Timeout Means No — The One Rule That Makes AI Agent Approval Gates Actually Work

说明与用途

“超时即拒绝”规则可防止管道阻塞，确保未获批准的操作被安全拒绝。

问题

When an AI agent performs irreversible actions, a lack of human response can leave the system in an unsafe or stalled state, causing missed opportunities or unintended behavior.

结果

The "timeout means no" rule prevents pipeline stalls, reduces notification fatigue, and ensures that unapproved actions are safely rejected. It also provides a clear audit trail and a health metric for gate usage.

工作流

• 1. Bot sends an approval request with the full intent, reasoning, and a deadline (e.g., "Reply by 03:14 or this is rejected.")
• 2. If no reply, send one reminder at the halfway mark.
• 3. If deadline passes with no reply, automatically reject the intent, log the outcome as "rejected_timeout", and include it in the next morning briefing.
• 4. The pipeline continues to the next job immediately, never blocking on the pending approval.

证据

If I don't answer, the answer is no.

来源

The queue never blocks on an approval. The next job runs immediately.

来源