# Done means the whole tree is done

A thread's status in ace covers every subagent and background command it started. While a subagent still runs, the thread says Waiting, never Done.

- Working, Approve, Waiting, Failed and Done
- Subagents and background shells counted
- The threads that need you, first
- The same status on desktop and phone

## Five words you can trust

Agents start subagents and leave commands running in the background. A status that only watches the main agent says Done while work is still happening. ace follows the whole tree, so Done means every agent and command in the thread has finished.

Approve and Answer mean a thread is stopped on you: a permission or a question. Those threads come first, on your desktop and on your phone, so you never leave an agent waiting.

## MCP tools

`agents_status`, `wait`, `threads_find`

## Questions

### Why does a thread say Waiting after the agent replied?

Its turn ended, but a subagent or a background command it started is still running. The thread says Done only when all of them finish.

Page: https://acehq.dev/features/status/