Understanding Agent Status Codes
A complete reference of every status code your agent can report.
In this article you'll learn about Status code overview, then explore Active vs Idle, and finally review Error states.
Status code overview
Every Botonom agent reports one of these status codes:
| Code | Meaning | Token Usage |
|---|---|---|
ACTIVE | Currently processing a task | Yes |
IDLE | Online, no pending work | No |
RECOVERING | Crash detected, auto-restarting | No |
PAUSED | Manually paused by user | No |
OFFLINE | Deactivated | No |
Each code maps to a specific operational state and determines how the platform routes tasks to that agent.
Active vs Idle
ACTIVE means the agent is currently processing a task. IDLE means the agent is online and healthy but has no pending work.
Idle agents consume zero tokens and are ready to accept tasks instantly. You are never charged for idle time.
You can check any agent's current status via the API:
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
https://api.botonom.com/v1/agents/<agent-id>/status
Response:
{
"agent_id": "ag_x7k2m9",
"status": "IDLE",
"last_active": "2026-02-08T14:32:00Z",
"uptime_hours": 168.5
}
Error states
RECOVERING — the agent experienced a crash and is being auto-restarted (see Bot Crashed — What Happens Now?).
PAUSED — you manually paused the agent via the dashboard. Tasks sent to a paused agent are queued until you resume.
OFFLINE — the agent has been deactivated and will not consume resources. You must explicitly re-activate it.