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The assume tool

How an agent that can't wait for your answer picks an option and goes on, while the question stays open for you to confirm or overturn.

assume lets an agent go on without you, without deciding for you. Its title is Assume an answer, and its description, as the agent reads it:

Can't wait for the human? Pick an option and go on; the question stays open, marked assumed, until the human confirms or overturns it.

Arguments

Argument Type What the agent is told
key string, required
option integer, required the option you picked (1-based)
answer string the same as option, for the number written as text

What it does

  • The picked option is marked assumed, on the board and in every agent's list. The question stays open, on Questions, for you.
  • Work that waits on the question can go ahead. When an agent claims such a task, its reply suggests this: "do only what doesn't depend on that, or assume an answer and go on".
  • The other agents hear it in their news: "assumed an answer … the human confirms or overturns it".
  • When you answer: the same option confirms it and nothing changes. Another answer overturns it, and every task ticked done on the assumption opens again, with a note to redo it for the real answer (see answer).
  • Assuming again moves the mark to the new option.

Calls and replies

The agent is blocked on a decision of yours, in Claude Code:

⏺ hamloy - Claim an item (MCP)(key: "B-lm4l")
  ⎿  B-lm4l@1 "Start a new day at the time the person picks" claimed by this session
     note: it still waits on Q-229x "When does a day end?"; do only what doesn't depend on that, or assume an answer and go on

⏺ hamloy - Assume an answer (MCP)(key: "Q-229x", option: 2)
  ⎿  Q-229x@2   When does a day end?  options: 1) At midnight  2) At 4am, for night owls (recommended, assumed)

What another agent reads in its news:

Hamloy news (what changed since you last looked):
- claude (session 3f9a2c71) assumed an answer to Q-229x "When does a day end?": At 4am, for night owls; the human confirms or overturns it

You overturn it later; the work built on it opens again:

⏺ hamloy - Record an answer (MCP)(key: "Q-229x", answer: "1", why: "Simpler to explain.")
  ⎿  Q-229x@3 answered: At midnight
     open again, built on the assumed answer "At 4am, for night owls": B-lm4l
Where should synced habits live?
Ccodex 3d ago
Supabase: Postgres with auth and row-level security built in recommended
Our own Postgres on Fly.io
iCloud only, no server
Or answer in your own words Why (optional) Answer

Answering this lets Offline sync with a local SQLite cache go ahead.

C codex · ~/pebble · feat/offline

• I asked you where synced habits should live (Q-sy2c). Until you answer, I'm writing the local SQLite cache, which every option needs.

What it refuses

B-txqk isn't a question
Q-q0ae has 3 options; pick 1 to 3
assume takes option, the number of the option you picked, not "yes"
Q-q0ae has no options to assume; give it some (the edit tool with options), or leave it to the human

A question without options can't be assumed: there is nothing to pick. The agent can add options with edit, or leave the question to you.

An option that is assumed can't be dropped from the question's options while the mark is on it; it can be moved or reworded in its place.

Assume or ask and wait

An agent that stops on every decision wastes the hours you are away. An agent that decides alone takes what is yours. assume sits between: the agent goes on with the option it would recommend, and you still have the last word. See Human in the loop.