MAIster keeps review inside the Run that produced the work. The reviewer can inspect evidence, comment on the diff, request agent rework, or claim the worktree for local changes before sending it back through validation.

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Prerequisites

  • Project member access with permission to answer human-in-the-loop requests.
  • A Flow whose review node declares the decisions you intend to use.
  • For manual takeover, local access to the execution host and the Run worktree.

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1. Open the review request

Human-in-the-loop request on a Run Open the Inbox item or the Run directly. Confirm the task, current node, requested decision, criticality, and latest attempt. The built-in Inbox is the normal MAIster surface. A personal assistant with explicit token scopes may relay the same request to chat and return the person’s decision through the API.

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2. Inspect current evidence

Review diff with file-level changes Review the current diff together with test, lint, check, judgment, and other declared artifacts. The evidence graph records which node and attempt produced each item. Required evidence must be current; stale or superseded history does not satisfy review or merge gates. Production artifacts and structured results serve different purposes. Open an artifact to inspect its body. Read a structured result for small typed decisions that later nodes or evaluators consume.

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3. Ask the agent before deciding

Answer-only chat with the agent parked at review Use Ask the agent when the diff or evidence needs an explanation. The chat is available at an open human or form gate while MAIster can reach the parked ACP session. A permission request does not offer chat because the agent is still inside the tool call that owns that prompt turn. The question starts an answer-only turn. It does not approve the gate, resume Flow execution, or grant permission to change code. MAIster instructs the session to stay read-only, rejects clear write-tool requests, and compares the workspace with a checkpoint after the answer. If the session changes files, MAIster restores the checkpoint and marks the reply. An idle session may need to be restored for the first question; the UI shows the expected cache-creation cost before you send it. If you later choose Rework, MAIster includes the completed question-and-answer history with the review summary and open line comments.

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4. Leave review threads

Add a root comment to a concrete diff line, then use replies for discussion. MAIster stores the original line anchor and classifies it as inline or outdated against the current diff. Resolve a thread when the concern is addressed. Open threads are composed with the review summary and injected into the Flow’s declared rework variable. Resolved threads are not sent back to the agent. Approval can warn about open threads, but the review decision remains explicit.

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5A. Send work back to an agent

Choose Rework, add a concise summary, and select an allowed re-entry target when the Flow offers one. The Flow applies its configured workspace policy:
  • keep the current worktree;
  • rewind to the target node’s checkpoint;
  • start a fresh attempt.
The target and downstream node attempts, gates, results, and artifacts become stale. The next agent attempt receives the summary and open review threads through the configured commentsVar. The Run cannot return to acceptance until the required checks and evidence are produced again.

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5B. Take over the worktree

Choose Take over when a local edit is safer or faster than another agent turn.
  1. Claim the Run. MAIster records you as the owner and changes it to Human working.
  2. Open the existing worktree and branch returned by the claim. No new branch or pull request is created.
  3. Make the changes locally.
  4. Commit every intended change. The return action refuses a dirty worktree or an empty commit range.
  5. Return the work to MAIster.
MAIster records the returned commits and diff, marks the configured validation re-entry path stale, and resumes the Flow at that validation node. Checks run against the human’s commits before a fresh review request appears. It never returns to the implementation node unless the Flow explicitly designed that path, which prevents an agent from overwriting the human edit. A top-level Flow Run already in Review can also be claimed for local rework when its workspace is eligible. This path can fast-forward changes pushed from another machine before validating the clean worktree and returning to the Flow.

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6. Approve and promote

Promotion dialog after review Approval completes the review decision; promotion is a separate action. Before promotion, MAIster rechecks required evidence and repository state. Depending on project policy, promotion creates a pull request or performs a local merge and records the resulting commit set as evidence.

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Failure signals