Agent Assignment
Automations can target specific agents directly or ask you to assign agents at launch time.
The assignment model is built around roles.
Roles vs Direct Agent IDs
An Agent node can target work in two different ways:
- Direct agent ID: the automation is already tied to a specific agent
- Role mapping: the automation defines a role name, and you choose which live agent should fill that role when you launch it
Wardian normalizes agent roles before launch so an automation can be reused without hardcoding the same session ID forever.
When the Run Modal Appears
The run modal appears when the automation needs launch-time configuration.
Common reasons:
- at least one Agent node needs assignment
- the Manual Trigger defines an input schema
- a scheduled automation needs both assignment and schedule creation in the same launch flow
The modal can show two sections:
- Agent Assignments
- Input Parameters
If neither section is needed, Wardian skips the modal and launches directly.
What the Assignment Section Shows
For each agent role, the modal shows:
- the node name from the automation graph
- the internal role key
- a selector for the target live agent
This lets one automation template be reused across different agent rosters or different scheduled instances.
Agent Run Modes
Agent nodes use one run mode selector:
- Ephemeral: build a fresh automation execution from an agent class and workspace. It does not need launch-time agent assignment.
- Inherit Fresh: clone provider, class, workspace, skill, and scoped-memory read configuration from an existing agent, but start a fresh provider session for this automation run.
- Inherit Resume: continue the selected agent's provider session and mutable runtime state. Use this only when the automation should deliberately add to that agent's conversation history.
From a user perspective, the important distinction is whether the automation needs an existing agent. Ephemeral runs do not. Inherited runs do, so they can appear in the Agent Assignments section when no direct agent is already selected.
Automation-spawned agent runs do not receive an automatic "introduce yourself" startup prompt. The first provider input is the automation node prompt.
Off Agents and Headless Execution
If a target agent is off, Wardian can still execute the automation through headless provider logic instead of requiring the terminal to be visibly open.
What users should expect:
- the automation still attempts to run if the provider supports headless execution
- role mappings still matter for inherited runs even if the target agent is not currently open in a visible terminal
- provider-specific quirks can affect the outcome, especially for structured output or approvals
Scheduled Assignment
When you create a scheduled task, the chosen role mappings become part of that scheduled instance.
That is why:
- multiple schedules of the same automation can target different agents
- the sidebar can summarize the target for each schedule separately
- deleting a scheduled task does not change the automation template itself
Practical Guidance
Use roles when:
- the automation should be reusable
- different teams or classes may fill the same responsibility
- you expect to create multiple scheduled variants
Use direct agent targeting when:
- the automation should inherit from or resume one specific long-lived agent
- reusability is not important for that automation
Prefer Inherit Fresh when you want an existing agent's profile without conversation-history token growth. Reserve Inherit Resume for automations whose purpose is to continue that exact agent session.
The global regular-agent session setting does not change automation Agent node behavior. Automation runs follow the node's run mode.