> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.overcut.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Approvals and Discussions

> Approve, reject, or talk through pending orchestration decisions, and stop an instance when needed.

When an orchestration instance needs a person, it pauses with status **Waiting on human**. This page covers how you respond: approving or rejecting a proposal, opening a discussion with an agent, and cancelling an instance.

An instance waits for a human when a proposal targets a gated workflow or gated completion, when confidence is too low to auto-approve, when a limit was hit, or when the instance stalled with no proposal on the table.

## Approve or reject by replying

There are no approve or reject buttons. When a decision needs you, Overcut posts a comment on the tracked item (the issue or pull request being worked), for example:

> **Bug Resolver** needs a decision on this issue.
>
> Proposed next step: **Implement & PR** (confidence 85%).
>
> Reply to approve, reject, or suggest a different next step.

Reply in your own words on that comment thread. "Approve", "go ahead", "no, run the review workflow first", or a clarifying instruction all work. The supervisor reads the reply, resolves the decision on your behalf, and the instance continues. Your login is recorded on the resolution, so the trail shows who consented.

For completion proposals the comment reads "Proposed: **complete the orchestration**", and a reply approves or objects. When no next step is proposed, the comment asks how to proceed, and your reply becomes the direction.

<Note>
  Gates always require this explicit consent. High confidence never passes a gate, and the routing AI cannot approve through one on its own.
</Note>

## Discussion sessions

Sometimes you need context before you can decide. A discussion session is a live chat with a discussion agent, scoped to the pending decision. It is available on gates where **Enable chat on this gate** is configured (see [Discussion agent](/docs/orchestrations/builder#discussion-agent)).

A discussion starts in either of two ways:

* You reply on the tracked item with a question rather than a decision, and the gate opens a chat.
* You select **Start a discussion** in the **Discussion** panel on the instance page.

The chat happens on a dedicated page (reachable from the **Discussion** panel via **Open the chat**) or directly on the tracked item's comment thread; both sides of the conversation land in the same transcript. In the chat page, Enter sends and Shift+Enter adds a newline, and a hint shows how long the session has before it expires.

A discussion ends when:

* The discussion agent reaches an outcome and reports it.
* You select **End discussion**. The conversation so far is handed to the supervisor, which resolves the decision from it.
* **Max chat duration (minutes)** expires.
* The decision is resolved another way, or the instance ends.

The discussion informs the decision, but it does not replace it: the supervisor keeps final authority and resumes the normal flow from the discussion's outcome. Past discussions stay linked from the decision's **Discussion** row on the instance trail.

## Cancel an instance

Users with the cancel permission can stop a live instance from its detail page. **Cancel instance** appears while the status is **Queued**, **Active**, **Deciding**, or **Waiting on human**.

<Warning>
  Cancelling stops the orchestration immediately, including the workflow execution currently in flight. This cannot be undone.
</Warning>

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the instance">
    From any monitoring view, select **View Details** on the instance.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select Cancel instance">
    In the **Cancel this instance?** dialog, optionally record a note in **Reason (optional)**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm">
    Select **Cancel instance** to confirm, or **Keep running** to close the dialog.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Cancellation is recorded as a human decision on the trail, and Overcut posts a comment on the tracked item noting that the orchestration was cancelled. The status chip updates within a few seconds.

## Related

* [Monitoring Instances](/docs/orchestrations/monitoring): find instances that are waiting on a person.
* [Orchestration Builder](/docs/orchestrations/builder#gates): configure gates and discussion agents.