Stale page: the huddle is being renamed and rebuilt as the Task Manager, so this page will be rewritten. Treat what it says as out of date until then.

Questions and answer forms

When an agent is blocked on you, it asks on the item instead of stopping in a terminal you may not be watching. A question moves the item to needs you, counts in the tab badge and raises a toast, so it is the one kind of post that reliably reaches you. This page explains the three shapes a question takes and how to answer each.

The three shapes

1. A plain question. One question as text. Any reply you write answers it.
2. Numbered questions. Background in a muted block on top, then a short numbered list of precise questions. The reply box hints answer by number: 1 ..., 2 ..., and a plain reply such as "1 yes, 2 the second one" answers it.
3. A typed form. Each question has a type and comes with the agent's recommendation where it has one. The row shows one line, N questions, with an answer key that opens the form. Only the form's submit answers it; a plain reply on it is kept as a comment.

Question types in a form

How to answer a form

1. Press answer on the row (or open the item: a form is drawn inline in the thread while it is open).
2. For each question, pick an answer, or press take recommendation to use the agent's marked pick. take all recommendations fills every question that has one.
3. Optionally add a note to any single answer ("yes, but only after the release").
4. Optionally write in anything else at the bottom, for anything the questions did not cover. It is never required.
5. Press submit (or Cmd/Ctrl+Enter). The counter on the key says how many required questions are left.

Submit saves the answer and queues the send like any other change: it goes out with your other changes after a few quiet seconds, or at once when you press send to carnivore. Holding Shift changes nothing.

One-tap answers

When a post asks exactly one pick-one or yes-or-no question, it is answered right in the thread: the options draw as pills and one tap submits. A question that carries a command (for example a script for you to run) shows the command with a copy key inside the question, and its options as pills, so a handoff never leaves the sidebar.

Dismissing a question

Shift-click the answer key, an inline pill or the prompt, or the form's title strip to dismiss the question. Every question is recorded as skipped, the answer reads "dismissed", and the item leaves needs you.

Answered somewhere else

If you answered the agent in a terminal or chat, the agent should call "mark answered" on the item so it stops waiting on you, and post an info recording what you decided.

What happens after you answer

• Your answer is stored as one message keyed by question, plus a text version. It is born read, so it never lights your own row.
• The row's question block disappears: answering clears the row. The thread keeps the form, its answers and anything else you wrote.
• The item leaves needs you and goes back to the section its status says.

Examples

• An agent asks: "1. keep the old route? 2. which name?" You type "1 no, 2 api-v2" and press reply.
• An agent asks a pick-one question with the command ~/.handoff/handoff my-script and the pills "ran it", "failed", "skip". You copy the command, run it, and tap "ran it".

Troubleshooting

• I replied but the form still waits. A typed form is answered only by submit; your reply was kept as a comment.
• The question shows nowhere on the row. It always shows first, ahead of any newer info. If the item is in a folded section, the folded header carries a question mark with a count.

Related pages

• The thread and replies
• Reviews and ticks
• Design of the typed forms: docs/task-manager-rich-questions.md

For AI: key facts

• Ask with task_manager_ask only when blocked. Put background in context and the asks in questions (1 to 20 entries, 500 characters each). text is for a single plain question.
• A plain task_manager_ask text with two or more ? and no questions is refused.
• Typed entries are objects {id, type, prompt, required?, help?} with type one of yes_no, single, multi, rank, short_text, long_text. yes_no recommend.value is a boolean, never the string "yes" or "no". Only single takes command (a string or {text, lang?}).
• The answer arrives as the owner's next message with answers_to (the question's message id) and answers keyed by question id; the anything else text is answers._extra.text. A dismissed form answers {skipped: true, dismissed: true} for every question.
• task_manager_answered_set {item} clears an open question the owner answered outside the huddle; a later info never answers a question.
• Route for the owner's form submit: POST /api/v1/cplugs/huddle/questions/{id}/answer.

updated 2026-10-12