Escrow Queue
The Escrow Queue is where actions with a HELD verdict wait for human review. This is the core human-in-the-loop mechanism in TheWARDN governance.
Overview
When the governance pipeline assigns a HELD verdict to an action, the action is placed in escrow rather than being executed or blocked outright. A human operator must then review the action and decide whether to release (approve) or kill (reject) it.
Queue View
The Escrow Queue displays all pending items in a list. Each item shows:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Agent | The agent that submitted the action |
| Action Type | What the agent is attempting to do |
| Target Service | The downstream service the action would affect |
| Confidence | The confidence score submitted with the action |
| Policies Fired | Which CHAM policies triggered the HELD verdict |
| Time Remaining | Countdown timer showing how long until auto-timeout |
Action Details
Click any escrow item to view its full details:
- Complete action payload
- Agent information and history
- All policies that evaluated the action
- Confidence scores and tier assignment
- Governance reasoning explaining why the action was held
Release and Kill
Each escrow item has two action buttons:
Release
Clicking Release approves the action. The governance pipeline records the release with a decision acknowledgment, and the action is allowed to proceed to execution. The audit log records who released it and when.
Kill
Clicking Kill rejects the action. The action is permanently blocked and will not execute. The audit log records the rejection.
TIP
Before releasing an action, review the policies that fired and the governance reasoning. If the action was held due to low confidence, consider whether the confidence score reflects genuine uncertainty.
Auto-Timeout
Every escrow item has a countdown timer. If no human decision is made before the timer expires, the action is automatically resolved according to the configured timeout behavior.
WARNING
The default timeout behavior is to block the action. Silence equals rejection -- if no one reviews the item, it does not execute. This is a deliberate fail-closed design.
Escrow Workflow
The complete escrow lifecycle:
- Agent submits an action to the governance pipeline
- Governance evaluates the action against all applicable policies
- Verdict is HELD -- the action is placed in the escrow queue
- A countdown timer starts
- A human operator reviews the action in the queue
- The operator clicks Release (approve) or Kill (reject)
- If no decision is made before timeout, the action is automatically blocked
- The decision is recorded in the immutable audit trail
Notifications
When new items enter the escrow queue, the console displays a notification badge on the Escrow Queue sidebar item so you can see at a glance that actions are waiting for review.