conon.ai

conon.ai/Tips

Steer It Mid-Run, Don't Restart

You never have to sit and watch. Type a correction while the agent works and it folds your note into the run without starting over; Esc stops it dead when you need the brakes.

BeginnerAGENTSClaude Code

Why it works

New users treat a running agent like a launched rocket — untouchable until it lands, then rebuild from zero if the trajectory was off. It's actually more like a contractor on a call: talk to it while it works. Mid-run corrections preserve everything already done and cost one sentence; stop-and-restart costs the whole run.

How to do it

  1. Give a task and watch the live transcript as it works.
  2. See it drifting — wrong color, wrong file, wrong assumption? Type the correction immediately.
  3. Send it. The note joins the run; the agent folds it in without starting over.
  4. Stack corrections as you spot things — each lands mid-flight.
  5. For a real emergency, press Esc or click Stop: it halts instantly, work-so-far preserved.
  6. After a stop, continue with an instruction, not a restart: 'keep the layout, redo only the header.'

Copy this

prompt
Correction while you work: use the blue from the logo (#2200FF), not the default blue, and keep all headings in the same font as the body.

What to watch for

  • Waiting for the run to finish before mentioning a visible mistake buys you nothing — the mistake compounds into everything built after it.
  • Don't spam stops for cosmetic issues; a mid-run note fixes those. Stop is for 'wrong direction entirely'.

Sources

Original: conon.ai

Read next

Pick A Project That Fits One Evening
Don't start with the big idea you came for — you'll fumble the management, blame the tool, and quit. First build three small things you personally need: each describable in one sentence, each done in an evening. Then bring out the real project.
Claude Code
Ask The Tool About The Tool
Stuck in settings, can't find a menu, button greyed out? Ask Claude Code itself — it always has access to its own current documentation, whatever version you run. For questions about the outside world, add 'check a source and give me the link'.
Claude Code
Rename Sessions Before You Drown
Sessions survive restarts — nothing burns when you close the app. But by default each is named after your first prompt, and in a week you're squinting at twenty identical grey lines. Two seconds of renaming per session buys you instant recall.
Claude Code
Start In Manual Mode On Purpose
Manual permission mode shows you a diff before every single change — accept or reject. It's slightly nagging and exactly how you learn to read what the agent does; graduate to accept-edits only once the diff-accept cycle feels like routine.
Claude Code

We build and operate the systems behind tips like this one — agents, automations and internal tools, shipped into production. See what the studio does →