---
id: RT-GATE-2
family: RT-GATE
level: core
profiles: [runtime]
posture: normative-target
added: "1.0"
changed: "1.0"
source: https://flowdrop.io/spec/rules/rt-gate/rt-gate-2
specification: FlowDrop Workflow Specification 1.0-draft
licence: CC BY 4.0
---

# RT-GATE-2 — Consent is consumed exactly once, declines included

*RT-GATE (Part II) · level: core · profiles: runtime · added in 1.0*

An approval authorises one execution. An agent loop re-issuing the same call is asked again every time, which is the point.

## The rule

> **Normative.** This is the rule.
>
> 1. The first execution that finds a confirmed, hash-matching consent marks it consumed and proceeds; a second execution of the same call finds no unconsumed consent and asks again with a fresh interrupt.
>
> 2. A decline is consumed the same way, so a decline never re-fires.
>
> 3. Checking and consuming a consent must be atomic against concurrent execution of the same call: a copy of the consent read before the check began must never authorise a second execution.
>
> 4. An execution that loses that race pauses on the pending interrupt raised by the winner rather than raising a duplicate question; a contended entry and an unconsented one are distinct causes of the same pause.


## What it means

An approval is not the only verdict that gets consumed exactly once. A
consent that was declined, one whose question was cancelled, and one left to
lapse all settle the same way as an approval: consumed the moment they are
read, never re-fired on a later entry, and never mistaken for authorization
either. What repeats is the question, not the answer — the same call,
entered again, finds nothing left to reuse and pauses on a fresh question of
its own.

## Example

The same node, called again with arguments that have not changed at all:

```json title="A call already answered, entered again unchanged" verdict="paused"
{ "message": "send it", "level": "info" }
```

## Related rules

- Names: RT-GATE-1, RT-GATE-3
- Referenced by: RT-GATE-1, RT-GATE-3

---

Rule identifiers are permanent and are never renumbered. This specification carries
no implementation status: each implementation publishes its own standing against
these rules. Licensed CC BY 4.0.