions that fit its state in one row under the task text: Copy for a finished task with a result, Reply for a waiting one, Cancel for a running or waiting one. Narrow panes shorten the labels to ⧉, ↩ and ✕.
• A footer with /a2a add <url> and the key hints, kept at the bottom of the pane. The key hints go below 28 columns.

From 40 columns up, each worker box also shows its skills and the run times of its last tasks. With no workers, the pane says how to add one.

The transcript cardsCopy Anchor Link

Each send and its result show as cards in the transcript: a rounded box, indented two columns, up to 100 columns wide.

• The header has the worker, and its A2A version and organization at the right.
• The message is wrapped under a dim │ bar. While the task runs, a live row shows its age.
• The result is a box with a badge: ● tracked, ✓ completed, ? needs input or ✕ failed. A completed result types itself in once. A task still running reads tracked · task 5954ae32 · you'll be told when it lands.

The message that wakes Claude when a tracked task finishes is not a card. It is one line, a2a: fake task 3f9a… completed. The pane and the band keep the full state.

Worker text is shown with terminal control characters removed, and a token never appears in any of it. How it works has the rest.