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How-to guidesAnswer a question from a run

Answer a question from a run

Keep an agent on track with one click. The agent asks “Should I deploy to staging?” or “Which of these two fixes do you want?”, you answer, and the run carries on. The question goes to the deputy’s contacts. With none set, it goes to the person who launched the run, or the owner of the deputy.

Before you start

  • Role: the run names you as a person it asks.
  • Available when your administrator enables runs and deputies.
  • To answer from your phone, connect Slack. You then get the question as a Slack message too, or in the deputy’s Slack channel when it has one. In a channel, answer with the buttons in the question’s thread.

Steps

  1. Find the question. Either:
    • Open Home in the left rail. The number on the Home icon counts what waits for you. Under Waiting on you, click the row. Or
    • Open the run from Runs. The question is pinned at the top of the run page in a stack called Needs you.
  2. Read the card. It starts with “This run is asking you something” and a badge for the kind of question. It may show a body, links from the agent, and Open preview or Open review links. If someone sent the run a message while it waits, a box under the question lists it with the sender’s name. The agent reads it together with your answer, so take it into account when you answer.
  3. Optional: click Claim first, to tell others that you are answering it.
  4. Answer. What you see depends on the kind of question:
    • A yes/no approval: click Approve or Deny.
    • Choices: click one of the choice buttons.
    • Free text: type in Your answer and click Send answer. The keyboard shortcut is shown on the button.
  5. If nobody is going to answer, click Skip question and confirm Dismiss. The agent learns you skipped it and carries on.

If the card says “Parked: answering resumes the run”, the run’s environment was shut down while it waited, to save cost. Answer whenever you are ready and the run resumes.

The card and the Slack message show the agent’s text with its formatting: lists, code, quotes and emphasis. Deputies are guided to open a question with a bold one-line headline, then a “Need from you:” line that says what is wanted, then short bullets, with file names, commands and commit ids as code. A headline is shown once, even when the detail repeats it.

If a message holds a table or a diagram, press Open run in Slack to see it drawn. If a message is long, Slack shows it up to a clean break and adds the note “Shortened. Full text in the run”. Press Open run to read the rest. In a direct message, which has no run to open, the note reads “Shortened”.

Questions from an agent in an interactive space show on the space page, in the Requests tab. The space owner answers them.

What you should see

  • A toast “Answer sent” with “The run picks it up and carries on.”
  • The question leaves Needs you and the Waiting on you list. The count on the Home icon goes down.
  • If someone answered first, a toast says “Already answered”. Nothing else is needed.

If nobody answers in time, the run shows “Needs input” and you can continue it.

Next

Continue a finished run: pick up a run that ended while it waited for you, with your answer as its next instruction.

Steer a live runContinue a finished run