About
Agent runs that keep going while people do something else: each card shows the task, its step and live activity, elapsed time and progress, and asks for input with Respond when the agent needs a decision.
Built with React and Tailwind. Copy the prompt and paste it into Claude Code, Cursor or Lovable: your agent adds Background Run to your project and fits it to your theme.
Code
How Background Run is used: the demo's code. The component's own source comes with a free account.
Usage.tsx
"use client"
import * as React from "react"
import { BackgroundRun, BackgroundRunStatus } from "@/components/ui/background-run"
const FIT_CSS = "html,body{overflow:hidden}[data-fit-small] [data-fit-hide]{display:none!important}"
/**
* 21st shows a demo in a small frame: about 674 by 421 on a component page, 358 by 224 on a
* phone and 245 by 139 on a profile card. A demo taller than its frame gets scrollbars, which
* render white on dark pages. FitFrame fills the frame exactly instead.
*
* - "scale": the content shrinks until it fits, centered. For visuals such as orbs.
* - "crop": the content stays at full size from the top and fades out at the bottom. For text
* that streams in, where a changing scale would make the page breathe.
*
* `minWidth` lays out a wide demo (a table, a two column panel) at that width and scales it down
* to the frame, instead of letting it collapse to a narrow layout. The frame centers it, so it
* shrinks evenly on both sides.
*
* Anything marked `data-fit-hide` (state buttons, the chatcn.dev line) drops out in frames
* shorter than `hideBelow`, so a profile card shows the visual alone.
*/
function FitFrame({
children,
mode = "scale",
hideBelow = 360,
minWidth,
}: {
children: React.ReactNode
mode?: "scale" | "crop"
hideBelow?: number
minWidth?: string
}) {
const content = React.useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)
const [cropped, setCropped] = React.useState(false)
React.useLayoutEffect(() => {
const el = content.current
if (!el) return
const measure = () => {
const vw = window.innerWidth
const vh = window.innerHeight
el.toggleAttribute("data-fit-small", vh < hideBelow)
// Layout sizes ignore the transform, so measuring never feeds back.
const w = Math.max(el.offsetWidth, el.scrollWidth)
const h = Math.max(el.offsetHeight, el.scrollHeight)
const scale = mode === "scale" ? Math.min(1, vw / w, vh / h) : 1
el.style.transform = scale < 1 ? `scale(${scale})` : ""
setCropped(mode === "crop" && h > vh + 1)
}
measure()
const observer = new ResizeObserver(measure)
observer.observe(el)
// Content that changes inside a fixed width box (a headline that cycles words) never resizes
// the box itself, so changes below it measure again on the next frame.
let frame = 0
const mutations = new MutationObserver(() => {
cancelAnimationFrame(frame)
frame = requestAnimationFrame(measure)
})
mutations.observe(el, { subtree: true, childList: true, characterData: true })
window.addEventListener("resize", measure)
return () => {
observer.disconnect()
mutations.disconnect()
cancelAnimationFrame(frame)
window.removeEventListener("resize", measure)
}
}, [mode, hideBelow])
const fade = "linear-gradient(to bottom, #000 calc(100% - 40px), transparent)"
return (
<div
className="flex w-full justify-center overflow-hidden"
style={{
height: "100dvh",
alignItems: mode === "crop" ? "flex-start" : "center",
maskImage: cropped ? fade : undefined,
WebkitMaskImage: cropped ? fade : undefined,
}}
>
<style>{FIT_CSS}</style>
<div
ref={content}
className="w-full shrink-0"
style={{ transformOrigin: mode === "crop" ? "top center" : "center", minWidth }}
>
{children}
</div>
</div>
)
}
type Phase =
| { status: "queued" }
| { status: "running"; step: number }
| { status: "needs-input"; step: number }
| { status: "done" }
// The demo's times count back from the moment it renders. Read through `performance`, which
// Next.js allows while it prerenders a page; `Date.now()` during render fails the build there.
const demoNow = () => performance.timeOrigin + performance.now()
const APPROVAL_AT = 3
const STEPS = [
"Reading tests/e2e/checkout.spec.ts",
"Running pnpm test:e2e --grep checkout",
"Comparing 3 failing traces",
"Waiting for approval",
"Running pnpm db:migrate --env preview",
"Editing tests/e2e/checkout.spec.ts",
"Running pnpm test:e2e --grep checkout --repeat-each 20",
]
const RESEARCH = [
"Searching for vector database pricing 2026",
"Reading turbopuffer.com/docs/pricing",
"Reading pinecone.io/pricing",
"Comparing storage cost per GB",
"Reading pgvector benchmarks on a 10M row table",
]
function BackgroundRunDemo() {
const [phase, setPhase] = React.useState<Phase>({ status: "queued" })
const [startedAt, setStartedAt] = React.useState<number>()
const [research, setResearch] = React.useState(0)
const [researchStart] = React.useState(() => demoNow() - 134_000)
React.useEffect(() => {
let wait = 1200
let next: () => void = () => {}
if (phase.status === "queued") {
next = () => {
setStartedAt(Date.now())
setPhase({ status: "running", step: 0 })
}
} else if (phase.status === "running") {
wait = 1300
next = () =>
setPhase(
phase.step + 1 === APPROVAL_AT
? { status: "needs-input", step: APPROVAL_AT }
: phase.step + 1 >= STEPS.length
? { status: "done" }
: { status: "running", step: phase.step + 1 },
)
} else if (phase.status === "needs-input") {
wait = 3600
next = () => setPhase({ status: "running", step: phase.step + 1 })
} else {
wait = 4500
next = () => {
setStartedAt(undefined)
setPhase({ status: "queued" })
}
}
const id = window.setTimeout(next, wait)
return () => window.clearTimeout(id)
}, [phase])
React.useEffect(() => {
const id = window.setInterval(() => setResearch((r) => (r + 1) % RESEARCH.length), 2200)
return () => window.clearInterval(id)
}, [])
const status: BackgroundRunStatus = phase.status
const done = phase.status === "done" ? STEPS.length : phase.status === "queued" ? 0 : phase.step
return (
<div className="flex w-full max-w-md flex-col gap-3">
<BackgroundRun
title="Fix flaky checkout test"
context="tallyline/web · fix/checkout-flake"
status={status}
step={phase.status === "running" ? STEPS[phase.step] : undefined}
request="Approve pnpm db:migrate --env preview"
summary="2 files changed. The checkout test passed 20 of 20 runs."
queuePosition={1}
steps={{ done, total: STEPS.length }}
startedAt={startedAt}
unread={phase.status === "needs-input" || phase.status === "done"}
onOpen={() => {}}
onCancel={() => {}}
onRespond={() =>
phase.status === "needs-input" && setPhase({ status: "running", step: phase.step + 1 })
}
/>
<BackgroundRun
title="Research vector databases"
context="Deep research"
status="running"
step={RESEARCH[research]}
startedAt={researchStart}
onOpen={() => {}}
onCancel={() => {}}
/>
</div>
)
}
/** The line under each 21st demo that points back to the kit. */
function MoreOn({ slug, children }: { slug: string; children: React.ReactNode }) {
return (
<p data-fit-hide className="text-[0.75rem]/[1rem] text-(color:--chatcn-fg-faint) text-center text-balance">
{children}{" "}
<a
href={`https://chatcn.dev/docs/components/${slug}`}
target="_blank"
rel="noopener"
className="text-(color:--chatcn-fg-subtle) hover:text-(color:--chatcn-fg) underline underline-offset-2"
>
chatcn.dev
</a>
</p>
)
}
/** The kit's own example, framed for the 21st preview. */
export default function BackgroundRunPreview() {
return (
<FitFrame minWidth="36rem">
<div className="flex w-full flex-col items-center justify-center gap-4 p-6">
<div className="flex w-full max-w-xl justify-center">
<BackgroundRunDemo />
</div>
<MoreOn slug="background-run">Agent runs that keep going in the background, with progress. On</MoreOn>
</div>
</FitFrame>
)
}
















