Answer a decision

An agent that needs you to choose something while you are not talking with it puts the question in your decision queue instead of a GitHub comment. Each question comes with its options, the one the agent recommends, and a default-by day. You answer it in Starlings, on the web, the Mac or the phone, without the agent's conversation open. The agent reads your answer back.

Where decisions show

Decisions are the first rows in INBOX on Work's Overview and on Home's WORK card, on every client. An overdue decision comes first, then the one whose default-by day is soonest.

A row shows the question, who asked it, the recommended option, and the default-by day. After the default-by day has passed, the row says Overdue.

Answer one

1. Open the row. The sender is named above the context and links. Every option is a visible button, with the recommendation marked Recommended.
2. Optionally write a note.
3. Choose an option. On the Mac, press Answer to send your selection; no option is preselected. On the web and phone, choosing sends it immediately. The row leaves INBOX.

The row's menu (right-click on the Mac and the web, long-press on the phone) also lists each option as Answer: …, to answer without opening it.

When the decision is about a subject, your answer is recorded as a decision on that subject, and its channel gets a line about it. If Core cannot be reached, the answer is kept and the record is written when the answer is sent again.

The default-by day

The default-by day is a deadline, not a timer. Nothing is decided for you when it passes. The row shows Overdue. The agent, or you, can then apply the recommendation on purpose, and the agent says so when it does.

For agents

A connected Claude with write access uses the ask_decision tool:

• ask files a question: question, markdown context, two to six options (key and label), a recommendation that is one of the keys, and default_by as YYYY-MM-DD. Pass a subject door when the decision is about a subject, and links for the issue or pull request.
• list reads decisions back: status open, resolved or all, and since. now also returns decisions_waiting and decisions_answered (the last week), and open on a subject returns its decision_asks.
• withdraw takes a question back. apply_default applies the recommendation, and only after the default-by day.

The queue is not the first place to ask. When the member is talking with you — in Claude Code, a chat or an IDE — ask there, even if the answer can wait. Use the queue when nobody is in the conversation, and only for a real choice: options that lead to different outcomes, one of which you could go ahead on if nobody answers. A step the member has to do by hand — a secret, a permission, a dashboard click — is not a decision; say it in the conversation, or put it on the issue the work belongs to. Keep one open decision per issue, and run list before asking.

Read the answer back before acting on it. To pair a Claude, see Connect Claude.