Interactive Mode

Interactive mode is the primary way to use AgentLoop. It provides a full terminal user interface (TUI) for conversational development with AI agents.

Starting Interactive Mode

Launch AgentLoop in interactive mode:

agentloop

# Single query
agentloop query "Your question here"
 
# Run orchestrator directly
agentloop orchestrator

Natural Language Interaction

In interactive mode, you communicate with agents using natural language—just type your message and press Enter. No slash commands required for conversations.

AgentLoop uses tool calls behind the scenes to:

• Update the kanban board
• Manage tasks and dependencies in the DAG
• Delegate work to specialized agents (Engineer, QA, etc.)

Examples

> Break down "user authentication" into tasks and add them to the board

> What's the status of task 5? Mark it as in-progress

> Have the engineer agent implement the login API endpoint

> Ask the QA agent to test the new authentication flow

> Add a dependency so task 3 must complete before task 7

> Move all completed tasks to done and show me the kanban board

Slash Commands

While day-to-day interaction is conversational, slash commands are available for system operations. These are prefixed with / and provide direct access to specific functionality.

Core System Commands

Orchestrator Commands

Task Commands

The TUI Experience

The interactive TUI provides several views and panels:

Main Chat View

The default view where you converse with agents. Your input appears at the bottom, and agent responses stream above.

Kanban Board

Open with /orchestrator kanban to see a visual representation of your tasks across columns:

• Todo - Tasks waiting to be started
• In Progress - Tasks currently being worked on
• Review - Tasks awaiting review
• Done - Completed tasks
• Blocked - Tasks that cannot proceed

Navigate and update tasks directly from the terminal.

Agent Monitoring

View live agent status with /orchestrator agents. See:

• Which agents are active
• What task each agent is working on
• Real-time progress updates

DAG Visualization

View task dependencies with /orchestrator dag ascii for an ASCII representation of the task graph.

Keyboard Navigation

Within the TUI, you can:

• Type + Enter - Send a message or command
• Up/Down arrows - Navigate history
• Ctrl+C - Interrupt current operation
• /exit - Quit the application

Workflow Example

Here’s a typical workflow in interactive mode:

# Start AgentLoop
$ agentloop

# Initialize the project
> /init

# Describe what you want to build
> I need to add user authentication with login, logout, and password reset

# The PM agent breaks this down into tasks
# View the resulting kanban board
> /orchestrator kanban

# Start the orchestrator to process tasks
> /orchestrator run

# Check on specific tasks
> What's the status of the login implementation?

# Make adjustments
> Add a dependency: password reset should wait for login to be done

# Continue running
> /orchestrator run --infinite

Interactive vs Headless