Before submitting
Area
apps/mobile
Problem or use case
On desktop, a message sent while the agent is working is injected into the running turn — the agent sees it mid-task and can change course immediately. On mobile the same message is queued and only delivered once the turn ends.
That difference matters most in exactly the situation mobile is best at. A typical session: the agent is running a long task, I'm away from the desk with only my phone, and I can see from the output that it's about to do something I don't want. On desktop I'd redirect it in one line. On mobile I can only watch it finish and correct it afterwards, which wastes the whole turn.
It's most acute for long-running work — builds, migrations, multi-step operations — which is precisely when you're least likely to be sitting at the desktop.
Related: #5436 (queued mobile messages are dropped entirely if the app backgrounds) compounds this, since the queued message may not even arrive at the end of the turn.
Proposed solution
Give mobile the same mid-turn injection path the desktop uses, so a message sent while the agent is working reaches it immediately rather than waiting for turn end.
If both behaviours are worth keeping, a per-message choice would be ideal — send now versus queue for after — since "queue this for when you're done" is genuinely useful too, just not the only thing you ever want.
Why this matters
Mobile's core value is checking in and steering while away from the desk. Without injection it's read-only in practice during the exact moments when intervention is most valuable, and a wrong turn costs the whole run rather than one line of correction.
Smallest useful scope
Mid-turn injection on mobile matching current desktop behaviour, even without a per-message send-now/queue toggle.
Alternatives considered
Queueing (#5507, #267) already shipped and is the right default for "do this next". It isn't a substitute for steering, since by the time a queued message lands the turn is over.
Risks or tradeoffs
Injection mid-turn is more disruptive than queueing, so if only one behaviour can be the default, some users may prefer the current one. That argues for a toggle rather than a straight switch.
Contribution
Before submitting
Area
apps/mobile
Problem or use case
On desktop, a message sent while the agent is working is injected into the running turn — the agent sees it mid-task and can change course immediately. On mobile the same message is queued and only delivered once the turn ends.
That difference matters most in exactly the situation mobile is best at. A typical session: the agent is running a long task, I'm away from the desk with only my phone, and I can see from the output that it's about to do something I don't want. On desktop I'd redirect it in one line. On mobile I can only watch it finish and correct it afterwards, which wastes the whole turn.
It's most acute for long-running work — builds, migrations, multi-step operations — which is precisely when you're least likely to be sitting at the desktop.
Related: #5436 (queued mobile messages are dropped entirely if the app backgrounds) compounds this, since the queued message may not even arrive at the end of the turn.
Proposed solution
Give mobile the same mid-turn injection path the desktop uses, so a message sent while the agent is working reaches it immediately rather than waiting for turn end.
If both behaviours are worth keeping, a per-message choice would be ideal — send now versus queue for after — since "queue this for when you're done" is genuinely useful too, just not the only thing you ever want.
Why this matters
Mobile's core value is checking in and steering while away from the desk. Without injection it's read-only in practice during the exact moments when intervention is most valuable, and a wrong turn costs the whole run rather than one line of correction.
Smallest useful scope
Mid-turn injection on mobile matching current desktop behaviour, even without a per-message send-now/queue toggle.
Alternatives considered
Queueing (#5507, #267) already shipped and is the right default for "do this next". It isn't a substitute for steering, since by the time a queued message lands the turn is over.
Risks or tradeoffs
Injection mid-turn is more disruptive than queueing, so if only one behaviour can be the default, some users may prefer the current one. That argues for a toggle rather than a straight switch.
Contribution