There are automations that will make changes you want to weigh in on first, like archiving inactive projects or deleting completed tasks. Human in the Loop or HITL pauses an automation right before that step, and asks you to choose how it should proceed. This is so nothing destructive happens without your say-so.
About Human in the Loop
Human in the Loop is a safety mechanism for high-impact steps. These are actions you'd usually want a person to give approval for, rather than let an automation decide and take those steps itself. Here are some examples of what this looks like:
- Cleaning up inactive projects: “3 inactive projects found. What should I do?” with options like Archive, Delete, and Do nothing
- Bulk deletes: “Delete 12 completed tasks?” with options like Delete and Cancel
- Any bulk or irreversible change: archiving, deleting, or updating many items at once
Pending question notifications
When you create an automation that takes similar high-impact actions, Automations automatically pauses the run and adds a confirmation step for you to sign off on.
To help you respond quickly, you're notified by either a push or email notification, or both, based on your notification settings. It won't take any further action until it receives your answer.
In some browsers, like Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge on your desktop computer or Android device, you can answer a pending question directly from the notification.
If you're using other browsers like Firefox or Safari, or a pending question has more than two options, tapping the notification opens Todoist Automations itself, and you can answer from there instead.
Waiting badge
An automation with a pending question shows a Waiting badge on the automations list, and on the automation's detail page. This way, you can see which automations need your input right away. Click the Waiting badge to jump straight to the Attention needed section in your dashboard.
Attention needed section
On your dashboard, and under the Attention needed section, each pending question appears as a card with the following details:
- The automation's question
- Any extra details
- A button for each option
The card also shows when the question expires and gives you an Open automation link to take you back to the automation page.
Response deadline
If you don't respond to the pending question after 7 days, the automation ends that run automatically rather than guessing what to do. This keeps a paused run from stalling indefinitely. The automation itself isn't affected, and it will run the next time its schedule or trigger fires.
Get in touch
With Human in the Loop, you can build any automation that archives, deletes, or makes bulk changes with your permission. You get to automate the repetitive work without giving up control over the steps that matter.
If you run into any trouble while adding Human in the Loop to your automation, get in touch with us.