# ask

URL: /business/nouns/action/ask · Id: `verb:Action.ask` · Call: `await $.Action.ask({ … })` (SDK) or the `do` tool at `https://api.sb/mcp`. Inputs says what to pass, Outputs what returns, When it waits who approves.

> Ask puts a Question to a Party, a Role, or a Worker and holds the Action `pending` with reason `awaitingInput`.

Ask puts a [Question](/business/nouns/question) to a [Party](/business/nouns/party) during an [Action](/business/nouns/action) and holds it `pending` with reason `awaitingInput` until it is answered.

## Inputs
| Input | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `action` | [Action](/business/nouns/action) | Yes | The Action that needs an answer to go on. |
| `to` | [Thing](/business/nouns/thing) | Yes | Who is asked: a Party, a Role, or a Worker. |
| `text` | `text` | Yes | The question, in one message. |
| `choices` | `string[]` | No | The answers offered. |
| `schema` | `json` | No | The typed answer’s shape. |
| `answerBy` | `datetime` | No | When the Action’s timeout rule applies. |

## Outputs
| Output | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `question` | [Question](/business/nouns/question) | Yes | The Question, posted in the record’s Thread. |
| `action` | [Action](/business/nouns/action) | Yes | The Action, now pending with reason `awaitingInput`. |

## Effects
- Emits [`Action.asked`](/business/events/Action.asked).
- Two-way: it runs at once, in the `try`, `send` and `do` modes.
- Pauses an Order’s delivery window and service level while the Customer is the one asked.
- Renders as a Portal form, an email, a chat card, or an MCP elicitation, by where the asked party is.

## Refuses when
| Check | Error | Fix | Then call |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| The key is valid, but its scopes do not allow this operation. | [`forbidden`](/code/api/errors/forbidden) | Use a key whose scopes cover the operation, or ask an owner of the namespace to grant them. | [Action.ask](/business/nouns/action/ask) |

## When it waits
| Gate | Default |
| --- | --- |
| Decision class | Low: two-way, nothing at stake |
| [Delay window](/systems/trust-and-governance/controls/one-way-windows) | None: it runs once review passes. |
| Limit | The call [Limit](/business/nouns/limit) of the [Permission](/business/nouns/permission) it runs under. |
| Over the Limit | It waits `pending` for an [Approval](/business/nouns/approval) from the [Founder](/agents/founding/founder). Approved, it runs; refused, it ends `refused` with [`limit-exceeded`](/code/api/errors/limit-exceeded); unanswered by its deadline, it ends `canceled`. |

## Example

**Ask**

```text
Ask the latest action with a thing.
```

**API**

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.sb/routewise.dev/actions/action_1/ask \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"to":"thing_1","text":"Example text"}'
```

```json
{
  "api": "https://api.sb/routewise.dev",
  "question": {
    "$id": "https://api.sb/routewise.dev/questions/question_1",
    "$type": "Question",
    "to": "thing_1",
    "text": "Example text"
  },
  "action": {
    "$id": "https://api.sb/routewise.dev/actions/action_1",
    "$type": "Action",
    "status": "done",
    "mode": "try",
    "operation": "Action.ask"
  },
  "links": {
    "self": "https://api.sb/routewise.dev/actions/action_1"
  }
}
```

**SDK**

```ts
import { $ } from 'startup-builder'

const { question, action } = await $.Action.ask({ action: 'action_1', to: 'thing_1', text: 'Example text' })
```

**CLI**

```bash
npx startup-builder do Action.ask --json '{"action":"action_1","to":"thing_1","text":"Example text"}'
```

**MCP**

```json
{
  "name": "do",
  "arguments": {
    "code": "return await $.Action.ask({ action: 'action_1', to: 'thing_1', text: 'Example text' })"
  }
}
```