ByTheWay

Side chats for any Paseo agent session: ask questions or run small side tasks while the main session keeps working, and nothing is written to the main transcript.

How it works

Each side thread is backed by a temporary agent in the same workspace:

• When a thread starts (from the panel or the /btw-family commands), the plugin reads the main session's recent conversation as a first-turn context snapshot and sends the question to a side agent;
• The panel subscribes directly to the side agent's timeline and streams text, thinking, tool calls, todos, permission requests, and per-turn usage live;
• By default the side agent is linked to the main session: it reads the latest progress on demand through Paseo's built-in tools. When tool injection is unavailable, the plugin falls back to passive sync (incremental context attached to each message);
• Transcripts live in Paseo's own agent timelines. The plugin stores only a thread registry (ids, titles, status) on the local machine and never copies Q&A content.

Usage

• /btw <question> continues the current side thread (or starts one); a bare /btw just opens the panel without creating anything; /btw-new <question> starts a new one;
• /side <task> and /side-new <task> are the same in Build mode (tasks allowed);
• /fork [prompt] clones the current session transcript into a new parallel agent;
• The Command Center can open the ByTheWay panel and its settings.

Settings

Settings → Plugins → ByTheWay 侧聊:

• Interface language (auto / Chinese / English)
• Default mode (Chat / Build) and default model (follow the main session or fixed provider/model)
• New threads can pick any provider; existing threads switch models in place within their own provider only
• First-turn snapshot depth, action digest, context fallback
• Attach side agents to the main session as children
• AI thread titles and the title-generation model
• Permission policy (ask / auto-allow read-only / deny all) with tiered auto-deny timeouts
• Concurrency limits (Chat / Build / total) and the experimental cancel switch

No account or extra keys are required; the plugin reuses the agent providers configured in Paseo. Requires Paseo 0.12.0 or later. The daemon runs on any platform Paseo supports, and the interface works on desktop, web, and mobile clients.

Data and permissions

• Reads: main-session and side-agent timelines through the local Paseo daemon (for context assembly and UI display);
• Writes: the local plugin data directory ~/.paseo/plugin-data/paseo-bytheway/ (thread registry only);
• Network: remote images in side-chat messages load directly from their HTTP(S) URLs on the client, so the image host receives that request and the client's network address. Side-chat questions, context snapshots, and tool results are sent to the model provider you configured in Paseo, exactly like a normal Paseo session;
• Permissions: tool permission requests from side agents appear inline in the panel for approval or denial; unanswered requests are auto-denied after the configured tiered timeout;
• Stop: cancellation is requested through Paseo's tools first; if it does not take effect, the panel points to the native tab to stop the agent there.

Known limits

• Threads are bound to the daemon and main session that created them. If the main session is archived, threads are marked stopped and can be rebuilt to continue;
• Existing threads switch models in place within their own provider (the provider is fixed when the thread is created; start a new thread to use another provider). Switching Chat/Build mode also switches in place (the next message carries a mode-switch note);
• AI titles and the experimental cancel create a short-lived helper agent that archives itself when done (it may appear briefly in the agent list);
• Running side chats are limited by the configured concurrency caps; requests beyond the cap are rejected with a hint.