# Decide

> Where the dogs bring what you've asked them to ask about. One card at a time, numbered options, keys 1 to 4, your own words with R, a 10-second undo, and the iPhone app.

Canonical: https://alaskanlabs.com/docs/decide

The dogs do their work under the rules you set. Decide is where they bring what those rules say to ask about first (the team templates start with things like spending money, messages that leave the company and anything that can't be undone). Its count is the only badge in the app, and Today's Start opens it.

## Focus mode

Decide shows one card at a time, in the middle of the page, with "1 of 3" above it; J and K move between cards. The card is the question, the facts and the options, and a box to say it in your own words. The dog's reasoning is one line behind **Why?**; the evidence, the thread and your record with this dog are behind **Details**.

## A card

Each card says:

- **who** is asking (the dog) and **where it came from** ("Support · Ticket #4182"),
- **what kind** of thing it is: leaves the company, calendar, internal and reversible, spends money, goes public,
- **the question**, in one line ("Refund $240 to Maya Patel? It's over your $50 limit."), and a sentence of summary,
- **what would change**, as rows (a CRM field from one value to another, a refund amount, an email's recipients), with anything doubtful flagged,
- **one to four numbered options**, each with a line on what it does.

## Choosing

- **1–4** chooses that option.
- **↑ ↓** move the outline between options, and **↵** chooses the outlined one.
- **R** opens the box to answer in your own words. A typed answer is kept exactly as you wrote it, counts as approved, and the dog works from exactly what you wrote.
- **J** and **K** go to the next and previous card.
- **⌘Z** undoes.

Options are either approving or declining. Choosing a declining option ("Not now", "Skip Sean") records the card as declined.

## Undo

Every decision has a 10-second undo.

- Undo **your own answer** and the card goes back into Decide as it was, waiting for you, on the web and the phone.
- Undo **a rule's** decision and it's marked undone, and stays in the Ledger as undone.

After 10 seconds it's too late to undo, and the decision stands. A card with an expiry (a fare hold that runs out at 6 pm) expires if nobody answers in time.

## Where cards come from

- **From a chat.** When you talk to a dog, it can propose something. The dog's rules are applied first: a **Never** rule refuses it outright, a **Just do** rule decides it at once (with the undo), and anything else comes to Decide.
- **From a workflow.** A workflow template has at least one Decide step. When a run reaches it, a card is created and the run waits. Once you choose and the undo window has passed, the run carries on along the option you chose. See [Workflow template format](/docs/workflow-templates).

Today, what you approve from a chat is recorded in the Ledger; a workflow's app steps are what act on it.

## On iPhone

The iPhone app has the same Decide, as a pinned chat with the same cards and numbered options. A card decided on the web shows as decided on the phone, and an undo on either puts it back on both.