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49 lines
2.8 KiB
Text
49 lines
2.8 KiB
Text
---
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title: "Steering"
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description: "Guide running agents with real-time course corrections"
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---
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Steering lets you send guidance to an agent while it's working — without waiting for a human gate or stopping the run. If you see the agent heading down the wrong path, you can nudge it back on track mid-stage.
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## How steering works
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A steering message is injected into the agent's conversation as a user-role message. The agent sees it on its next LLM turn — after the current tool call finishes — and can adjust its approach immediately.
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The delivery flow:
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1. You send a `POST /runs/{id}/steer` request with your guidance text
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2. The message is queued on the agent session's steering queue
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3. Before the next LLM call, Fabro drains the queue and injects each message as a `Steering` turn in the conversation history
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4. The LLM sees the guidance alongside its existing context and adjusts accordingly
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Steering is **asynchronous** — the API returns `202 Accepted` immediately. The agent picks up the message at its next natural pause point (between tool calls), not mid-execution.
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See the [Steer Run API reference](/api-reference/human-in-the-loop/steer-run) for the full request and response schema.
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## When steering is delivered
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Steering messages are drained from the queue at two points during the agent loop:
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1. **Before the first LLM call** — any messages queued before the agent starts its first turn
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2. **After each tool execution round** — between tool results being collected and the next LLM call
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This means there is a natural latency between sending a steering message and the agent seeing it. If the agent is in the middle of a long-running shell command, the message waits until that command finishes and the next LLM turn begins.
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Multiple steering messages sent in quick succession are all delivered together at the next drain point.
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## Steering vs. human gates
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Steering and [human gates](/workflows/human-in-the-loop) serve different purposes:
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| | Steering | Human gates |
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|---|---|---|
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| **When** | Any time during an agent stage | At a defined point in the workflow graph |
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| **Blocks execution** | No — agent continues working | Yes — workflow pauses until a choice is made |
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| **Defined in the graph** | No — sent ad hoc via the API | Yes — `hexagon` nodes with edge options |
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| **Use case** | Course corrections, hints, focus changes | Approval decisions, strategy selection, go/no-go |
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Use human gates for structured decisions that are part of the workflow design. Use steering for reactive guidance when you're watching a run and want to intervene.
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<Frame caption="The Files Changed tab shows a side-by-side diff of all changes made during the run.">
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<img src="/images/web/run-files-changed.png" alt="Fabro web UI Files Changed tab showing a side-by-side diff" />
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</Frame>
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