Summary
Vercel's Chat SDK now ships a chat/workflow module where a single requestApproval call pauses a running Workflow SDK workflow and posts an Approve/Deny card until a person decides. Approvals persist across restarts and the card updates in place with the outcome.
What changed
On August 6, 2026 Vercel added a chat/workflow subpath to the Chat SDK. A requestApproval call suspends a durable Workflow SDK workflow, posts a card with Approve and Deny buttons, and resumes only after a human decision or timeout; the result includes approved, user, and timedOut, with decisions verified via platform signature checks.
Why it matters
Human-in-the-loop gates are the main way teams safely let agents take consequential actions. Building durable approvals directly into the Chat SDK and Workflow SDK removes the need to hand-roll suspension, state persistence, and UI, making it practical to add approval checkpoints to long-running agent tasks that survive process restarts.
Evidence excerpt
One requestApproval call posts a card with Approve and Deny buttons and suspends a Workflow SDK workflow until someone decides.