# Saved, activated, and running

> Saving an agent, skill, or workflow does not turn it on. Learn the difference between saved, activated, and running in TulipFarm.

Source: https://docs.tulipfarm.ai/concepts/saved-activated-running/

In TulipFarm, saving something does not turn it on. Saved, activated, and running are separate states, and each one needs its own step.

## The three states

| State | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Saved | The instructions are stored. Nothing runs yet. |
| Activated | A manager turned on the saved version. It can now run. |
| Running | The work is in progress. |

This separation lets you review a draft before it does any work. Later edits stay inactive until someone activates them.

## Agents

An agent goes from a chat draft to its first task in five steps:

1. You review the agent draft in chat and save it. Saving stores the instructions. It does not turn the agent on.
2. An agent manager opens the agent's **Execution** tab, turns on execution, and saves.
3. The agent manager activates the saved instructions.
4. The agent manager shares invoke access on the **Access** tab with you or one of your teams.
5. You start a task from the agent. Its setup checklist shows the next step and who must take it.

The **Agents** list shows the status of each agent:

| Status | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **Not activated** | The agent has no activated instructions yet. |
| **Run permission required** | The agent is activated, but you cannot start tasks with it. |
| **Activated** | The agent is activated, and you can start tasks with it. |

When an agent task runs, the work continues on the server after you leave the page. You can select **Pause task** to pause it.

## Skills

A skill manager reviews each saved version of a skill before agents use it. A skill shows one of these statuses:

- **Enabled**
- **Disabled**
- **Needs review**
- **Archived**

An agent stays on the skill version it was given. It does not move to a newer version by itself. To use a newer version, select **Select newer revision** on the agent.

## Workflows

You describe a workflow in chat, review its diagram, and save it. Then select **Activate saved revision** to turn it on.

Each time an active workflow executes, that is a run. You see past runs in **Run history**.

> **Caution:** You cannot undo **Archive workflow**.

To stop a workflow, choose one of these actions:

- **Disable workflow** turns it off.
- **Archive workflow** stops its schedules, triggers, and unfinished runs. Its history stays.

## Related

- [Agents, skills, and workflows](https://docs.tulipfarm.ai/concepts/agents-skills-and-workflows/)
- [Build an agent](https://docs.tulipfarm.ai/guides/build-an-agent/)
- [Build a workflow](https://docs.tulipfarm.ai/guides/build-a-workflow/)
- [Agent cannot start](https://docs.tulipfarm.ai/troubleshooting/agent-cannot-start/)