# decide

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

> Decide rules on an answered Dispute for the buyer, the seller, or a split, and releases or returns the held amount.

Decide rules on an answered [Dispute](/business/nouns/dispute) for the buyer, the seller, or a split, and releases or returns the held amount.

## Inputs
| Input | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `dispute` | [Dispute](/business/nouns/dispute) | Yes | The answered Dispute. |
| `decision` | `string` | Yes | One of `buyer`, `seller`, or `split`. |
| `reason` | `text` | Yes | Why, citing the Evidence and the contract term it turns on. |

## Outputs
| Output | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `dispute` | [Dispute](/business/nouns/dispute) | Yes | The decided Dispute. |

## Effects
- Emits [`Dispute.decided`](/business/events/Dispute.decided).
- Performed by the [Billing Specialist](/agents/finance/billing-specialist).
- One-way (money, customer): it waits out its delay window, and runs in the `send` and `do` modes.
- Posts the reversing or releasing Entries for the held amount.
- Records a Decision with its reason.
- For a chargeback, records the card issuer’s ruling as it arrives.

## 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. | [Dispute.decide](/business/nouns/dispute/decide) |

## When it waits
| Gate | Default |
| --- | --- |
| Decision class | Medium: one-way, bounded (money, customer) |
| [Delay window](/systems/trust-and-governance/controls/one-way-windows) | 1 business hour, in which a watcher can pause, redirect or cancel it; then it runs. |
| Limit | The spend [Limit](/business/nouns/limit) of the [Permission](/business/nouns/permission) or [Mandate](/business/nouns/mandate) 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
Decide the latest dispute.
```

**API**

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.sb/quietcopy.com/disputes/dispute_1/decide \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $STARTUP_BUILDER_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"decision":"buyer","reason":"Example reason"}'
```

```json
{
  "api": "https://api.sb/quietcopy.com",
  "dispute": {
    "$id": "https://api.sb/quietcopy.com/disputes/dispute_1",
    "$type": "Dispute",
    "kind": "chargeback",
    "status": "decided",
    "held": {
      "amount": 39,
      "currency": "USD"
    },
    "reason": "Example reason"
  },
  "action": {
    "$id": "https://api.sb/quietcopy.com/actions/action_1",
    "operation": "Dispute.decide",
    "status": "done"
  },
  "links": {
    "self": "https://api.sb/quietcopy.com/actions/action_1"
  }
}
```

**SDK**

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

const dispute = await $.Dispute.decide({ dispute: 'dispute_1', decision: 'buyer', reason: 'Example reason' })
```

**CLI**

```bash
npx startup-builder do Dispute.decide --json '{"dispute":"dispute_1","decision":"buyer","reason":"Example reason"}'
```

**MCP**

```json
{
  "name": "do",
  "arguments": {
    "code": "return await $.Dispute.decide({ dispute: 'dispute_1', decision: 'buyer', reason: 'Example reason' })"
  }
}
```