Undoing an action, end to end
Undo asks for the opposite of what was done, and gets one of three answers. A record created inside the workspace is reversed. Something that left an effect elsewhere is compensated — a new action that corrects it. Something that reached another person cannot be recalled at all, and undo records the intention rather than pretending. Which one you get depends on where the action landed.
The path an undo takes#
- Trigger — you ask to undo, from the result card or by saying so in the conversation.
- User event — the request names the action, not the record: undo is about one completed step.
- Authentication and workspace resolution — the same workspace, and the same person or another with the same rights.
- Ingest — the original action is looked up in the decision log, which is what makes undo possible at all.
- Canonical record — the action's target and its before-state decide what an opposite would even mean.
- Classification — the action is sorted into reversible, compensable, or irreversible.
- Knowledge, memory and rules — the Assistant's authority applies again: it cannot undo its way past a limit it could not cross forwards.
- Autonomy and approval — the undo itself is a proposal you confirm, because an undo is a change like any other.
- Action through the owning service — the same service that made the change makes the reversal or the compensation.
- Result — the record returns to its previous state, or a correcting action exists, or the log records that neither was possible.
- Relationship and timeline — the timeline shows both events. An undone action is not erased from history.
- Audit and Needs You — who undid what, when and with which outcome; an irreversible action that needs a human follow-up is queued.
The three outcomes#
| The action | Outcome | What actually happens |
|---|---|---|
| A follow-up created | Reversed | The follow-up is removed; the timeline keeps both events |
| A memory written | Reversed | forget removes it, and the previous statement is not resurrected automatically |
| An opportunity moved to another stage | Reversed | The stage returns, and both moves stay in the history |
| A draft approved but still held | Reversed | The approval is withdrawn before the send happens |
| A draft approved and sent | Compensated at best | The message is with the recipient. A correcting message can be written; the original cannot be recalled |
| A call already placed | Recorded only | The conversation happened. Undo records the intention and queues a person if one is needed |
The line between the fifth row and the fourth is provider evidence. Until the provider acknowledges a send, the state is uncertain rather than sent, and withdrawal may still be possible. After acknowledgement it is not, and any page or person telling you otherwise is describing a recall feature that mail does not have.
Reading the result honestly#
An undo that reports 'recorded' has not failed. It has told you the truth about an action that cannot be taken back, which is more useful than a success message that leaves you believing a customer never received something they did receive. Design that hides this is the reason people distrust undo in agent products; designing undo for agent actions is the longer argument.
- Reversed
- The state is as it was. Nothing external saw the change.
- Compensated
- The original effect stands and a correcting action now exists. Both are on the timeline.
- Recorded only
- Neither was possible. The log holds the attempt, and Needs You holds the human task if there is one.
- Refused
- Undo would cross a limit the Assistant does not have — clearing a do-not-contact entry, for instance. A person with the right can still act.
Undoing what you did not do#
Find the action in the decision log rather than in a conversation.
Result The log is the shared record; a colleague's Assistant tab is not visible to you and is not where an audit lives.
Check the outcome class before you ask.
Result Knowing in advance whether the action is reversible saves proposing an undo that can only ever be recorded.
Ask for the undo, then confirm the proposal.
Result The reversal or the compensation runs through the owning service, with your name on it rather than the original actor's.
Questions#
Is there a time limit on undo?
The limit is the action, not the clock. A reversible action stays reversible until something else depends on it; an irreversible one was irreversible the moment it completed, whether that was five seconds or five days ago.
Does undoing an action remove it from the audit trail?
No, and this is deliberate. Both the action and its undo stay on the record's timeline and in the decision log, because a history that can be edited is not a history.
Can I undo something a colleague's Assistant did?
Yes, if you have the rights for that kind of change. Undo works from the shared decision log rather than from a private conversation, so it is not tied to the person or the tab that made the original change.