GuidesBy featureAnyone trying an agent that keeps working while they are away
Giving a persistent agent one job without handing over the keys
For anyone trying an agent that keeps working while they are away.
- 3 min read
- 7 steps
- 1 prompt to copy
The 2-minute version
Use it when You have access to an agent that keeps working after you close your laptop. It has a browser, a file system and a terminal of its own, and it can sign in to the tools you already use. You want to try it on something real without giving it the run of your accounts.
- Carries out a repetitive job across several signed-in tools without being watched
- Keeps working between sessions, so a routine can pick up where it left off
- Holds context across a job that is too long to sit through, then hands you the result
- Stops and asks before named categories of action when you have set those boundaries
In short
- What this helps you do
- Agents that run on their own cloud computer stay signed in to your tools between sessions. That persistence is the point, and it means the thing you are really configuring is access, not prompts.
- What you leave with
- One limited agent task, its permissions and the point where it must stop.
- What to check before trusting it
- You choose the one job that is safe to hand over, and the account it runs under
Tools to consider: Grok, Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini.Editorial starting points, not a tested ranking. Reviewed 19 September 2026. Open a tool guide for what each one does with this kind of work.
Workflow
0 of 7 done
Prompt to try
Use it, adapt it, and make it your own.
Prompt
Your job is [one specific recurring task]. Take the figures only from [named sources]. If a source has not refreshed or a number is missing, stop and tell me rather than estimating or reusing an older value. Before you send anything, publish anything, spend anything, change any permission or delete any file, stop and ask me first. When you finish, list every site you signed in to and every file you saved.
Human lens
- You choose the one job that is safe to hand over, and the account it runs under
- You type the passwords and the two-factor codes yourself, because those steps are human-only
- You decide which actions must stop for approval rather than accepting the defaults
- You sign the machine out and delete the files afterwards, because that part is not automatic
What to avoid
- Separate agents are usually not separate accounts. Where they share one computer, one agent's logins, files and stored credentials are reachable by the others, whatever you named them
- Deleting an agent tends to remove its profile, conversation and routines while files and logins on the shared computer may remain
- Automatic review of an agent's own actions is itself a model making a judgement, and providers say plainly that it complements least privilege rather than replacing it
- A broad allow rule written for convenience on day one is the rule that lets something through in week three, when the site it acts on has quietly changed
- Persistence cuts both ways: an agent that keeps working also keeps holding access while nobody is watching it
Reviewed 19 September 2026