---
id: RT-TOOL-7
family: RT-TOOL
level: extended
profiles: [runtime]
posture: normative-target
added: "1.0"
changed: "1.0"
source: https://flowdrop.io/spec/rules/rt-tool/rt-tool-7
specification: FlowDrop Workflow Specification 1.0-draft
licence: CC BY 4.0
---

# RT-TOOL-7 — A pause does not destroy artifacts, and does not deliver them twice

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

## The rule

> **Normative.** This is the rule.
>
> 1. Artifacts produced before a run pauses are held durably against the turn that produced them rather than discarded, and are never exposed on the wire while they are held.
>
> 2. The next write-back for the same execution takes them, prepends them to whatever the resumed run collected, and delivers the merged list on the resumed turn's assistant message.
>
> 3. Taking is destructive, so a delivered artifact is never delivered a second time, and a resume that pauses again holds everything for the next one.
>
> 4. A write-back that fails after taking them puts them back before it reports the failure, so a failed write postpones delivery rather than destroying it.
>
> 5. The held list is itself bounded; where it would exceed the bound, the newest entries are dropped with a warning.


## What it means

A pause is the hard case: a tool already ran and produced an artifact before
the run stopped to ask a question, and there is no assistant message yet to
carry it. The artifact is held rather than lost, but it stays off the wire
while it waits — a caller polling the paused turn never sees it. Only the
resume's write-back takes it, and taking it is destructive: once delivered
on the resumed turn's assistant message, the same artifact is never handed
out again, even if the run pauses a second time.

## Example

```json title="What is held against the paused turn" verdict="held"
{ "type": "link", "payload": { "url": "https://example.com/report" }, "tool_call_id": "call_1" }
```

Answering the question resumes the run and delivers it exactly once, on the
resumed turn's assistant message; asking the same question again finds
nothing left to deliver.

## Related rules

- Names: RT-TOOL-4, RT-TOOL-6
- Referenced by: RT-TOOL-4, RT-TOOL-6

---

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.