> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cogniagent.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Retiring, re-hiring and templates
> Pause an AI coworker without losing what it learned, bring it back later, or save a good one as a template you can hire again.
A coworker you've tuned is worth keeping. You can pause one, bring it back, or turn it into a template and hire the same setup again.
## Pausing a coworker
Work dried up, or the experiment didn't pan out. Disable it and it stops taking on work — no schedules fire, no channels listen, nothing runs.
It stays on your roster with a status badge, and everything it has — instructions, personality, skills, memory, capabilities — is preserved exactly as it was.
## Bringing one back
Re-enable it and it picks up where it left off, with everything it knew. This is the reason to pause rather than delete: a coworker that has been corrected fifty times is genuinely more useful than a fresh one, and that's all lost on deletion.
Deleting is permanent. Skills, memory and history go with it. If there's any chance you'll want it again, pause instead.
## Saving one as a template
When a coworker is working really well, save it as a template from the menu on its page. You then hire that same setup again whenever you want — same instructions, same personality, same capabilities, same skills.
### When that's worth doing
* You've spent weeks tuning a coworker and want a second one for a different region or product line
* Someone else on your team needs the same role and shouldn't start from nothing
* You want a known-good starting point before experimenting with the original
* The role is one you'll keep hiring for
**Save the template before you experiment.** It costs nothing and gives you somewhere to fall back to if a rewrite makes things worse.
## What carries, and what doesn't
| | Carries to a new hire? |
| ------------------------------------------- | ---------------------- |
| Instructions and personality | Yes |
| Capabilities that are switched on | Yes |
| Skills it has learned | Yes |
| Memory — the things it worked out about you | No |
| Task history | No |
| Channels and schedules | No |
Memory doesn't carry, and that's deliberate. Those notes are about a particular working relationship, and a fresh coworker builds its own.
## Common questions
No. It isn't working, so there's nothing to charge for. Pausing is the cheap option, not a compromise.
Stop the task first if you want a clean finish. Pausing prevents new work rather than tidying up in-flight work.
Save a fresh one from the improved coworker. A template is a saved copy of a setup you liked, and keeping the old one costs nothing.
Yes — your own appear as options when you hire, next to the [five that ship with Cowork](/cowork/coworkers/ready-made).
Only if you're certain. Pausing achieves the same practical result — it stops working and stops costing — without throwing away what it learned.
## Next steps
Where status is managed.
The templates that ship with Cowork.
What doesn't carry, and why.
Hire from your own template.