Organize and share threads

Rename and pin threads to keep current tasks easy to find, and move devboxes into folders when a project accumulates many of them. When a teammate needs to see what an agent did, share the conversation with them as a read-only link.

Organize your workbench

Right-click a thread row, or open its ... menu, to rename, pin, mark unread, mute notifications, or archive it. On desktop, drag pinned threads or devboxes to rearrange them within their Pinned section. The order will sync across your devices. Use Mark unread when you want to return to a conversation later, and Mute notifications for a thread you don't need to follow.

You can rename a thread while its devbox is starting. The name will stay after startup finishes.

To group devboxes by task or stage, open the devbox's menu and choose Move to, then a folder. Choose New folder… to create one, No folder to remove the devbox from a folder, or Manage folders… to edit your folders. On desktop, you can also drag a devbox onto a folder. To take a devbox out of its folder, drag it down to the devboxes that aren't in a folder. Folders group entire devboxes and their threads; moving one will not change its files or stop its agents. Each folder shows how many devboxes it holds, and a closed folder also shows when one of its threads is running, needs input, or is unread. While you scroll through an open folder, its name stays at the top of the list. To see your folders in the mobile app too, set Project view to Folders under Threads in its Settings. On mobile you can open folders but not change them.

You can also ask an agent to organize its devbox. Enable Folder access in Agent permissions first. Each folder's When to use description helps the agent choose the right destination.

The thread menu includes pinning, renaming, sleep, and sharing actions. Select the image to enlarge it.

Choose how threads are sorted

Threads are sorted by your last message by default. To change the order, open Settings → General → Threads on desktop or Settings → Threads on your phone and choose an option under Sort threads. The choice applies to your account, so your other computers and your phone will follow it too.

• Your last message will sort threads by the last message you sent in each one.
• Last activity will also move a thread to the top when its agent finishes or asks you a question.
• Working first will put threads with an agent working at the top, under a Working heading, and sort the rest by last activity. Inside a folder, devboxes with a working agent will come first.

The order applies inside folders and devbox groups, to Template box threads, and to archived threads. Pinned threads keep the order you gave them. With Last activity or Working first, each thread's time shows its last activity.

Group devboxes started by agents

When an agent starts several devboxes, they can get lost among your other threads, so boxes.dev lists each one under the devbox that started it. To show them in the main list instead, open Settings → General → Threads on desktop or Settings → Threads on your phone and turn off Group devboxes started by agents. The choice applies to your account, so your other computers and your phone will follow it too.

A small row under the parent will show whether any of those devboxes are working, unread, or waiting for you, and on desktop how many there are. On desktop, click the row to show them. On your phone they'll already be showing, and you can tap the row to hide them. If a devbox started only one, that devbox will appear directly under its parent, and a group will move up the list with its newest thread.

On desktop, a group will show its first 5 devboxes. Click Load more devboxes to see more. When two or more devboxes in a group have only muted threads, they'll collapse into a row below the group's other devboxes that counts them and shows whether any are working. Click that row to show them. A muted devbox will stay in the list while one of its threads is waiting for you or marked unread, and so will the devbox you have open.

Grouping won't override how you've organized things. A pinned devbox stays under Pinned, and a devbox you moved to a different folder from its parent stays in that folder. If you destroy the parent, the devboxes it started return to the main list and keep running.

Fit more threads on screen

To see more threads at once, tighten the thread list's spacing. On desktop, open Settings → General and, under Appearance and layout, choose Cozy or Compact for Sidebar density. On your phone, open Settings → Threads and choose a List density. Comfortable is the default. Each computer and phone keeps its own choice.

Search your threads

To find an earlier conversation by its title or by what was said in it, press Cmd+F (Ctrl+F), or choose the search button beside the project selector at the top of the desktop sidebar. On mobile, tap Search messages in all threads above the list on Home or in a project. Type a word or phrase. Search looks through thread titles, your messages, and the agents' final replies in all of your Codex and Claude threads, across every project, including archived and cold-stored conversations. It won't wake a sleeping devbox or Template box.

Put double quotes around a phrase, such as "setup script", to require those words together in that order. Straight and curly double quotes work on desktop and mobile. Capitalization and punctuation do not need to match, and words outside the quotes will help pick the best matches.

Search lists up to 30 threads, best match first. A thread ranks higher when its title contains every word you searched for, when several of its messages match, and when it was active recently. Each result shows the thread's title, how long ago it was last active, and a highlighted excerpt labeled with who wrote it. A thread found by its title alone has no excerpt. Archived threads have an archive icon, and each result names its project when the results come from more than one project. Tap or click a result to open that thread. On desktop, you can also use the arrow keys and Enter.

A new reply will appear in search a few seconds after the agent finishes. Search leaves out the agent's progress updates, tool output, and attachments, and it includes only your own threads, not conversations that teammates have shared with you.

If you're a team admin, results can also include threads you started while editing a Team Template. Opening one will take you to the Team Template editor when you have an editing session open, or to the Team Template's page otherwise. On mobile, these matches show a note to open the thread in the desktop app.

Find text in the open conversation

Choose Find in conversation in the thread header, or press Cmd+F on macOS or Ctrl+F on Windows/Linux while focused in the conversation. Type the text to find, then use the arrows or Enter / Shift+Enter to move between occurrences. Find will highlight each match. When a match is in older history, Find will open that part of the conversation with a Later messages row below it. Choose Later messages to load the messages that follow. Press Escape to close Find.

Find matches literal text without regard to capitalization, including code, partial words, and punctuation. It searches your messages and final replies, with the same exclusions as thread search. A + after the result count means more results will load as you advance, or that the newest messages are still being prepared for search; their matches will appear on their own. If Updating search… appears, no match has been found yet, but the text may be in a message that is still being prepared. Search text can contain up to 256 characters.

Restore archived conversations

Use Archive thread to hide a finished secondary conversation without destroying its devbox. On desktop, archived conversations stay with the machine they ran on: each devbox and the Template box has its own Archived threads list, which appears once it has an archived conversation. Choose Archived threads to expand the list when you need older work. Within a devbox, this row sits below its active conversations.

Each automation has one Archived group for runs whose devbox was destroyed. Expand it to see those runs. A devbox that still exists keeps its own Archived threads list, even when all of its conversations are archived.

The devbox's main row offers Sleep now and Destroy and archive. Destroy and archive will permanently delete the machine's files, so push any commits you need or copy files elsewhere first. See Create and manage devboxes.

After a devbox is destroyed, its archived conversations remain readable without a running machine. Find the conversation under Devboxes → Archived threads, where it's grouped under the devbox's name, and open its menu, then choose Restore thread → To new devbox to continue from the project's latest snapshot or the Team Template's current saved version. Independent projects also offer To Template box to continue on the current Template box. Restoring a thread will not recover the destroyed devbox's files.

A History only thread has saved conversation text but no original agent session to reopen. You can read, copy, rename, pin, share, or delete it. Continuing, branching, moving, unarchiving, and restoring are unavailable unless that exact session becomes available again.

Share a conversation

You can share a started Codex or Claude thread with people on your boxes.dev team. Drafts, setup threads, and threads that have not started cannot be shared.

1. Review the conversation before sharing it. The link will include saved messages, commands, tool output, diffs, attachments, and images, including any sensitive content in them. New saved activity will also be visible.
2. Choose Share thread in the thread header or menu, then choose Share and copy link in the dialog, confirming if asked.
3. Send the copied link to your teammate. They will need to sign in with an account currently on your team.

Opening the link will add the conversation to your teammate's Shared with me list. On desktop, open Project → Shared with me to see these conversations across projects. On the conversation's browser page, Open in app will open it in the desktop app, or the mobile app on a phone or tablet. If they have never signed in to that app, Open in app will show a download page instead.

Teammates can read the conversation but cannot send prompts, answer approvals, stop the agent, open your workspace or terminal, or control your devbox.

Images already saved with the conversation load without a running devbox. An image linked by its file path on the source machine is different: it appears with an explicit load control, and loading it may wake that devbox and will show the file currently at that path, which may have changed since the message was written.

Interactive visuals, images, and videos that your agents published also appear for teammates who can read the conversation, without a running devbox. Their links open only for you and for people who can read the conversation where they were published, so copying a link elsewhere won't share the file.

Review who can read a shared conversation before creating its link. Select the image to enlarge it.

Copy messages and links

Choose Copy transcript from a thread's menu to copy your messages and the agent's final replies as Markdown. The menu also offers Copy working directory and Copy session ID.

Use Copy share link to invite a teammate. Copy personal deeplink reopens the thread in your own workbench without granting anyone else access. Permanent /thread/ links grant no access by themselves and follow the team's current access rules. On a /thread/ page in your browser, Open in app will open the conversation in the desktop app, or your own conversation in the mobile app. In the desktop app, clicking a link to a boxes.dev conversation will open it in the app instead of your browser.

To give a teammate's thread to one of your agents, choose Copy thread ID from that thread's … menu and paste the ID into your prompt. The agent will need permission to read other threads; see Agent permissions.

Understand your team's policy

A team admin can choose Thread access in Team settings:

• Shared links only: teammates need a share link. This is the default.
• Thread titles: teammates can browse titles and request access, but still need the share link to read a transcript.
• All threads: teammates can browse and read eligible conversations unless the owner marks one private.

Under Thread titles or All threads, open Teammates' projects in the desktop project selector or mobile Home to browse their work. A devbox your teammate named will appear under that name. Choose Pin to my workbench to keep a thread in Shared with me. Browsing alone will not add it to that list. To take a thread off that list, choose Remove from Shared with me in its … menu. This will remove only your saved row, leaving the conversation and your access unchanged.

Under Thread titles, choose Request access when you want to read a conversation. If you own the thread, expand Project → Shared by me on desktop to accept or dismiss requests. Accepting will make the share link available to the requester; they will need to open it to read the conversation. Access requests do not send email or push notifications.

Your team's Thread access setting determines what teammates can browse and read. Select the image to enlarge it.

Revoke sharing or make a thread private

Open Manage sharing from the thread menu and choose Revoke sharing. This will disable that URL immediately. Sharing again will create a new URL. Archiving will keep a share active; deleting the thread will remove it. If your team uses All threads, teammates will still be able to read the thread through that policy.

Make private will override the team's browsing policy, revoke sharing, remove access requests, and remove the thread from teammates' saved threads and Team work. Sharing the thread again will clear that private setting, create a new link, and restore the team's browsing policy. Under All threads, teammates will be able to read it through that policy as well as through the link.

Read Claude's subagent conversations

Claude's active and recently finished subagents appear above its reply box. Open one to read its conversation, then use Back or Escape to return to the parent thread. The subagent view is read-only, and your unsent parent message will stay in the reply box. Finished subagents leave the list after your next message; older conversations may not have this list.

If Claude finishes replying while subagents are still running in the background, you can keep talking to it: your next message reaches Claude right away, and the subagents keep running. To end them, click Stop background agents in the reply box. Escape won't stop them. While Claude is still replying, Stop will end both the reply and any background subagents. Claude will learn which subagents you stopped when you send your next message.