Approvals & questions

When an agent needs something only you can provide, the session pauses (Waiting for you) and a card appears in the conversation. Two kinds of pauses exist.

Permission approvals

The most common pause: the agent wants to use a tool that requires your OK (running a shell command, editing files, taking over a browser). The card shows exactly what will run:

• Approve: allow this call once.
• Always allow (where offered): allow this tool for the rest of the session.
• Deny: refuse; the agent adapts and continues.

When one turn produces several pending approvals, each card is labeled (Approval 2 of 3) and notes that the session resumes only after all of them are resolved — every call needs its own decision. Parallel calls of the same tool carry their per-call input, so identical-looking cards stay distinguishable.

A countdown is shown for cloud-run sessions; if you don’t respond in time the request expires safely and the run fails with a clear reason rather than proceeding unattended.

Tip

Trust levels are configurable. The composer’s full access switch (and per-agent settings) can pre-approve broad tool classes for agents you trust. Read-only/interactive prompts like AskUserQuestion always surface regardless.

Questions (AskUserQuestion)

Agents can also pause to ask you a structured question (“which of these two directions?”), with options rendered as buttons. Your answer goes straight back into the run.

Where you can respond

• In the session: the card is inline; answering resumes the run immediately.
• From the sidebar: sessions waiting for you are marked in the agent’s session list.
• By email: daily digests can include pending approvals; links open the exact session.
• Mobile: approvals follow you to the iOS app and desktop app.

How pauses interact with scheduling

A session parked on an approval holds its execution slot but is not running: nothing happens until you answer, and scheduled tasks that fire while you’re away queue their runs rather than racing a live pause.