---
id: RT-GATE-6
family: RT-GATE
level: extended
profiles: [runtime]
posture: normative-target
added: "1.0"
changed: "1.0"
source: https://flowdrop.io/spec/rules/rt-gate/rt-gate-6
specification: FlowDrop Workflow Specification 1.0-draft
licence: CC BY 4.0
---

# RT-GATE-6 — A gate pause leaves no phantom failure in the tool trail

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

A pause is not a failure, and the record of a tool call must not say otherwise; a mislabelled attempt either holds a finished run open or trips the run's unhandled-failure check.

## The rule

> **Normative.** This is the rule.
>
> 1. An interrupt escaping a tool invocation records the attempt as interrupted, not failed.
>
> 2. When the call is resumed it records itself as a new attempt and closes the superseded interrupted one as cancelled, because an attempt left interrupted would hold a finished run paused.
>
> 3. A failed tool call is recorded as a handled failure by construction (it is delivered to the consumer as a model-recoverable result), so it must not count towards the run's unhandled failures (ERR-9).
>
> 4. One pause raises exactly one question, however many times the tool plane observes the same interrupt.


## What it means

A paused tool call is not a failure sitting in the trail waiting to be
relabelled. It is recorded as interrupted from the start, and resuming it
does not simply flip that same record to a finished state: the interrupted
attempt is closed out as cancelled, superseded by a new attempt of its own
that carries the finished status. Two records, not one repurposed — and
neither of them is ever a failure, so neither counts toward the run's
unhandled failures.

## Example

The tool's own record while the run sits paused on the gate:

```json title="The tool job while the run is paused on the gate" verdict="interrupted"
{ "status": "interrupted", "output": {} }
```

The same node's two job records once the call is resumed:

```json title="The same node's job records once resumed" verdict="reconciled"
["cancelled", "completed"]
```

## Related rules

- Names: ERR-9, RT-GATE-5
- Referenced by: 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.