Primitive 03 / Person

AskUser

Pause the workflow for a person. Ask for a choice, missing fact, or approval before the next effect.

01 / When

Use it when code cannot choose for the person.

Use a closed list for approvals and fixed choices. Use a free answer for missing information.

Useful for

Approve a releaseAsk before publishing it.
Approve a migrationAsk before changing stored data.
Choose an environmentLet a person select the target.
Provide a missing pathRequest information code cannot know.
Approve a policy exceptionRecord the explicit exception.
Give final sign-offKeep the decision with a person.

Ask before the effect.Put approval before a publish, migration, deletion, or other irreversible command.

02 / Code

Declare the values your program accepts.

AskUser · TypeScript

import { defineSkill } from "@operatorstack/yield"

defineSkill((ctx) => {
  const answer = ctx.askUser("approve", "Publish this release?", [
  { value: "yes", label: "Publish" },
  { value: "no", label: "Stop" },
])
  if (answer !== "yes") ctx.refused("release not approved")
  return { approved: true }
})

Other language versions

Python

from yieldskill import define_skill

def program(ctx):
    answer = ctx.ask_user("approve", "Publish?", [
        {"value": "yes", "label": "Publish"},
        {"value": "no", "label": "Stop"},
    ])
    if answer != "yes": ctx.refused("not approved")
    return {"approved": True}

define_skill(program)

Go

package main

import "github.com/operatorstack/yield/sdk/yield"

func main() {
  yield.Main(func(ctx *yield.Context) (yield.Outcome, error) {
    answer := ctx.AskUser("approve", "Publish?",
      yield.Option{Value: "yes", Label: "Publish"},
      yield.Option{Value: "no", Label: "Stop"})
    if answer != "yes" { return yield.Outcome{}, ctx.Refused("not approved") }
    return ctx.Complete(map[string]bool{"approved": true})
  })
}

Rust

use yieldskill::{define_skill, Context, SkillResult};

fn program(ctx: &mut Context) -> SkillResult {
  let answer = ctx.ask_user("approve", "Publish?", &[
    ("yes", "Publish"), ("no", "Stop"),
  ]);
  if answer != "yes" { return Err(ctx.refused("not approved")); }
  Ok(serde_json::json!({ "approved": true }))
}

fn main() { define_skill(program); }

03 / Run

The coding agent presents the typed question.

CursorAskUser · waiting

› /publish-release

Questions1 of 1

1. Publish this release?

Add optional details

∞ AgentGPT-5.6 Medium

Saved response{ "value": "yes" }

Cursor owns the question UI. Yield owns the accepted values and saves the selected value before the workflow continues.

04 / Shape

The value is the program boundary.

Operation ID: A stable name used during replay.
Question: One clear question shown by the coding agent.
Options: Optional value and label pairs.
Answer: The selected value, or free text when no options exist.

05 / Saved

The run can wait on disk.

Yield records the answer and replays it when the program starts again. The same question is not asked again during that run.

Common mistake

Do not ask for approval after the command has changed the system. Use Refused when the person says no.