Docs/Cockpit (browser)/Answering agents remotely
Cockpit

Answering agents remotely

3 min read

The point of the Cockpit is the moment you are not at your desk and an agent stops to ask a question. Instead of the work sitting idle until you get back, you open the Cockpit in whatever browser is in front of you, answer, and the agent keeps going. This page is that flow.

Answering from another machine

  1. Open the Cockpit

    From the Director, the Cockpit button in the toolbar asks your Gateway for the address and opens it in your default browser - use that the first time so you know the address. The address is your Gateway's: the hosted Gateway's public web address, or, if you self-host, your own machine on your own network. If it cannot open, it says so rather than opening the wrong thing: a Cannot Open Cockpit dialog appears when there is no address to open, or when the Gateway cannot be reached - that one offers Retry.

  2. Sign in

    The Cockpit is yours, so it asks you to prove it. Sign in with your DevThrottle account; the browser stays signed in afterwards. Signing in also enrols this browser as a device on your account, and a device can be revoked later - see your devices.

  3. Find the card that needs you

    The Cockpit reads exactly like the desktop: session cards with status colors. Switch the ordering to Attention first and the sessions waiting on you come to the top, under a Needs you heading with its own count. Click the waiting card.

  4. Answer in the message box

    Type the answer (or a course correction) into the message box at the bottom of the session page, exactly as you would at your desk, and press Send (Ctrl+Enter sends too). The agent picks it up and keeps working.

Reachability: it depends on your Gateway

Your browser has to be able to reach your Gateway. With the hosted Gateway that is already true from everywhere: it is a public web address, and any browser on any network can open it. There is nothing to set up.

A self-hosted Gateway runs on your own machine, so reachability is your network's job. On the same network - home office laptop to the desktop upstairs - that just works. From further away, the supported route today is making your machine reachable yourself, for example with a VPN or an overlay network like Tailscale; the Gateway still handles who is allowed in. Which Gateway you run is a choice made at setup; see the Gateway.

Tip
You do not have to keep the tab in front of you. The Cockpit can raise browser notifications on the machine you are on - turn them on under Settings, on the Notifications tab. When you are away from any computer, the better answer is the mobile app: it pairs your phone to the Gateway once and then tells you there.
Note
A session you start from the Cockpit runs in the Director on the machine you pick when you start it - the Cockpit is a view, not the place the work runs. The same steering controls - Stop, Interrupt, and the queue - are available remotely.