The /goal Command
/goal turns the current task into a durable, multi-turn objective. Kodik keeps working whenever the task is idle until the agent reports completion, work becomes blocked, a limit is reached, or you pause it.
Use a Goal for work that naturally needs several agent turns, such as a large migration, an investigate-and-fix cycle, or implementation followed by repeated verification.
Start a Goal
Section titled “Start a Goal”Type an objective after the command:
/goal Migrate the parser to the new API, update its tests and documentation, and verify the affected release gates./goal <objective> creates the prose objective and starts it immediately. The command itself is not added as a chat message. Ordinary assistant explanations and tool work performed toward the Goal remain visible in the conversation.
Start typing /goal, then choose Goal from the slash-command menu with the pointer or keyboard. The empty Goal panel opens immediately without requiring a second Enter press and without creating or starting anything. Enter one prose objective, optionally set a token budget, then choose Start. You can still submit bare /goal manually, while /goal <objective> remains the direct fast path.
If the current task already has an unfinished Goal, starting a different one opens an inline replacement confirmation. Kodik does not discard the existing Goal until you confirm.
Goal panel
Section titled “Goal panel”The persistent Goal panel appears above Todo and File Changes. Its collapsed summary shows the current status and usage. Expand it to:
- review the full objective, token use, optional token budget, and elapsed active time;
- pause or resume autonomous work;
- edit the objective or token budget without resetting accumulated usage;
- clear the Goal from the task.
Goal controls and lifecycle changes stay in the panel. They do not add Goal cards, status messages, sidebar badges, or notifications to the conversation.
How continuation works
Section titled “How continuation works”After a Goal-owned turn settles, Kodik checks whether the task is ready for more autonomous work. User-authored messages, queued work, tool approvals, questions, recovery, and errors take priority. If nothing needs attention and the Goal is still active, Kodik starts the next continuation without requiring another prompt.
The Goal belongs to its task, so it persists across reloads and can continue while another task is selected. A restored active Goal cancels any dead pre-restart turn before continuing, which prevents duplicate work.
Plan-mode user turns are excluded from Goal usage accounting. Selecting Plan does not pause the scheduler: an explicitly Goal-owned continuation can still run and is accounted normally.
Statuses and limits
Section titled “Statuses and limits”The panel can show:
- Active — autonomous continuation is allowed when the task is idle.
- Paused — you or Stop paused the Goal; choose Resume to continue.
- Blocked — the agent cannot make meaningful progress without input or an external change; resolve it, then resume.
- Usage limited — the provider quota interrupted work; resume after usage is available.
- Budget limited — the optional token budget was reached. Edit the Goal and raise the budget above the used amount to continue.
- Complete — the agent reported the objective achieved; this is terminal.
Token budgets are soft boundaries. Kodik charges fresh input plus output, including cache-write input but excluding cache reads. If a turn crosses the budget, the agent receives one final wrap-up instruction in that same logical turn, then the Goal stops as budget limited. Elapsed time counts only active work, not time spent paused or while Kodik is closed.