---
title: "Waits and approvals"
url: https://developers.dagio.ai/waits/
---

# Waits and approvals

   
                            
                                                                              
             
              
          
   

## Waiting is part of work

A Flow can wait for a decision, information or event. The wait has an identity and retained state. Closing the interface does not turn a wait into failure or lose its continuation point.

| Wait        | Expected value                   | Continuation                          |
| ----------- | -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| Approval    | Decision by an authorized member | Apply the corresponding branch        |
| Information | Declared data or result          | Recheck conditions                    |
| Event       | Recognized signal for this run   | Continue the relevant step            |
| Deadline    | Declared time policy             | Signal or perform the admitted effect |

## Example: manager review

After drafting, the proposal waits for review. The manager checks the result, sources and criteria. **Approve** permits finalization; **Request changes** returns work to the affected scope. The decision retains author and context.

## Avoid ambiguous continuations

A late response must not apply to a new request version without checks. Repeated events must not finalize a quote twice. The engine checks wait identity, version and any recorded decision.

## Choose a record or result

A reference input uses the wait's declared Query to offer eligible records or results. For
Clients/Quotes, a review can require a result from the selected proposal rather than a pasted
identifier. Surface resolves the Query's parameters from the execution context; the interface does
not supply private parameter values.

Choosing an item retains its exact Revision. Surface rechecks eligibility, current access and the
wait before accepting the signal. A changed or no-longer-eligible choice must be reviewed again.
An input requiring a result also checks its native Task and Action evidence: a record with a
similar type or text is not a substitute. Approval and expiration cannot both decide the same wait.

## Show the next action

Progress identifies what is awaited, who can act and what happens next. An unexplained wait resembles a blockage; a clearly presented wait lets people advance the work.

<!-- surface-examples:start -->

## Applied examples : Wait for a decision

An approval event resumes work; expiration remains explicit and bounded.

### Configuration

Fragment placed in `flowBlueprints[].composition.steps[]`. [Properties and accepted values](https://developers.dagio.ai/reference/flow-composition/).

```json
{
  "key": "review",
  "kind": "wait",
  "inputs": [],
  "arrival": "active-only",
  "ordering": "first-committed",
  "eventKey": "quote-approved",
  "recipient": "initiator",
  "timeoutMilliseconds": 86400000,
  "onExpiration": "fail"
}
```

### Variation and connection

Fragment placed in `flowBlueprints[].composition.inputs`. [Properties and accepted values](https://developers.dagio.ai/reference/flow-composition/).

```json
[
  {
    "key": "client",
    "type": "surface-reference",
    "provenance": "caller",
    "minimum": 1,
    "maximum": 1
  },
  {
    "key": "need",
    "type": "text",
    "provenance": "caller",
    "minimum": 1,
    "maximum": 1
  }
]
```

### UI layout example

The illustrative layout below places this configuration in the Clients/Quotes app. Insert each fragment at the stated location, with Field, Query and Action references matching the Model declarations.

1. Qualify need
2. Prepare proposal
3. Wait for decision
4. Retain result

<!-- surface-examples:end -->