Runs

Each task execution is stored as a self-contained run under ~/.tide/tasks/<id>/runs/<runId>/.

Run storage

~/.tide/tasks/<id>/runs/
└── <runId>/               — short random hex ID (e.g. a3f9c1b2)
    ├── run.json           — metadata (written at start, completed at end)
    ├── output.log         — stdout for this run only
    └── stderr.log         — stderr for this run only

run.json schema

{
  "runId": "a3f9c1b2",
  "taskId": "...",
  "taskName": "My Task",
  "startedAt": "2026-03-30T10:00:00Z",
  "completedAt": "2026-03-30T10:00:45Z",
  "exitCode": 0,
  "attempts": 1,
  "argument": "the prompt used for this run",
  "parentRunId": "de45f012"
}

Field	Description
runId	8-char random hex ID unique to this run
startedAt	ISO 8601 timestamp written immediately when the run starts
completedAt	ISO 8601 timestamp written when the run finishes. Absent if the run is in progress or was killed
exitCode	Shell exit code. 0 = success, non-zero = failure
attempts	Total number of attempts. 1 = ran once, 2 = initial run + 1 retry
argument	The argument (prompt) used for this run, snapshotted at start time
parentRunId	Present only on follow-up runs. The runId of the run this was spawned from

run.json is written twice: once at start (with runId, taskId, taskName, startedAt, argument, and parentRunId if applicable) and again at completion with the full record. This means a run directory always exists as proof-of-start, even if the process was killed.

Viewing runs

Press x on a selected task (from the task list or task detail) to open the Runs screen.

Runs list

Shows all runs for the task, newest first. Each row displays:

• Start time
• Exit code badge (green ✓ / red ✗ / spinner if in progress)
• Duration
• Attempt count (if > 1)

Use + / - to show more or fewer runs (5 / 10 / 25 / 50).

Run detail

Press Enter or → on a run to open its detail view. This shows:

• Run metadata at the top (time, exit code, duration, attempts)
• Full log output for that run only, scoped to output.log / stderr.log

Press Tab to switch between OUTPUT and STDERR tabs.

Press f to start a follow-up run — see Follow-up runs below.

Press Ctrl+F to toggle auto-refresh — useful when watching a run in progress. Auto-refresh is enabled automatically when viewing the latest run of a currently-running task.

If a run is a follow-up, its detail view shows ↳ follow-up of <parentRunId> in the header.

Press ← / Esc / q to go back to the run list.

Follow-up runs

A follow-up run lets you continue a conversation where a previous run left off, passing its full output as context for the next prompt.

How it works

1. Open any run in the Run detail view and press f.
2. Tide opens the New Task screen with the Argument field pre-filled with the previous run's argument and its complete output, separated by a newline:

   <previous argument>
   <previous output>

3. Edit the pre-filled argument — typically by appending your new prompt at the end — then complete the task creation flow as normal.
4. The new task is created with a parentRunId field that links it back to the source run.

parentRunId and run graph

Every follow-up task's run.json contains a parentRunId field pointing to the runId it was spawned from. This creates a traceable chain: you can reconstruct the full conversation history by following parentRunId links back through previous runs.

Follow-up runs are visually identified in the run list and detail view with the ↳ follow-up of <parentRunId> indicator.

Log rotation

Each run's logs are rotated after the run completes if they exceed 5 MB. Rotation keeps the most recent 2 MB of content and prepends a [... rotated ...] marker.

Retention

Run directories older than resultRetentionDays are deleted after each run. The default is 30 days.

To change retention per task, add or edit resultRetentionDays in the task's .md frontmatter:

---
resultRetentionDays: 7
---