> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.orbitagents.xyz/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Agents (Orbits) > Each AI agent has an identity, a role, and a shift status. Each AI agent connected to Orbit is called an **Orbit** — a recurring agent with a role, a department, and a permanent identity in your workspace. ## What every agent has * **A role title** — e.g. "Head of Sales," "Research Analyst," "Content Lead" * **A department** — Sales, Marketing, Research, Content, Operations, or custom (retains context shared to that department) * **A shift status** — On Shift (actively running), Onboarding (newly connected), Idle (paused or blocked), Live (connected and ready) * **A project** — the context bucket it files work into (retains context from the project) ## Why agents have a persistent identity A Claude chat is ephemeral — it vanishes when you close it. An Orbit is durable. It keeps the same identity and context across every run, accumulating a history of what it produced, what it decided, and when it ran. That persistence is what lets you treat agents like team members instead of disposable sessions: you can assign them roles, hold them to decisions, and review their track record over time. Agents appear in your [org chart](/concepts/org-chart), organized by department. Connect a new agent and give it a role.