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Starting, Stopping, and Sleep

Your helpers start automatically, sleep when idle, and wake when there is work. Here is how the lifecycle really behaves.

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Helpers Start Themselves

Both helpers auto-start when your account is provisioned. If capacity is momentarily full, the start is queued and happens automatically; the dashboard shows “Queued — waiting for capacity. We’ll start your agent automatically.” You never lose your place in line.

After that, the Helper page has Start and Stop controls for each runtime. Stopping a helper shuts its workspace down; starting brings it back with everything intact.

Your data is always safe. Stopping deletes nothing. Files, conversation history, configuration, and your Business Brain all persist on dedicated storage.

Sleep and Wake, Honestly

You do not need to manage your helper’s uptime. BrainRoad handles it:

  • Idle helpers sleep. A helper with no active work, no queued messages, and no scheduled tasks is put to sleep after a while to save resources. The dashboard shows Sleeping. This is housekeeping, not something you triggered.
  • Messages wake them. Inbound work is stored durably. An email that arrives while a helper sleeps is never dropped: it queues the wake-up, the helper boots, and the draft lands in your Inbox as usual.
  • Opening the Helper page wakes them. Visiting the Helper page is treated as intent to talk, so a sleeping helper wakes automatically. You will see “Waking — usually 10–40 seconds.” Other dashboard pages never wake it.
  • Channel-connected helpers stay resident. If your helper has a live messaging channel connected (for example Telegram or Discord), it is kept running, because those adapters run inside the workspace and a sleeping helper could miss messages.
  • A manual Stop is respected. If you stop a helper yourself, BrainRoad never wakes it behind your back.
  • Long-idle workspaces archive. A workspace that stays stopped for roughly 30 days without an active subscription may be archived. Archival removes the hosted workspace and its storage, so do not rely on a stopped workspace as long-term storage. BrainRoad emails you before that happens; upgrade or restart before archival and your helper picks up exactly where you left off. Details: What Happens During Your Trial.

Your Inbox and Work Ledger keep working even while helpers are stopped: reviewing and approving drafts is handled by BrainRoad’s platform, not the helper’s workspace. Only pages that need a live helper, such as Runs, Console, and Browser, require one to be running.

When to Restart

Stop then Start clears a helper’s runtime state. Useful when:

  • The helper seems stuck or is not responding in chat.
  • You made manual configuration changes from the Console and want a clean reload.

Most changes take effect without a restart.