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The AI agent paused to ask you, or a site check paused the session

You might be here because: “the AI stopped and asked me something” · “confirmation required” · “the AI paused before paying” · “the session is paused” · “the page shows a verification check” · “the site sent me a code” · “continue doesn’t do anything” · “how do I answer the agent”

Short answer

The agent stops for one of three reasons: it needs an answer from you, the next step has consequences and the purchase check on your account holds it until you approve it, or the page showed a verification check a person has to clear. Read the notice under the last step, do what it asks — answer, approve, or clear the check in the live view and press Resume — then send “continue”.

Check first

  • On the free trial? The AI agent is not included on the trial: the chat and the Agent and Pair modes need a paid plan.
  • Read the notice: it says in plain words what is needed, and a one-word reason sits beside it.
  • Session paused? A check pauses the session the moment it appears; nothing carries on until you resume it, from the live view’s Resume button or the resume call.
  • Another message in between? An approval only counts as the very next message; anything else makes the agent plan afresh and ask again.

Likely causes and fixes

  1. It asked a question. Before it starts, or part-way through (reason question). Fix: answer as your next message.

  2. It hit a limit and stopped. By reason: step_limit, time_limit, ai_unavailable and page_unreadable — send “continue”; repeated_step — check the page first and continue only if the action is safe to repeat; budget_low — add tokens to the session first (POST /v1/agent-sessions/{id}/budget), then send “continue” (a message sent before the top-up is refused, and says how many tokens to add); session_unresponsive — the session stopped answering automated steps (the live view may still show the page), so end the session and launch a new one; no_progress and declined — “continue” will not help, say what to try differently.

  3. A step with consequences is held. Your account’s purchase_check_mode setting decides which purchases, payments and account deletions are held. In always mode (Always ask) every one is held. In smart mode (Smart: ask unless you asked for that exact one-off purchase with an amount) only a one-off purchase or payment you asked for in your own words, with the amount named, goes ahead; deletions, subscriptions, plans, trials and anything that recurs are held, and so is a different currency or a higher amount than you named. In never mode (Never ask) none is held. A step you send yourself with POST /steps is always held in smart mode. A held step did not run; the notice names the category and the text it matched. Fix: send the same message again as the very next message, with the approval; the agent carries on from the held step. In an unattended job, never approve automatically — alert a person.

  4. A site check paused the session. Driftstack does not solve checks, so a person answers them, and a code the site sends by email or text is always yours to enter. Fix: clear the check or enter the code in the live view, press Resume, then send “continue”. Paused with no check showing? Open the live view to see the page, resume, then “continue”.

  5. From code. A paused session still reads status: "active"; watch for the session.challenge_detected webhook. The resume call answers 409 once the session is over.

In the desktop app

If you turn on Keep going on its own in Settings → AI chat (it is kept for your account and workspace on that computer), the chat sends “continue” for you after step_limit or time_limit, at most 10 times per message you send. It is off until you turn it on. It sends no more “continue” once the time or cost limit set there is reached, but the part already running can go past it by up to one part’s cost, or about 3 minutes past the time limit. If a part’s cost isn’t known (for example when your own AI key is saved), it stops and says so. Any other reason ends it. A check that appears while a part is running, or in the short wait before “continue”, can still get one or more “continue” messages, within your limits, and the cost of those parts, before the agent sees the check and stops. To end it, press Stop or start typing in the AI view of the main window; the chat in the session window can’t end it. When it stops at one of your limits, it says so under the chat.

If it still fails

If Resume does not lift the pause, or “continue” does nothing with nothing to clear, stop and launch the profile again. If it repeats, press Talk to a person in this chat (or open Help) with the session id, the notice sentence and its one-word reason, and the time. Never include a code the site sent you.