Manual blocks

Require confirmations, approvals, or extra inputs before continuing.
Blocks have two modes:
  • Auto (default): Blocks execute automatically—when the previous block has completed, the next block will start running right away.
  • Manual: Blocks wait for a user confirmation before executing.
Manual mode can be useful for sensitive operations where you need users to check that the parameters are correct before they execute.
To set a block to manual, click the dropdown in the upper-right corner of the block that says Auto and change it to Manual.
The runbook will now pause before that block executes and show the parameter values that this block will execute with. If they are correct, the user can click Continue to allow the runbook to continue.
The second block in the example below, "Add Credit to Account," shows what a manual block looks like when it's paused and waiting for user confirmation. The User ID and Amount parameters contained JS templates which have been evaluated to static values based on the runbook parameters and the output of the previous block:

Skipping manual blocks

If a confirmation is only needed under certain conditions—e.g. when executing against the production environment—you can encode these conditions as a start condition on a manual block.
For example, use a start condition to ask for a confirmation before enabling a new feature only for paying customers:
When a user runs this runbook on a paying customer, they'll be prompted to confirm:
If they run it on other customers, the confirmation will be skipped: