The Governor
The Governor watches each step an agent works on the board and, when the agent drifts from the step's objective, steers it back. It is on for every agent with nothing to enable; you never talk to it and it never stops a step; you read what it said on the card and in the inspector. For anyone reading a board in Chat or on a run page who wants to know what the Governor badge means.
Steps
- Look for the Governor badge at a card's top right: amber with an unread count while it holds lines you have not read, grey once opened. A card without a badge is a step it has not commented on yet; a Handoff, which only waits for you, never carries one.
- Click it. A read-only popover, Governor on plus the step's handle, lists what it said, oldest first; opening marks everything read. Escape or a click elsewhere closes it.
- For the same lines beside the step's reasoning and tool calls, click the card to open the inspector and choose Governor ("No Governor comment on this node." when empty).
What you should see
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ACTIVATED | Watching has started ("Overseeing this node." or "Governor is watching this node."). |
| VERDICT | A checkpoint's ruling, with the Governor's reasoning. |
| NOTE | A comment for the agent that did not interrupt it. |
| STEER | A correction or a question the agent must answer before going on; its next turn starts with the instruction. |
| GROUNDING REQUESTED | The agent was sent back to its knowledge graph for a named topic; only for agents with a graph. |
| BUDGET EXHAUSTED | The steers for this step are spent; from here it only comments. |
| PROCEEDING | The agent declared a long piece of work and is being let run. |
A COORDINATOR · prefix means the line relays an instruction from the run's coordinator (for example something you typed in the composer while the step ran), not the Governor's own judgement.
Notes
- Checkpoints every 4 tool calls: the agent justifies its next action, the Governor rules, and the ruling reaches the agent at its next tool call.
- At most three steers per step (a correction, a grounding request or a question); a question-and-answer exchange is capped at 2 rounds before it becomes a correction; after three, rulings arrive as notes and the agent is no longer interrupted.
- It never interrupts a running tool call (a web search, a connector query, a code run); the steer replaces the next call. It never stops, fails or finishes a step: Stop in the composer or on the run page is yours.
- No setting in Studio switches it off or changes its cadence or budget; you cannot write to it (what you type goes to the coordinator).
- The count does not go down: open the popover; opening is what marks lines read, and the count stays correct after a reconnect. A step keeps drifting after three steers: stop the run and rephrase, or send the step back if it is waiting for you.