# Prove the connection works

Make the first verified read, find it under Connections and give your agent a sensible first task.

"Connected" in your client means the client is pleased with itself. Hydrant counts a connection as real once the client has actually reached it. One question settles it.

## Before you start

- An approved connection. See [Connect your agent](/help/agents/connect).
- The workspace open at **Settings › Agents**.

## Steps

1. Ask your agent for anything in the workspace. A good first request:

   > Read the Hydrant workspace and tell me its name, its statuses and how many issues are in Backlog.

   A well-behaved client calls `get_workspace` and `list_issues`. Any authenticated request counts, including the handshake some clients send the moment they sign in. If the row already says verified when you look, that's why. Ask anyway: the answer is what tells you it reached the right workspace.
2. In Hydrant, look at **Connections**. While it waits, the row reads "authorized, waiting for its first contact" and Hydrant checks for you every few seconds for two minutes. After that, press **Check again**.
3. Read the row once it changes. It names the client, how it was identified, its access, who granted it, the last contact and when the current sign-in expires.

## What you should see

The row says **verified** and shows a last contact time. Approved is a promise; verified is a handshake.

In the agent's answer, check that the workspace name is the one you approved. Every result carries the workspace it came from, so a wrong name here means a wrong workspace, not a confused model.

## A sensible first task

Reads are free. Before you hand over writes, have the agent read [Writes that don't bite](/help/agents/safe-writes), or install the optional Hydrant skill, which carries the same rules. Then try something small and visible: a comment on a test issue, followed by a fresh read to confirm it landed.

## If it goes sideways

- **Still waiting after you asked.** The client probably answered from memory without calling Hydrant. Ask it to call the Hydrant `get_workspace` tool by name.
- **The client lists no Hydrant tools.** It isn't signed in. Redo the sign-in step for [your client](/help/agents/connect).
- **The agent got "Agent credential is unavailable."** The connection expired, was revoked, or the person who granted it left. See [Reconnect, expire, revoke](/help/agents/reconnect-and-revoke).
- **The wrong workspace answered.** Revoke this connection and connect again, picking the right workspace on the approval screen.

Contact: bots@hydrant.dev