# Human in the loop: escalation or human step

> When to let an AI agent escalate to a human, when to add a human step to the workflow, and tips for both.

Some decisions need a human. A workflow can bring one in two ways: the AI agent asks for help when it needs it, or the workflow asks a human at a fixed step. Which one fits depends on who decides that a human is needed.

## Two ways to involve a human

- **An escalation:** you connect it to the agent's **Escalations** handle. The agent decides during its work that it shouldn't decide alone. It pauses, a human answers, and the agent continues with the answer. [Autonomous Agent](node-agent.md) describes how to set one up.
- **A human step:** a [Quick Form](node-quick-form.md) or [Action App](node-action-app.md) node in the workflow itself. Every run that reaches it waits for a human, and the human's choice, such as **Approve** or **Reject**, sends the run down its own path. [Quick Form](node-quick-form.md) describes the node.

## Which one fits

| Your situation | Use |
|---|---|
| A human must check every case at a known point, for example every refund before it's paid | A human step |
| The workflow branches on the human's choice, such as approve or reject | A human step |
| Only unclear cases need a human, and the agent should decide which ones | An escalation |
| The agent needs the human's answer to finish its own work | An escalation |
| In a chat, the conversation should keep going while someone approves in the background | A human step on a parallel branch |

In a chat, an escalation from a [Conversational agent](node-conversational-agent.md) pauses the conversation until the human answers. A human step on a parallel branch lets the conversation continue.

## Tips

- **Tell the agent when to escalate.** Describe the situations in the agent's system prompt, for example: "If the amount is above 200, escalate for review instead of acting." An agent escalates more reliably when the rule is concrete.
- **Plan for answers the same day.** A run finishes within 24 hours, so the human should be able to answer within that time.
- **Reuse the form builder.** Escalations use the same visual form builder as the **Quick Form** node, so a form you know from one works in the other.
- **Test without waiting for a human.** In debug mode, mock the human step so it returns a sample answer. [Add human approval to a workflow](add-human-approval.md) shows how.

## Next steps
- [Add human approval to a workflow](add-human-approval.md): build an approval step from start to finish.
- [Quick Form](node-quick-form.md): the fields, outcomes, and delivery channels of a human step.
- [Autonomous Agent](node-agent.md): escalations and the other resources an agent can use.
- [Community](community.md): ask questions and share workflows with other builders on the UiPath Forum.