General and Explore agents
The two built-in one-turn agents ML.ai ships with, and how they differ from the session's own mode.
Type @ in the composer to select an agent, or pick one from Settings → Agents. The agent catalog is read live from the engine, so it includes any custom subagents you've defined alongside the two built-in ones.
| Agent | Can edit files? | Can run commands? | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | Yes | Yes | Inside the project only |
| Explore | No | Read-only (search, fetch) | Inside the project only |
General
A focused, single execution turn. It can edit files and run commands, but only inside the project: it cannot reach outside the workspace, regardless of what the mode's command budget would otherwise allow.
Explore
A read-only search specialist. It reads files, greps, globs, and fetches, and changes nothing. Use it when you want an answer without any risk of a side effect, even one you'd normally approve.
What doesn't change
Both agents hand control back to you after one turn: they don't keep running in the background. Neither one changes the session's standing Build or Plan mode; selecting General inside a Plan-mode session doesn't unlock edits, because General's own scope is a project-only sandbox, not a mode override.
Example
@Explore Find every place this repo reads process.env.DATABASE_URL and summarize the pattern.@Explore routes the request to the read-only agent regardless of the session's current mode, so this is safe to run even mid-conversation in Build mode: it searches and summarizes, and cannot edit anything while doing it.
For work that should actually change files, use General or the default session agent in Build mode instead.