---
id: RT-GATE-4
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-4
specification: FlowDrop Workflow Specification 1.0-draft
licence: CC BY 4.0
---

# RT-GATE-4 — A declined node routes a structured verdict out its error port

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

A decline is a real outcome an author can handle, delivered where every other node failure is delivered. It is deliberately not a pair of branch ports that appear and disappear with a configuration flag.

## The rule

> **Normative.** This is the rule.
>
> 1. A declined node that was scheduled in the graph must not be executed, and the decline becomes an error output on the node's reserved error port carrying the code `confirmation_declined` and details naming the interrupt type, the reason, who declined, when, and the interrupt's identifier; those details are forwarded as the error edge payload's optional details.
>
> 2. Where an error edge is wired the decline is a handled failure (ERR-7); otherwise the run's default failure behaviour applies (ERR-8).
>
> 3. A decline must not be surfaced as branch ports that exist only when confirmation is configured; a port surface that depends on a configuration flag breaks the canvas contract.
>
> 4. An author who wants first-class branching on a human decision uses an explicit confirmation node.


## What it means

A decline is not a second set of branch ports appearing on the node because
confirmation happens to be turned on for it. It is the same error port every
other failure on that node would use, carrying a verdict shaped like any
other structured error. An author who wants a decision a workflow can branch
on wires an explicit confirmation node instead; a gate is not that node.

## Example

A node the operator declines never runs; what its reserved error port
carries instead:

```json title="What the declined node's error port carries" verdict="declined"
{
  "code": "confirmation_declined",
  "details": { "type": "confirmation_declined", "reason": "declined" }
}
```

## Related rules

- Names: ERR-7, ERR-8, RT-GATE-1, RT-GATE-5
- Referenced by: RT-GATE-1, RT-GATE-5

---

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.