> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.pipelime.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Agent statuses and pause options

> Sourcing and outreach pause independently. What each of the six statuses means and how to get back to Active.

export const Screenshot = ({id, alt, caption, frame = 'browser', url, marks = [], lang = 'en', workspace = 'northwind-outbound'}) => {
  const src = `/images/screenshots/${lang}/${id}.png`;
  const chrome = url ? `app.pipelime.ai/${workspace}${url}` : 'app.pipelime.ai';
  return <figure className={`pl-shot pl-shot--${frame} not-prose`}>
      <div className="pl-shot__frame">
        {frame !== 'bare' && <div className="pl-shot__bar">
            <span className="pl-shot__dots">
              <span className="pl-shot__dot" />
              <span className="pl-shot__dot" />
              <span className="pl-shot__dot" />
            </span>
            <span className="pl-shot__url">{chrome}</span>
          </div>}
        <div className="pl-shot__media">
          <img src={src} alt={alt} loading="lazy" />
          {marks.map(mark => <span key={mark.n} className="pl-shot__mark" style={{
    left: `${mark.x}%`,
    top: `${mark.y}%`
  }} aria-hidden="true">
              {mark.n}
            </span>)}
        </div>
      </div>
      {caption && <figcaption className="pl-shot__caption">{caption}</figcaption>}
    </figure>;
};

An agent's status pill is never one switch. It's computed from two independent things (whether outreach is on, and
whether any of its lead sources are currently running), combined in a fixed order that checks whether the agent is even
set up before it looks at either one.

<div className="pl-availability">
  <div className="pl-availability__row">
    <div className="pl-availability__label">Where</div>
    <div className="pl-availability__value"><span className="pl-path">Outreach<span className="pl-path__sep">→</span>AI Agents</span></div>
  </div>

  <div className="pl-availability__row">
    <div className="pl-availability__label">Your role needs</div>
    <div className="pl-availability__value">Read access to AI Agents <code>read-campaigns</code>. Admin, Member and Viewer have it by default.</div>
  </div>

  <div className="pl-availability__row">
    <div className="pl-availability__label">To create or change</div>
    <div className="pl-availability__value"><code>create-campaigns</code> to add one, <code>update-campaigns</code> to change one, on top of the permission above.</div>
  </div>

  <div className="pl-availability__note">If you cannot find this in your sidebar, your workspace may have a custom menu configuration. Contact support and we will check it for you.</div>
</div>

<Screenshot id="ai-agents/agent-statuses-and-pausing--pills" url="/ai-agents" alt="The AI Agents list: one agent card carries a green Active pill with a pulsing dot, and each of the other three carries a red Needs setup pill" caption="A pill names which half stopped, never why. For the reason and the action that clears it, open the agent and read the alerts across the top of its dashboard." />

## The six, in the order the product checks them

| Check                                             | Status                | What it means                                                                     |
| ------------------------------------------------- | --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| The agent has no tag at all                       | **Needs setup**       | This agent is missing configuration and cannot work yet                           |
| It has a tag, but no lead source shares it        | **Needs setup**       | Same message: a tag with nothing feeding it is the same dead end as no tag        |
| Outreach is on and a lead source is running       | **Active**            | Sourcing leads and running outreach                                               |
| Outreach is on and every lead source has finished | **Sourcing finished** | All configured lead searches have finished: outreach continues on the leads found |
| Outreach is on and nothing is running             | **Sourcing paused**   | Outreach is running but no new leads are being sourced                            |
| Outreach is off and a lead source is running      | **Outreach paused**   | Leads are being sourced but outreach is stopped                                   |
| Outreach is off and nothing is running            | **Paused**            | Outreach and lead sourcing are stopped                                            |

That's seven checks for six pills: **Needs setup** covers two different reasons, and both stop the product from even
looking at whether outreach is switched on. An agent whose outreach you switched on yourself still shows **Needs setup**
if it has no lead source, or if its tag matches none.

## How it behaves

### A lead source only counts as "running" while it's actually working

Not every source status counts toward the **Active** / **Sourcing paused** / **Outreach paused** decision above. A source
that has hit today's sourcing cap still counts as running. It starts again on its own tomorrow. A source that ran out
of credits, hit its total company limit, finished, or that you paused by hand does not count as running.

<Tip>
  A source that has just been created sits waiting until its underlying searches are built, and that waiting state
  doesn't count as running either. So a brand-new agent can read **Paused** or **Sourcing paused** before its first
  source starts. Nothing can start a source whose searches do not exist yet, not you and not the product, so if one
  stays waiting, give it a moment and then start it from its row on **Sources**.
</Tip>

<Screenshot id="ai-agents/agent-statuses-and-pausing--source-statuses" url="/ai-agents/12?tab=sources" alt="The Sources tab showing one lead source card: its name, a green Active status chip with a small running indicator beside it, and three stat columns labelled Companies, Daily and Leads" caption="This is exactly the status the agent pill above is reading when it decides whether sourcing counts as running." />

An agent can have several lead sources, and the pill only ever reports the combined picture: **Sourcing paused** does
not say whether one source is out of credits, another is paused, and a third hasn't started. Open **Sources** on the
agent to see each one on its own. Even there, a source at today's cap carries the same green **Active** chip as one
that is searching right now; hover the chip and its tooltip says which of the two it is.

### The header switch and the list's filter chips only ever look at outreach

The switch next to the pause menu, on the agent's own page, reads only **Active** or **Paused**, and it is tracking
outreach alone, not the combined pill above it. An agent can show the **Sourcing paused** pill while that switch still
reads **Active**, because outreach really is on; it's the sourcing half that stopped.

The same split shows up on the list. Its **Active** and **Paused** filter chips group agents by outreach only: an agent
showing the **Sourcing paused** pill sits under **Active** there, not under **Paused**, and an agent that shows
**Needs setup** with outreach switched on sits under **Active** too. Only the **Needs setup** chip matches the pill
exactly, because that's the one check that doesn't depend on either switch.

### Three scopes to pause: everything, one half, or one source

The switch, and **Pause everything** in the pause menu next to it, do the same thing: stop outreach and every one of the
agent's running lead sources together, with none left behind. **Only sourcing** stops every running lead source and
leaves outreach alone; **Only outreach** does the reverse. Each menu item disables itself once there is nothing left in
its scope to pause: **Pause everything** only when both outreach and sourcing are already stopped, **Only sourcing**
whenever nothing is running, **Only outreach** whenever outreach is already off.

The pause button on an agent's card in the list is the same both-halves action as the switch, with no way to narrow it:
the three scopes only exist on the agent's own page.

<Screenshot id="ai-agents/agent-statuses-and-pausing--pause-menu" url="/ai-agents/12" alt="The agent detail header with its Pause options menu open, listing three enabled items: Pause everything, Only sourcing and Only outreach" caption="All three are enabled here because both outreach and a lead source are currently running. Pause one scope and the item for it greys out." />

A single lead source has its own pause and resume button too, on its row in **Sources**. That one touches nothing else:
not the other sources, not outreach.

<Note>
  Pausing is gated separately from reading. The switch, the pause menu and the card's pause button need a role that can
  update agents; a source's own pause button needs a role that can update sources. A read-only role sees every pill and
  every source status but none of these controls: they are hidden, not greyed out.
</Note>

### Resuming only undoes a pause the product could have caused

Turning the switch back on does not blindly flip everything back on. Outreach restarts, and the product then tries to
start any lead source that is either waiting to start for the first time or that you paused yourself: those two and
nothing else. A source stopped because it ran out of credits, hit its total company limit, or finished needs that cause
fixed first (buy more credits, raise the limit) before it runs again. On its own row that source cannot even be
clicked: its button is disabled, with a tooltip reading "Fix the pause reason first — see the source status".

<Warning>
  So resuming a **Paused** agent does not always land on **Active**. If its only source is out of credits or at its
  limit, outreach comes back on and the pill settles on **Sourcing paused**; if every source has finished, it settles on
  **Sourcing finished**. Read each source's own status on **Sources** rather than assuming the resume failed.
</Warning>

## Limits

|                                            |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| ------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| How many statuses                          | Six, computed from two switches: outreach on or off, and whether any lead source is running                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| What's checked first                       | Whether the agent has a tag, and whether that tag matches a lead source: **Needs setup** either way                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| Counts as a running source                 | Actively searching, or paused only because it hit today's cap (resumes on its own tomorrow)                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| Doesn't count as running                   | Waiting to start for the first time, paused by hand, out of credits, at its total limit, or finished                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| What the switch and the filter chips track | Outreach only: never the combined pill                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| Ways to pause                              | The switch, **Pause everything**, or the card's pause button in the list (outreach plus every running source); **Only sourcing** (every running source, outreach untouched); **Only outreach** (outreach alone, no source touched); a source's own button on **Sources** (that source alone) |
| What resuming undoes                       | Only a pause the product itself could reverse: not a source out of credits, at its limit, or finished                                                                                                                                                                                        |

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Lead sources: add, edit limits, pause" icon="search" href="/en/ai-agents/lead-sources">
    Every source status this page treats as one running-or-not switch, explained on its own.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Agent alerts and what to do about them" icon="activity" href="/en/ai-agents/agent-alerts-and-issues">
    The banners across the top of an agent's dashboard: what triggers each one, and the action that clears it.
  </Card>

  <Card title="No sending channel connected" icon="mail" href="/en/troubleshooting/agent-not-sending">
    Start here when outreach looks on but nothing is actually going out.
  </Card>

  <Card title="No leads matched yet" icon="users" href="/en/troubleshooting/no-leads-found">
    Start here when sourcing is running but the lead count isn't moving.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>