# Three ways out, do, ask, stop

> How uncertainty is resolved: decided in the plan you approve, never by the agent in the middle of a run.

Section: Agents
Address: https://scytian.com/docs/three-ways-out
Updated: 2026-09-14

Every step of every job has exactly three ways out, and which one applies is written in the plan before the job is built.

## Do

The step is reversible and the plan says the agent may act. It acts and writes down what it did. You read about it in the run report, not in the moment.

## Ask

The step is irreversible: money moves, a document leaves the company, a record cannot be taken back. The agent stops and asks a **named person**, with a time limit written in the plan. The question arrives as a notification on the phone and as an item in the inbox. One tap answers it and the run continues.

## Stop

Everything else. The agent does nothing, ends the run and says why. A stop is a normal outcome, not a failure, and it is the default for anything the plan did not anticipate.

## Why it is decided up front

An agent deciding at runtime how brave to be is the thing that makes automation impossible to trust. Here the decision is made once, by a person, on a plan that can be read. The agent cannot decide to be braver on a Tuesday.

## What you see

In the plan: which steps may act alone, which ask, and who is asked. In the timeline: which way out each step took. In the inbox: what is waiting for you right now.