# What must an agent do after each verdict?

> What each verdict means and what an agent may do next. PENDING waits. FAILED retries with the first idempotency key. CONTRADICTED stops for a person.

Canonical: https://provely.sh/docs/verdicts  
Last reviewed: 2026-09-05  

**Wait on PENDING. Retry the check on UNVERIFIABLE. Retry the action with the first idempotency key on FAILED. Stop and ask a person on CONTRADICTED. The runtime never performs the correction.**

| verdict | what the agent may do next | why |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PENDING | Wait. Do not retry the action. | The action can still succeed. A retry refunds twice. |
| UNVERIFIABLE | Retry the check. Do not retry the action. | The action is not in doubt. The evidence has not arrived. |
| FAILED | Retry the action with the first idempotency key. | The provider refused. The key stops a double effect. |
| CONTRADICTED | Stop. Ask a person. | Reality already differs from the promise. |

## The verifier never acts.

Provely returns a directive and nothing else. Your host carries it out: a Claude Code hook, a framework node or the CI gate. A verifier that acts is no longer independent.

Every directive carries the idempotency key of the first attempt and a retry budget. An executor that reaches the budget stops and asks a person.

The directive is also feedback. It names the step with no evidence and the evidence that step needs. Pass it into the next agent turn, and the agent finishes what it dropped.

## Why is an acknowledgement not an outcome?

Each state returns a refund object and HTTP 200. From the response they look the same.

*Five states. One state moves the money.*

| State | What it means | Money |
| --- | --- | --- |
| pending | The bank holds the refund in a queue. No money leaves the account. | NO MONEY |
| requires_action | A person outside your system must act first. | NO MONEY |
| failed | The bank refused the refund. The object still reads 200. | NO MONEY |
| canceled | Someone withdrew the refund before settlement. The customer waits. | NO MONEY |
| succeeded | The money moved. Only this state earns the word “done”. | MONEY MOVED |

## Which evidence supports a verdict?

Provely ranks evidence from E0 to E5 by its independence from the action path. E0 is the agent word and is never sufficient. Read the [evidence hierarchy](/how-it-works) and the [evidence level definition](/glossary/evidence-level).

## Read next

- [Read how the verdict is produced](https://provely.sh/how-it-works)
- [Read the verdict definition](https://provely.sh/glossary/verdict)
- [Read the CLI reference](https://provely.sh/docs/cli)