Tangent

Tangent adds four Claude Code-style commands to Paseo agents: /btw for side questions, /subtask for background work that reports back, and /fork and /branch for copying a conversation into a new tab.

Commands

• /btw <question> asks a side question in a "By the way" sidebar panel. The thread starts from a copy of the conversation and is told not to use tools. The main agent never sees it. Follow-ups continue the same thread, and New thread archives it.
• /subtask <task> starts a background child agent with fresh context on the parent's provider, model, mode, and thinking level. When it finishes, its reply is sent to the parent as a <subtask-result> message.
• /fork <prompt> copies the conversation into a new agent, opens it in a new tab, and sends it the prompt. Its answer is sent back to the parent as a <fork-result> message.
• /branch [prompt] works like /fork but never reports back.

Reports steer a busy parent instead of interrupting it. Only the reply to Tangent's own prompt is reported; turns you start in the child's tab are not.

How forking works

Where the provider allows it, Tangent makes a native fork: a copy of the provider's own session, so the fork keeps tool results and the prompt cache.

• Claude: copies the session transcript under ~/.claude/projects (or CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR) with a new session id.
• Codex: starts a short-lived codex app-server and calls thread/fork.
• OpenCode: starts a short-lived opencode serve on a free local port and calls its session fork endpoint.
• Pi and Oh My Pi: copy the session file with a new session id.

The fork is then imported with the paseo CLI, which also copies the parent's title, thinking level, and mode, and opens the fork in Paseo Desktop. Copilot, Antigravity, Muse Code, and any failed native fork fall back to a transcript fork: the visible user and assistant messages are attached to a fresh agent.

Requirements

• Paseo 0.13 or later on the daemon.
• The paseo CLI, and codex or opencode for those providers' native forks. Tangent looks in standard install locations; PASEO_CLI, TANGENT_CODEX_BIN, and TANGENT_OPENCODE_BIN override them.

Data and permissions

• Forks, /btw threads, and subtasks are ordinary agents. Conversation content, including tool results in native forks, goes to the same agent provider the parent uses.
• Native forks write new session files into the provider's own session store beside the original.
• Tangent runs the paseo, codex, and opencode CLIs already installed on the daemon host. It downloads nothing and contacts no service of its own. OpenCode forks use a local server bound to 127.0.0.1.

Limitations

• Native forks do not carry over the parent's model on Claude, Pi, or Oh My Pi; the CLI cannot set it.
• Pending reports are kept in memory and are lost if the daemon restarts.
• /btw answers appear when complete, not streamed, and time out after 5 minutes.
• On clients other than Paseo Desktop, /fork and /branch open the sidebar panel, which opens the tab.

See the README for installation and configuration.