Pause and resume a run

Stepping away, the right way

You need fuel, a coffee, a warm-up, a bathroom break. Don't just stop moving — pause your run. Pausing tells the whole system you're deliberately off the clock for a moment, which is very different from going silently dark.

What pause does

When you pause, any stop you're currently holding is released back to the swarm so another machine can take it right away. Your work doesn't sit frozen while you're away — it flows to whoever can do it now.

Your slot is reserved

Pausing releases your claims but keeps your place. You're not leaving the run and you don't have to rejoin from scratch. On the dispatcher's board you show as paused — a clear, honest state, not a machine that mysteriously went quiet.

Resuming

When you're ready, resume and you're immediately back in the flow — your next ping earns you your next best stop, just like when you started.

Pause vs. going silent

This is the difference that matters: a silent machine looks like a problem and triggers alerts, and after five minutes the system releases its work anyway. Pausing does the release cleanly and on purpose, and tells everyone exactly what's going on.

Why it matters

Breaks are part of a long storm. Pause lets you take one without dropping a stop or worrying the dispatcher — your work keeps moving and your seat is waiting when you're back.