Sessions
The sidebar, what each state means, archive, restarts and notifications.
A session is one conversation with one agent in one folder. Each runs its own agent process; several run at once, and the sidebar shows them all.
The sidebar
Section titled “The sidebar”Sessions are grouped by Folder (the default), by Status, or not at all, and sorted by Last updated, Date created or Name. The options are in the sidebar’s menu, with Reset to defaults. Pinned sessions sit in their own group at the top. Ctrl+B hides the sidebar.
By status, the groups are Needs input, Working and Completed (five shown, then Show more).
A row says what its session is doing:
| Row | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Running | The agent is working on a turn |
| Needs your input | A permission or a question waits for you |
| Unread response | A turn ended while you were elsewhere |
| Failed | The agent could not start or stopped with an error |
A session’s menu
Section titled “A session’s menu”More options on a row: Pin, Mark as read or unread, Rename (R), Fork (F), Open in (an editor, newen-ide, the file manager), Transcript view, Archive and Delete (D). Delete asks first, stops the agent and removes what Newen kept of the session; your folder and its files stay.
Transcript view is how much a conversation shows: Normal, Thinking (with the agent’s reasoning) or Verbose (every detail of every tool). Ctrl+O cycles it; the default is in Settings › General.
Search
Section titled “Search”Ctrl+K searches session titles, in Needs attention, Active, Recents and Archived, and offers New session. Enter opens the first result.
Archive
Section titled “Archive”Archived sessions leave the sidebar and stay searchable. Settings › Sessions › Archive inactive sessions archives on its own after 1, 7 or 30 days (off by default); pinned sessions are never archived. To free disk space, see Storage.
Restarts and failures
Section titled “Restarts and failures”Sessions come back after a restart: Newen keeps its own copy of every conversation, so the transcript is there at once. A restored session shows Exited until you write to it; your next message starts the agent again with the CLI’s own resume, so the agent remembers too. A turn that was running when Newen closed is not counted as done.
If the agent cannot start, the session fails with the reason (could not start claude: …); if it stops with an error, the agent exited with code 1. A CLI that is not installed is not offered at all.
Notifications
Section titled “Notifications”Newen tells you when a session needs you and you are not looking at it:
| Event | Banner | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| A permission request | An agent needs your approval to use a tool. | Permission requests: Off, Badge only, Banners |
| A question | An agent is asking you to choose between options. | Questions: Off, Badge only, Banners |
| A finished turn | An agent finished and is waiting for your input. | Task complete: Off, Banners |
Nothing is sent for the session you have open in a focused window. Notification sound plays Newen’s own two soft tones, or none; Draw attention asks the desktop to flag Newen’s window.
Keeping the computer awake
Section titled “Keeping the computer awake”With Keep computer awake on (the default), Newen holds off idle sleep while an agent is working, and only then: systemd-inhibit on Linux, caffeinate on macOS. The display can still turn off, and closing the lid still sleeps. Keep awake on battery power decides whether that also applies on battery. Windows has no keep-awake yet.