Multi-Step Plans
Master complex workflows with Astronox's visual planning system.
What Are Multi-Step Plans?
When you ask Astronox to perform a complex task requiring multiple steps, it can create a visual plan that shows each step's progress in real-time.
Example:
You: "Organize my Downloads folder:
1. Find files older than 90 days
2. Group by file type
3. Move to archive folders
4. Generate a summary report"
AI: I'll break this into steps...
[Plan Hub opens showing 4 steps]
When Plans Are Created
Automatic Detection
Astronox creates plans when it detects:
- Multi-part requests (numbered lists, "first...then...")
- Complex workflows requiring sequence
- Operations with dependencies
- Tasks that benefit from visibility
Triggers a plan:
"Set up a new project: create folders, init git, install dependencies"
"Clean my system: find large files, delete temps, empty trash"
"Process these CSVs: merge, dedupe, sort, export"
Doesn't need a plan:
"List files in Downloads"
"What's using the most CPU?"
"Show me today's screenshots"
The Plan Hub Interface
Opening Plan Hub
Automatically:
- Badge appears on Plan Hub button when plan created
- Number shows active/pending steps
- Click to open panel
Manually:
- Click 📋 Plan Hub button (top-right)
- View all plans in current conversation
Plan Display
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 📋 Current Plan: Organize Downloads [✕] │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ✅ Step 1: Find files older than 90 days │
│ └─ Found 47 files (2.3 GB) │
│ │
│ ⏳ Step 2: Group files by type │
│ └─ Categorizing... 24/47 files │
│ │
│ ⏸️ Step 3: Move to archive folders │
│ └─ Waiting for step 2... │
│ │
│ ⏸️ Step 4: Generate summary report │
│ └─ Queued │
│ │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Progress: 1/4 complete (25%) [⏸ Pause Plan] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Step States
⏸️ Queued (Gray)
Meaning: Not started yet, waiting
When shown:
- Step hasn't begun
- Waiting for previous steps to complete
- Dependencies not met
No action needed - will auto-start when ready
⏳ In Progress (Blue, Animated)
Meaning: Currently executing
Shows:
- Progress indicator (if applicable)
- Sub-task details
- Real-time status updates
Example:
⏳ Step 2: Organizing files
└─ Processing: 24/47 files
• PDFs → Documents/
• Images → Pictures/
• Videos → Media/
✅ Complete (Green)
Meaning: Successfully finished
Shows:
- Result summary
- Files affected
- Time taken
- Any important details
Example:
✅ Step 3: Archive old files
└─ Moved 47 files to Archives/2024-12/
Freed 2.3 GB in Downloads
Completed in 3.2s
❌ Failed (Red)
Meaning: Encountered error
Shows:
- Error message
- What went wrong
- Suggested fixes
- Retry option
Example:
❌ Step 2: Group by file type
└─ Error: Permission denied for 3 files
• locked-file.pdf
• system-file.dat
• protected.doc
[Retry] [Skip] [Modify Step]
Actions:
- Retry: Attempt step again
- Skip: Continue to next step
- Modify: Change step parameters
⏭️ Skipped (Yellow)
Meaning: Step was bypassed
Why:
- User chose to skip
- Dependency failed (previous step)
- No longer needed
Example:
⏭️ Step 3: Delete duplicates
└─ Skipped: No duplicates found in step 2
Interacting with Plans
Click on a Step
Expands to show:
- Full details
- Logs/output
- Sub-steps (if any)
- Actions (retry, skip, modify)
Example expanded:
✅ Step 1: Find old files [Click to collapse]
Search parameters:
• Location: /Users/you/Downloads
• Age: >90 days
• Exclude: .DS_Store, *.tmp
Results:
• 47 files found
• Total size: 2.3 GB
• Oldest: project-archive.zip (247 days)
• Newest: old-screenshot.png (91 days)
Breakdown by type:
• Documents: 23 files (1.2 GB)
• Images: 15 files (800 MB)
• Videos: 9 files (300 MB)
Duration: 1.8s
Plan Controls
⏸ Pause Plan:
- Halts execution after current step
- Can resume later
- Useful to review progress
▶️ Resume Plan:
- Continues from where paused
- Picks up next queued step
✕ Cancel Plan:
- Stops all remaining steps
- Completed steps remain done
- Doesn't undo finished work
🔄 Restart Plan:
- Starts over from step 1
- Useful if earlier step needs redo
- Confirms before restarting
Creating Effective Plans
Write Clear Multi-Step Requests
Good:
"Organize my photos:
1. Find all photos in Downloads and Desktop
2. Group by year and month
3. Move to Pictures/Archive/YYYY-MM/
4. Create a catalog file listing all moved photos"
Why it works:
- Numbered steps (clear sequence)
- Each step is specific
- Logical dependency order
- Clear end goal
Less effective:
"Organize my photos somehow"
Why:
- Too vague
- No clear steps
- AI must guess intent
Specify Dependencies
Explicit dependencies help:
"Process these logs:
1. Merge all .log files in this folder
2. Sort by timestamp
3. Filter out lines with 'DEBUG'
4. Save to processed-logs.txt"
Dependencies:
- Step 2 needs step 1's merged file
- Step 3 needs step 2's sorted data
- Step 4 needs step 3's filtered result
Astronox respects these automatically.
Break Down Complex Tasks
Instead of:
"Set up entire development environment" ← Too broad
Try:
"Set up Node.js project:
1. Create folder structure (src/, tests/, docs/)
2. Initialize git repository
3. Create package.json with common dependencies
4. Generate .gitignore for Node.js
5. Create README.md template
6. Install dependencies"
Use Cases for Plans
Project Setup
"Create a new Python project called 'data-processor':
1. Create project folder and subfolders
2. Initialize git repository
3. Create virtual environment
4. Create requirements.txt with pandas, numpy
5. Generate README and .gitignore
6. Create main.py with basic structure"
Benefits:
- Visual progress
- Catch issues early (e.g., folder already exists)
- Review structure before install step
File Organization
"Clean up my Desktop:
1. Find files not accessed in 60 days
2. List them by size (largest first)
3. Move files >100MB to External Drive
4. Move remaining old files to Archive
5. Create a cleanup report
6. Empty trash"
Benefits:
- Confirm before deletions
- See space freed at each step
- Pause if unexpected files found
Data Processing
"Process sales data:
1. Find all CSV files in Sales folder
2. Merge into single dataset
3. Remove duplicate entries
4. Calculate monthly totals
5. Generate summary statistics
6. Export to Excel with charts"
Benefits:
- Validate each transformation
- Catch errors before final export
- Easy to retry if step fails
System Maintenance
"Monthly system cleanup:
1. Find and delete temp files (>30 days)
2. Clear browser caches
3. Empty trash
4. Find large files for review
5. Check disk space before/after
6. Generate cleanup report"
Benefits:
- Safety confirmations at each step
- Disk space tracking
- Audit trail of what was cleaned
Advanced Plan Features
Conditional Steps
AI can adjust plans based on results:
Plan starts:
1. Check disk space
2. If >80% full → Find large files
3. If <80% full → Skip to step 5
4. Suggest files to delete
5. Continue with cleanup...
In Plan Hub:
✅ Step 1: Check disk space
└─ Disk is 85% full (warning threshold)
✅ Step 2: Find large files (conditional: triggered)
└─ Found 15 files >1GB
⏭️ Step 3: Skip cleanup (conditional: not needed)
└─ Disk not critically full
Parallel Steps
Some steps can run simultaneously:
"Backup my work:
1. Calculate total size
2a. Copy Documents to Backup (parallel)
2b. Copy Projects to Backup (parallel)
2c. Copy Pictures to Backup (parallel)
3. Verify all backups complete
4. Generate backup report"
In Plan Hub:
⏳ Step 2a: Backup Documents (25% complete)
⏳ Step 2b: Backup Projects (60% complete)
⏳ Step 2c: Backup Pictures (10% complete)
Progress: All running in parallel...
Nested Plans
Plans within plans for very complex tasks:
Main Plan: "Set up entire dev environment"
├─ Step 1: Install tools
│ ├─ 1a. Install Homebrew
│ ├─ 1b. Install Node.js
│ └─ 1c. Install Python
├─ Step 2: Configure Git
│ ├─ 2a. Set username
│ ├─ 2b. Set email
│ └─ 2c. Generate SSH key
└─ Step 3: Set up projects...
Plan Persistence
Saving Plans
Automatic:
- Plans saved with conversation
- Persist across app restarts
- Can review completed plans later
Accessing old plans:
- Open conversation
- Click Plan Hub
- See all plans from that conversation
Plan History
View past plans:
You: "Show me the plan from my last cleanup"
AI: Here's the plan from Dec 15:
[Shows completed plan with all steps]
Use cases:
- Repeat successful workflows
- Review what was done
- Learn from past operations
Troubleshooting Plans
Plan Doesn't Appear
Possible reasons:
- Task too simple (doesn't need plan)
- AI didn't detect multi-step nature
- Plan hub disabled (future setting)
Solutions:
"Can you break this into a step-by-step plan?"
"Show me the steps you'll take"
Step Stuck "In Progress"
Try:
- Wait (may be long-running)
- Check for confirmation prompt in chat
- Pause and resume plan
- Skip problematic step
Steps Out of Order
Why:
- AI determined different optimal sequence
- Dependencies allow parallelization
If wrong:
"Step 3 should happen before step 2"
"Can you reorder the steps: 1, 3, 2, 4?"
Step Failed Repeatedly
Options:
- Modify step: Adjust parameters
- Skip: Continue without this step
- Cancel plan: Rethink approach
- Ask for help:
"Why does step 2 keep failing?" "Can you try a different approach for this step?"
Tips for Plan Success
✅ Be Specific
Vague:
"Clean up files" ← AI guesses steps
Specific:
"Clean Downloads:
1. Find files >90 days old
2. List by size
3. Show me the list
4. After I confirm, move to Archive
5. Generate cleanup report"
✅ Request Preview
"Before starting, show me the plan you'll follow"
AI will display steps without executing.
✅ Include Review Points
"Organize photos:
1. Find all photos
2. Show me the count and where they are
3. Wait for my confirmation ← Review point
4. Then move them to organized folders"
✅ Specify Success Criteria
"Backup project:
1. Copy all files to external drive
2. Verify file counts match
3. Confirm total size matches
4. Mark as successful only if verification passes"
✅ Ask for Reports
"After completing the plan, generate a report showing:
- What was done at each step
- Files affected
- Time taken
- Any errors encountered"
Future Enhancements
Coming soon:
- Save plans as templates
- Schedule plan execution
- Share plans with others
- Plan analytics and optimization
- Voice narration of progress
Next: Learn about the Memory System for persistent context.