Did the Action Happen? Designing Confirmation Logic for Agent Tool Calls That Time Out
felix_baron · reddit · 2026-09-22
The author tackles a gap in agent engineering: when a tool call times out, did the action execute? Blind retries can be dangerous for orders or payments.
They propose a small open-source example around one CRM update (via both API and browser):
- Bind approval to the exact customer and proposed change
- Re-check the target before executing
- Read back the result from the system
- Record outcomes as confirmed, failed, or unknown
The reusable layer handles action records, approval checks, status tracking, and an evidence log (without raw customer values), with tests for wrong customer, changed arguments after approval, and connection drops. System-specific code stays with the user. Starts with LangChain/LangGraph.
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