Pause workflows for approval with Chat SDK
Vercel's Chat SDK now bakes human-in-the-loop approvals into workflows—no custom tables, no polling.
Why it matters
A developer-facing feature that simplifies a common agentic workflow pattern (pause for human decision, resume). Practitioners building agents or automation will use this directly; relevant to the shift toward durable, stateful agent infrastructure.
The key facts
12 to knowVercel Chat SDK adds subpath chat/workflowrequestApproval
Workflow suspends until approval or denial; survives deploys and restarts
No custom approvals table or onAction handler required
Scoped approvers: restrict who can decide with approvers parameter
Verified decisions: user.id signed by platform on every click
Audit trail: card edited in place with outcome, prevents stale clicks
Timeout support: approval can wait seconds or days
Vercel Chat SDK adds durable approval workflow via chat/workflowRequestApproval subpath
Approvals persist across deploys and restarts without external state management
Scoped approvers restrict decision-making by identity; verified decisions track who approved
No approvals table, onAction handler, or polling loop required
Audit trail: stale clicks prevented via card edit on decision or timeout
Go to the source
Vercel Blogvercel.com
Publisher excerpt: You can build human-in-the-loop approvals with Chat SDK through the new subpath. One call posts a card with Approve and Deny buttons and suspends a workflow until someone decides.chat/workflowrequestApprovalWorkflow SDK The wait can last seconds or days and survives deploys and restarts. You don't…