Task Lifecycle

AdCP task lifecycle: status values (submitted, working, input-required, completed, failed), state transitions, response structure, and polling patterns for all operations.

Every AdCP response includes a status field that tells you exactly what state the operation is in and what action you should take next. This is the foundation for handling any AdCP operation.

:::note Transport-specific task management The status values and lifecycle described here are transport-independent — they apply regardless of how you access AdCP. The mechanism for tracking async tasks varies by transport:

• MCP: Use MCP Tasks — the client polls via tasks/get and retrieves results via tasks/result at the protocol level. See MCP Guide.
• A2A: Use native A2A task lifecycle with SSE streaming. See A2A Guide.
• REST: Use AdCP’s task_id with polling or push notifications. :::

Status Values

AdCP uses the same status values as the A2A protocol’s TaskState enum:

Status	Meaning	Your Action
submitted	Task queued, blocked on external dependency	Configure webhook, show “queued” indicator
working	Agent actively processing (>30s)	Wait for result — out-of-band progress signal, not a polling trigger
input-required	Needs information from you	Read message field, prompt user, send follow-up
completed	Successfully finished	Process data, show success message
canceled	User/system canceled task	Show cancellation notice, clean up
failed	Error occurred	Show error from message, handle gracefully
rejected	Agent rejected the request	Show rejection reason, don’t retry
auth-required	Authentication needed	Prompt for auth, retry with credentials
unknown	Indeterminate state	Log for debugging, may need manual intervention

Response Structure

Every AdCP response uses a flat structure where task-specific fields are at the top level:

{
  "status": "completed",           // Always present: what state we're in
  "message": "Found 5 products",   // Always present: human explanation
  "context_id": "ctx-123",         // Session continuity
  "context": {                     // Application-level context echoed back
    "ui": "buyer_dashboard"
  },
  "products": [...]                // Task-specific fields at top level
}

Status Handling

Basic Pattern

function handleAdcpResponse(response) {
  switch (response.status) {
    case 'completed':
      // Success - process the data (task fields are at top level)
      showSuccess(response.message);
      return processData(response);

    case 'input-required':
      // Need more info - prompt user
      const userInput = await promptUser(response.message);
      return sendFollowUp(response.context_id, userInput);

    case 'working':
      // Server is actively processing — just wait, result will arrive
      showProgress(response.message);
      return response;

    case 'failed':
      // Error - show message and handle gracefully
      showError(response.message);
      return handleError(response.errors);

    case 'auth-required':
      // Authentication needed
      const credentials = await getAuth();
      return retryWithAuth(credentials);

    default:
      // Unexpected status
      console.warn('Unknown status:', response.status);
      showMessage(response.message);
  }
}

Clarification Flow

When status is input-required, the message tells you what’s needed:

{
  "status": "input-required",
  "message": "I need more information about your campaign. What's your budget and target audience?",
  "context_id": "ctx-123",
  "products": [],
  "suggestions": ["budget", "audience", "timing"]
}

Client handling:

if (response.status === 'input-required') {
  // Extract what's needed from the message
  const missingInfo = extractRequirements(response.message);

  // Prompt user with specific questions
  const answers = await promptForInfo(missingInfo);

  // Send follow-up with same context_id
  return sendMessage(response.context_id, answers);
}

Approval Flow

Human approval is a special case of input-required. The pending_approval and input-required statuses implement the Embedded Human Judgment principle that judgment cannot be delegated to software — when an action exceeds autonomous authority, the system halts for human review rather than proceeding.

{
  "status": "input-required",
  "message": "Media buy exceeds auto-approval limit ($100K). Please approve to proceed with campaign creation.",
  "context_id": "ctx-123",
  "approval_required": true,
  "amount": 150000,
  "reason": "exceeds_limit"
}

Client handling:

if (response.status === 'input-required' && response.approval_required) {
  // Show approval UI
  const approved = await showApprovalDialog(response.message, response);

  // Send approval decision
  const decision = approved ? "Approved" : "Rejected";
  return sendMessage(response.context_id, decision);
}

Operations Over 30 Seconds

Operations that take longer than 30 seconds return either working or submitted. These statuses mean different things:

• working: The server is actively processing and will deliver the result when ready. No polling needed — the server sends progress out-of-band and the result arrives on the open connection.
• submitted: The operation is blocked on an external dependency (human approval, publisher review). Configure a webhook or poll.

{
  "status": "submitted",
  "message": "Media buy submitted for publisher approval",
  "context_id": "ctx-123",
  "task_id": "task-456"
}

Transport-specific handling for submitted operations:

• MCP: Use MCP Tasks or poll via tasks/get
• A2A: Subscribe to SSE stream for real-time updates
• REST: Use push notifications (recommended) or poll with task_id

Status Progression

Tasks progress through predictable states:

submitted → working → completed
    ↓          ↓         ↑
input-required → → → → →
    ↓
  failed

• submitted: Task queued, blocked on external dependency — configure webhook or poll
• working: Agent actively processing (>30s) — wait for result, no polling needed
• input-required: Need user input, continue conversation
• completed: Success, process results
• failed: Error, handle appropriately

Polling and Timeouts

Polling is for submitted only

Don’t poll for working — the server delivers the result on the open connection. Polling is a backup for submitted operations (webhooks are preferred).

// Polling is only for 'submitted' operations
async function pollForResult(taskId, pollInterval = 30_000) {
  while (true) {
    await sleep(pollInterval);

    const response = await adcp.call('tasks/get', {
      task_id: taskId,
      include_result: true
    });

    if (['completed', 'failed', 'canceled'].includes(response.status)) {
      return response;
    }
  }
}

Timeout Configuration

const TIMEOUTS = {
  sync: 30_000,         // 30 seconds — most operations complete here
  working: 300_000,      // 5 minutes — connection timeout for active processing
  interactive: 300_000,  // 5 minutes for human input
  submitted: 86_400_000  // 24 hours for external dependencies
};

function getTimeout(status) {
  if (status === 'submitted') return TIMEOUTS.submitted;
  if (status === 'working') return TIMEOUTS.working;
  if (status === 'input-required') return TIMEOUTS.interactive;
  return TIMEOUTS.sync;
}

Task Reconciliation

Use tasks/list to recover from lost state:

// Find all pending operations
const pending = await session.call('tasks/list', {
  filters: {
    statuses: ["submitted", "working", "input-required"]
  }
});

// Reconcile with local state
const missingTasks = pending.tasks.filter(task =>
  !localState.hasTask(task.task_id)
);

// Resume tracking missing tasks
for (const task of missingTasks) {
  startPolling(task.task_id);
}

Best Practices

1. Always check status first - Don’t assume success
2. Handle all statuses - Include a default case for unknown states
3. Preserve context_id - Required for conversation continuity
4. Use task_id for tracking - Especially for long-running operations
5. Implement timeouts - Don’t wait forever
6. Log status transitions - Helps with debugging and auditing

Next Steps

• Async Operations: See Async Operations for handling different operation types
• Webhooks: See Webhooks for push notification patterns
• Error Handling: See Error Handling for error categories and recovery