---
id: INT-13
family: RT-INT
level: extended
profiles: [runtime]
posture: normative-target
added: "1.0"
changed: "1.0"
source: https://flowdrop.io/spec/rules/rt-int/int-13
specification: FlowDrop Workflow Specification 1.0-draft
licence: CC BY 4.0
---

# INT-13 — A checkpoint round-trip preserves cancellation

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

Whether a run was cancelled or completed cannot be re-derived after the fact; "finished" looks identical either way. So the outcome is recorded, not inferred.

## The rule

> **Normative.** This is the rule.
>
> 1. Execution state carries its terminal outcome explicitly (completed, failed or cancelled, and unset while the run is live), and a checkpoint persists it.
>
> 2. A snapshot's status is the persisted outcome, never a re-derivation from whether the run finished, which cannot express cancellation.
>
> 3. A cancel signal marks the state cancelled and writes the final checkpoint.
>
> 4. Seeding a new turn from a terminal state clears the run state, outcome and execution position alike (SG-12), so a recorded cancellation never closes a conversation thread; only explicit resumption of a run is gated (INT-14).


## What it means

"Finished" looks the same whether a run completed, failed or was cancelled,
if all that is stored is whether it finished at all. Deriving the outcome
from completion alone cannot tell a deliberate cancellation apart from an
ordinary finish, so the outcome has to be written down as its own fact, and
a checkpoint has to carry that fact forward rather than reconstructing it.

Cancellation recorded this way still does not close a conversation thread:
seeding a new turn from a terminal state clears the run's outcome along
with its execution position, so the next turn starts clean. Only resuming
the run itself is gated (INT-14); continuing the conversation is not.

## Example

```json title="A checkpoint written with the outcome recorded" verdict="cancelled"
{"isComplete": true, "error": null, "status": "cancelled"}
```

## Related rules

- Names: INT-6, INT-14, SG-12
- Referenced by: INT-6, INT-14

---

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.