Tool Execution Visibility and the Activity Center
Who this is for
Anyone who wants to understand what the AI is doing in real time, track the status of an AI-initiated operation, or diagnose why an AI action failed.
What you will complete
Learn how to monitor every action AI Pilot takes using the Activity Center and the inline execution output in the chat.
Before you begin
- AI Pilot must be enabled and at least one action must have been approved or attempted.
- Activity Center is available to all users with Member role or above.
Where AI actions appear
When AI Pilot executes an action, the activity is visible in two places:
1. Inline in the chat (approval card output) After you approve a card and the action executes, the approval card updates to show:
- Status: "Executing...", "Completed", or "Failed"
- Output: the result of the operation, expandable for long outputs
2. The Activity Center The Activity Center (bell icon in the top navigation, or via the Activity sidebar menu) shows every operation running in your organization — including AI-initiated ones. AI operations are labeled clearly so you can distinguish them from manual actions.
Step-by-step: monitoring an AI action
- Approve an AI action via its approval card.
- The card transitions to "Executing..." status with a loading indicator.
- Open the Activity Center by clicking the activity icon in the top navigation.
- Find the operation row corresponding to your approved action. It will show:
- Operation type (e.g., "Service Restart", "Backup", "SSL Renewal")
- Target server or site name
- Status: Queued, Running, Completed, or Failed
- Start time
- Click the operation row to expand the detailed log.
- When the operation finishes, return to the AI Pilot chat. The approval card will show the result.
Understanding operation statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Queued | The action has been approved and is waiting for the next available worker |
| Running | The operation is actively executing on the server |
| Completed | The operation finished successfully |
| Failed | The operation encountered an error — expand the row for the error message |
Reading execution output
After a Completed or Failed action, click View output on the approval card (or the Activity Center log entry) to see the raw result.
What to look for:
- Completed with output: operation succeeded. The output is informational.
- Failed with "Permission denied": SSH credentials or system permissions issue. See KB-02-08.
- Failed with "Command not found": the service or binary the AI tried to use does not exist on the server.
- Failed with "Timeout": the operation took too long. This is usually a network or resource issue on the server.
What success looks like
- The approval card shows "Completed" with a green checkmark.
- The Activity Center shows "Completed" for the corresponding operation.
- The AI follows up in chat with a summary of what was done and any relevant output.
Common errors and fixes
"The card shows 'Executing...' but nothing is happening in the Activity Center" Cause: The operation is queued but a previous operation is still running on the same server. Fix: Wait for the active operation to complete. The Activity Center shows queue position.
"The card shows 'Failed' but the Activity Center shows 'Completed'" Cause: The operation completed on the server but the result indicated a non-zero exit code (the command ran but reported an error). Fix: View the output to read the error message. The operation may have partially succeeded.
"I approved an action but nothing appeared in the Activity Center" Cause: The server may have lost its connection after approval but before execution began. Fix: Check server status on the Servers page. If the server is offline, restore connectivity first, then ask AI Pilot to retry.
"I cannot see the View output link on the approval card" Cause: The operation produced no output (some operations are silent by design). Fix: Check the Activity Center for the full log. Silent operations are normal for firewall changes and scheduling operations.
Safety notes
- All AI-initiated operations are logged permanently. They cannot be removed from the audit trail.
- The Activity Center shows operations for your entire organization. Other admins can see AI actions you initiated.