[DOCS] Agent view omits 5-minute retirement for empty idle background sessions
Documentation Type
Incorrect/outdated documentation
Documentation Location
https://code.claude.com/docs/en/agent-view
Section/Topic
"Attach to a session" and "The supervisor process"
Current Documentation
The docs currently say:
Press←on an empty prompt to detach and return to agent view. Detaching never stops a background session:←,Ctrl+C,Ctrl+D,Ctrl+Z, and/exitall leave it running. After you've dispatched or backgrounded a session, pressing←on an empty prompt works from any Claude Code session, not only ones you attached to from agent view. It backgrounds the current session and opens agent view with that session pre-selected, so you can switch sessions without leaving the terminal. Once a session finishes and sits unattached for about an hour, the supervisor stops its process to free resources. The transcript and state stay on disk, and the next time you attach, peek, or reply, the supervisor starts a fresh process from where it left off.
What's Wrong or Missing?
The session-lifecycle description appears outdated for v2.1.141.
The v2.1.141 release notes say empty idle background sessions left over from ← are now automatically retired by the daemon after 5 minutes.
The current page explains that ← backgrounds the current session and says detaching leaves the background session running, then separately describes a roughly one-hour supervisor stop for finished unattached sessions. It does not mention the new 5-minute retirement rule for empty idle sessions created by ←, so readers do not get the current cleanup behavior or the exception to the broader lifecycle description.
Suggested Improvement
Add a short note in the ← detach/background explanation or in "The supervisor process" section clarifying that empty idle background sessions left over from ← are automatically retired by the daemon after about 5 minutes in v2.1.141 and later.
That note should distinguish this cleanup rule from the existing "about an hour" process stop for finished unattached sessions so users understand why an empty leftover session may disappear much sooner.
Impact
Medium - Makes feature difficult to understand
Additional Context
Affected Pages:
| Page | Line(s) | Context |
|------|---------|---------|
| https://code.claude.com/docs/en/agent-view | 155-159, 322-328, 372 | ← detach/background behavior and current supervisor retirement description |
Total scope: 1 page affected
Version context: v2.1.141 release notes say empty idle background sessions left over from ← are retired after 5 minutes.
This issue has 1 comment on GitHub. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗