Stopping a session
Stop gently, stop at once, or close the session and everything it started, and know what happens to the prompts in line.
A turn that goes the wrong way costs time and usage, so the studio gives you more than one way to stop it. They differ in how much they interrupt. The buttons stand in the row under the prompt box and appear only while a turn is running.
They exist for sessions the studio runs. A session that belongs to VS Code or a terminal has no such buttons here, because the studio is not the one running it.
The three ways to stop
| Button | What happens | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Stop after this step | The step the session is on is finished and nothing new starts. A file write or a command is not cut in the middle. | You want to look before it goes further. |
| Stop right now | The work is cut at once and the session stays open. If it has not stopped within five seconds, the session and its programs are closed. | It is heading somewhere you do not want. |
| Cut off now | The session and every program it started are closed immediately. | Stop right now did not work, or something is hanging. |
Cut off now is not a separate button from the start. After you press Stop right now, the same place in the row changes into a power sign with that name and the tooltip "It has not stopped yet. This closes the session and every program it started, now."
Stop after this step
A step is one tool call, from the moment the tool is started to the moment its result comes back. When no step is open any more, the studio interrupts the turn. The conversation says "It will stop after this step." and, when it has happened, "The step that was running finished, and the work stopped there."
While it waits for the step to end, a permission request or a question from the session is refused, with a reason that the model can read. The same goes for a new tool call: it is not run.
Stop right now
This is the plain interrupt. The session stays open and you can write to it again. When the interrupt is ignored for five seconds, the studio closes the session by force; the conversation then says "The turn did not stop by itself, so the session was closed by force." and the session is marked Closed by force. A session that is closed continues from its history when you send the next prompt (see continue a session).
What happens to prompts waiting in line
If you stopped the turn, the prompts you had queued are not sent into the new quiet. The line is held, with the words "The line is held, because you stopped the turn or the turn ended with an error." and a Go on button. Press it when you want the queue to continue. See the prompt box.
When a turn fails by itself
A turn can also end without your help. The studio shows what the tool said, not its own guess.
- "The turn ended with an error:" followed by the tool's own first line. The session is marked Stopped with an error, and for Claude Code the last thing it wrote is quoted.
- A Codex "reconnecting" is shown as a warning ("Codex warns: ..."), not as the end of the turn.
- If Codex did not take a prompt, the note says why, for instance that the conversation is open in the Codex app.
- A tool that needs signing in again shows a card with a sign-in button.
- A prompt that never arrived stays in the conversation as Did not arrive, with Send again and Copy.
After an error the prompt line is held in the same way as after a stop, so nothing is sent on top of a failed turn.
Small tips
Refuse a request and stop the turn in one click
On a permission card, the square button beside Do not allow refuses the request and interrupts the turn together, so you do not have to refuse and then press stop.
Let the queued prompts go on after a stop
After a stop the line of prompts is held. Press Go on in the grey row above the box when you want the queue to continue, or take the prompts out first.
Questions
Does Stop right now lose my work?
It cuts the turn in progress but the session stays open and keeps its history. Only if the tool ignores the interrupt for five seconds is the session closed by force.
What is the difference between Stop right now and Cut off now?
Stop right now asks the turn to end and keeps the session. Cut off now closes the session and every program it started, at once.