Main Agent vs Task Agents

This is the most important distinction in Arc.

Main Agent

The main agent is the assistant you talk to directly.

It is used by:

• arc chat
• the WebChat inside the dashboard
• connected channels like Telegram

The main agent gets its identity from the files created by arc init.

That includes:

• your selected personality preset or custom system prompt
• your chosen default provider and model
• global configuration like memory, tools, and channels

Task Agents

Task agents are optional named workers stored as files in ~/.arc/agents/*.toml.

Each one can have its own:

• name
• role
• personality
• full system prompt
• provider and model override
• base URL and API key override
• skill allowlist or denylist

They only matter when you queue background tasks.

What Gets Applied Where

When you use a preset or custom prompt in arc init

That affects the main agent only.

It does not automatically rewrite the prompts for named task agents.

When you create a task agent

That agent uses its own configuration from the agent TOML file or the dashboard agent form.

If a task agent does not define its own LLM override, it falls back to the global default provider from ~/.arc/config.toml.

Practical Example

Main agent

You might configure the main agent to be your general-purpose assistant with a strong custom system prompt.

Task agents

You might also create:

• researcher on a cheap fast model
• writer on a better writing model
• reviewer on a stricter review prompt

That split is normal in Arc.

Rule Of Thumb

• Change arc init when you want to change how Arc talks to you.
• Create or edit task agents when you want to change how background workers do jobs.