Goals & Ambient Dashboard

Goals & Ambient Dashboard is the central board for durable work that should survive beyond one chat turn, one thread, or one terminal session.

Use it when you want RealTimeX to keep track of an outcome over time, such as:

a project or deliverable that spans multiple conversations
a terminal-driven implementation task that may need follow-up
a recurring operational objective that Ambient Agent should monitor
a thread that has turned into a real piece of work instead of a one-off discussion

Open it by selecting the Ambient Agent workspace from the main sidebar. The dashboard is the home view of that workspace.

How this differs from Ambient Agent settings

RealTimeX now has two related but different Ambient Agent surfaces:

Settings > Agents > Ambient Agent controls scheduler behavior, execution agent selection, HEARTBEAT.md, task blocks, and calendar routines
the Ambient Agent workspace home is the cross-workspace goal board

In practice:

use settings when you are configuring how background runs work
use the dashboard when you are tracking outcomes, reviewing progress, and responding to ambient follow-up

For the scheduler and HEARTBEAT.md setup flow, see Ambient Agent.

Ways to create goals

There are four common ways goals enter the board.

Create a goal directly

Use Create goal in the dashboard when you want to add a human-created goal from scratch.

This is the cleanest option when:

the goal is bigger than one existing thread
you already know the target workspace
you want to define the title, description, and priority yourself

Track a chat thread as a goal

Regular workspace threads can show a Track this thread callout with a Track as goal button.

Use it when a conversation has become durable work that should be monitored beyond the current thread. After saving the goal, RealTimeX opens the Ambient Agent workspace and selects the new goal on the board.

Track a terminal session in Ambient

Terminal history cards can show Track in Ambient.

Use it when a CLI-backed agent session, coding run, or runtime task should turn into an ongoing goal with follow-up, review, or later intervention.

This is especially useful when:

the session produced partial progress but is not done
you want Ambient Agent to watch for new implementation activity
you want the work to stay visible after the terminal session ends

Promote a candidate

The Candidates tab shows recent chat threads and terminal sessions that look like durable goals.

Use Promote when RealTimeX already surfaced the work for you and you want to move it into the main board without recreating it manually.

Dashboard structure

The top of the dashboard summarizes current work with KPI cards such as:

open goals
running now
needs review
completed

The main board is split into three tabs:

Open: active goals across all workspaces
Completed: achieved goals with completion evidence and artifacts
Candidates: chats or terminal sessions that look promotion-worthy

You can also filter by:

search
workspace
goal status
archived visibility

Goal sources

Goals can come from different source types. The most common are:

Manual: created directly in the dashboard
Chat thread: promoted from a workspace conversation
Terminal session: promoted from terminal history
Ambient task: derived from Ambient Agent task blocks or recurring workspace behavior

In more advanced setups, you may also see goals created from external signals or hooks.

Reading goal status

The board uses status chips to show how a goal is progressing. The most important statuses are:

Running: Ambient Agent is actively working or monitoring the goal right now
Needs input: Ambient Agent requested human guidance before continuing
Needs review: a run typically needs human attention before it can proceed
Blocked: the last proactive pass encountered an error or failed path
Due: the goal is ready for another proactive pass
Acted: recent progress or activity was observed
Achieved: the goal reached a successful outcome
Archived: the goal is hidden from the main active view but can be restored

You may also see Idle or Disabled depending on the workspace state and current monitoring behavior.

Goal detail view

Selecting a goal opens its detail panel.

The detail view is where you review:

source workspace
linked threads
last run or completion time
next due time
completion artifact when one exists
monitoring policy
linked live terminal focus, if the goal currently has an active runtime session

The activity area is split into three timelines:

Implementation: observed work happening in linked threads, terminals, or related execution surfaces
Monitoring: Ambient Agent oversight runs for that goal
Events: lifecycle events such as creation, enhancement, consultation, status changes, archive/restore, and completion evidence

Monitoring policy

Each goal has its own monitoring policy.

Main modes:

Off: keep the goal on the board without ambient follow-up
Passive: observe progress and refine the goal without proactive intervention
Active: proactively monitor and intervene when appropriate

Other controls let you tune:

cadence: Event-driven, Adaptive, or Manual review
review sensitivity
watched sources such as chat threads, terminal sessions, activity cards, and hooks
Auto-enhance
Auto-intervene

Use conservative settings first. Passive is usually the safest starting point for thread and terminal goals.

Consultations and enhancements

Goals do not always proceed autonomously.

When Ambient Agent needs direction, the goal can move into a Needs input state and show a response action. This lets you answer the consultation without leaving the goal board.

You can also request Enhance goal when you want RealTimeX to refine the brief, clarify success criteria, or suggest stronger next actions.

Completion and artifacts

Completed goals move to the Completed tab.

When available, RealTimeX can attach completion evidence such as:

a completion summary
a linked artifact or output file
observed implementation history
the final executor or runtime context

Use this tab when you want a durable record of what was achieved, not just a live operational board.

Archiving and restoring

Use Archive goal when the goal should leave the active board without being deleted.

Archive is useful when:

the work is no longer relevant
the goal was superseded by another goal
you want to keep history without keeping it in the main active view

Use Show archived to review archived goals, then Restore goal if the work becomes active again.

Best practices

Promote threads only when they represent durable work, not ordinary chat.
Use clear goal titles so the board stays scannable across many workspaces.
Prefer Passive monitoring before enabling proactive intervention.
Respond to consultation requests quickly so the goal does not stall in Needs input.
Archive stale goals instead of leaving the active board noisy.

Related guides

Ambient Agent Agentic CLIs