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ask_user lets the agent ask the human one to three structured questions and wait for the answers. It is for decisions that genuinely belong to the user, not routine confirmation or information the agent can derive from the request, code, or a sensible default. The tool is available only in the main session. Subagents and other non-primary runs do not receive it.

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Answer a question

You can answer from any supported conversation surface:
  • The web Control UI docks a question panel directly above the composer. For multi-question prompts, the panel shows one question at a time and advances through a short stepper. After resolution, the panel closes and the chat keeps the full question alongside your answer in a compact summary. Skipped or expired questions keep their wording alongside the outcome. Switching between pending questions preserves both selected choices and typed answers, even when typed text matches an option label.
  • The TUI shows a question prompt in both Gateway and local modes. Use arrow keys or number keys to choose an option, Other… to type an answer, or Skip. Multi-select prompts let you toggle choices before confirming; multi-question prompts advance one question at a time. Press Esc to return to the composer without answering, then /question to reopen the prompt.
  • Telegram renders each choice as a full-width native button for one single-select question. Other… switches to Telegram’s reply input without resolving the question.
  • Discord, Slack, and Mattermost render native buttons for a single-choice, single-question prompt. Mattermost retires its prompt on the tap it accepts; a question that ends elsewhere leaves the buttons in place until someone taps one and is told it was already answered.
  • For a question created by an active OpenClaw run, a plain-text reply works on any channel when your current permissions match the creator’s. Reply with a number, an option label, or your own answer. For multi-select questions, separate choices with commas.
Questions from a standalone attached MCP client do not carry an OpenClaw run’s creator binding. Answer those using the question controls in the Control UI, TUI, or native app, not an ordinary channel message. OpenClaw always enables a free-text Other answer. The agent must not add an Other option to the authored option list. Never answer ask_user with a credential. When the agent needs an API key it uses the secrets tool, whose masked prompt stores the value without it entering the chat, the transcript, or the model’s context.

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Platform behavior

Answers work on every supported conversation surface. The web Control UI and TUI show one question at a time; collapsing the prompt restores the composer with a slim pending-question indicator. The TUI’s /question command reopens it, and a plain reply still answers an eligible pending question. iOS, macOS, and Android show inline cards; multiple questions stay stacked as an intentional touch-friendly idiom. The TUI keeps a compact resolution notice in the chat; other platforms keep the question-to-answer summary without timed eviction. Skip is available everywhere and declines the entire prompt. Multi-question and multi-select prompts degrade to readable text on messaging channels. The Control UI and TUI keep the full structured stepper. The TUI shows the time remaining, dismisses expired prompts, and restores pending questions for the selected session after reconnecting or switching sessions. Local mode keeps questions in the running process; they do not survive exiting the TUI.

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Async questions

Codex async questions use the same panel above the Control UI composer. They open without taking keyboard focus and leave the message box available while the agent continues working. Collapse the panel to keep a compact unanswered-question count and the current question visible. New messages, the question’s own completed turn, and collapsed work history do not dismiss the question or reopen a minimized panel. When a later run completes successfully, older reminders leave the dock. Overlapping runs, commentary, interruptions, and failed runs do not retire a question. Successful restart recovery also moves older reminders into history; restarting alone does not. The transcript keeps the question with No longer pending and an Answer button to reopen it. Reopening preserves the draft until you submit, skip, or a later run completes. Moving a reminder into history never answers it, grants permission, or marks its underlying task complete. The question dock also stays available when a plugin replaces the composer. Use the panel’s request arrows to switch between pending requests without losing answer drafts. A new blocking question takes priority; async questions remain available through the same navigation. Submitting an async answer sends an ordinary chat message, using the existing outbox and retry controls. Skipping removes that request from the dock without sending an answer. The transcript retains a summary. Minimizing alone neither answers nor skips a question.

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Timeout and no answer

The default timeout is 900 seconds. timeoutSeconds is clamped to the range 30 through 3600 seconds. This is a maximum human wait, subject to earlier agent run cancellation or the overall run timeout. A pending question does not extend an explicit run budget. If the question expires or is cancelled before an answer arrives, the tool returns status: "no_answer". The agent then continues with its best judgment. An aborted agent run cancels its pending Gateway question. Gateway question records include the optional originating runId. Clients can use it to keep the prompt and its terminal answer summary with the correct agent turn, including after reconnecting and recovering the question with question.list or question.get.

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Tool schema

With multiSelect: true, the user can choose more than one option. Answer values are returned as an array for every question. Example answered result:
The outer answers is the protocol’s QuestionAnswers envelope; its inner answers map is keyed by questionId, with an array of selected values per question.

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Model guidance

The model-facing contract tells the agent to:
  • ask only when blocked on a genuinely user-owned decision;
  • ask exactly one question per call unless several answers must be submitted together, because one-question prompts can use native messaging controls;
  • put every selectable choice in options, never only in question prose;
  • use multiSelect only when several choices can be selected at once;
  • put the recommended option first and suffix its label with (Recommended);
  • omit an authored Other option because free text is added automatically;
  • continue with best judgment after no_answer.
The agent should not use ask_user to ask whether it may proceed or to confirm its own plan.