AI agents for customer support · Part 8 of 14

Rules for agent actions: limits, approvals and hand-overs

What a rule has to say, the four answers it can give, and an example refund policy with twelve cases to test it on.

Aakash William
· 5 min read

The short version

A rule says how far the agent may go alone, what it counts, and who decides beyond that. Checked before each action, it gives one of four answers: a decision, a missing fact, a case your policy doesn’t cover, or a call for a named person. Below: a refund policy to copy, and twelve cases to test it on.

  1. What a rule says
  2. Four answers, not two
  3. A refund policy to copy
  4. Twelve cases to test it on
  5. Change a rule without touching the agent

What a rule says

Pausing for a person is built into the tools now. Intercom’s Fin can pause a procedure for a teammate’s approval, and agent frameworks such as OpenAI’s Agents SDK and LangGraph can hold a tool call until someone approves. What none of them writes for you is the rule: when to pause, for whom, and what to count. A rule a tool can check names each of these parts.

2.74.2 The AI assistantgives refundsof up to €30on its own. A larger refundit hands tothe team lead. A customer receivesat most two goodwill creditsin any 90 days. who actsthe actionthe limitno approval needed above the limitwhat happens the limit who decidescounted per customerover a rolling window

2.7 The AI assistant gives refunds of up to €30 on its own. A larger refund it hands to the team lead.

Who acts
the AI assistant
The action
refunds
The limit
up to €30, with no approval
Who decides
the team lead, above the limit

4.2 A customer receives at most two goodwill credits in any 90 days.

The limit
two goodwill credits
Counted
per customer, over any 90 days
Two clauses of Example Shop’s playbook, taken apart: 2.7 from the refund policy below, and 4.2 from its goodwill credits. The parts in colour, who decides and what is counted, are easy to leave out.

Four answers, not two

Checked against a real policy, an action gets one of four answers. Plan for all four: an agent with no plan for the last three has to guess.

1

A decision

What it saysYes; no; yes once a named person approves; or pass it to one. With the clause.

What happens nextThe tool acts, doesn’t, waits, or passes the case over.

A €35 refund from the AI assistant goes to the team lead (2.7).

2

A fact is missing

What it saysWhich fact the rule needs, by name.

What happens nextThe agent gets it, then asks again.

An item reported damaged: did the photo arrive?

3

Your policy doesn’t say

What it saysNo clause covers the action.

What happens nextA person settles it; the owner adds a rule.

A replacement, when the policy covers refunds.

4

A named person’s call

What it saysThe rule leaves one question to a named person.

What happens nextThey decide; the rule takes it from there.

Is a refund 45 days late exceptional? The team lead decides (2.2).

The four answers, each with an example from the policy below. Only the first lets the tool act at once.

Answers 3 and 4 end with a person, and so does a refund above the agent’s limit: part 9 covers that hand-over.

A refund policy to copy

Here is a refund policy written so a tool can check it: one condition per clause, exact amounts, every approver named. Copy the structure, then use your own numbers and names.

2.1

Never more than was paid

A refund is never more than the customer paid for the order.

2.2

Within 30 days of delivery

A refund is given within 30 days of delivery. Later than that, only in an exceptional case; the team lead decides whether a case is exceptional.

2.3

A photo for damage

An item the customer reports as damaged is refunded only once the customer has sent a photo of the damage.

2.4

Up to €50: no approval

A refund of up to €50 needs no approval.

2.5

Up to €250: the team lead

A refund above €50 and up to €250 needs the team lead’s approval before it is given.

2.6

Above €250: the head of support

A refund above €250 needs the head of support’s approval before it is given.

2.7

The AI assistant: up to €30

The AI assistant gives refunds of up to €30 on its own. A larger refund it hands to the team lead, whatever approval the case already holds.

The refund clauses of Example Shop’s playbook, an invented example. The headings are ours; the clauses are word for word.

Twelve cases to test it on

Run a policy through cases like these before the agent acts on it. The edges matter most: exactly the limit, a missing date, an approval from the wrong person. Part 10 turns them into a test set.

Who asks, for whatThe answerClause
The AI assistant, a €25 refundAllowed2.4
The AI assistant, exactly €30.00Allowed2.4
The AI assistant, €35Handed to the team lead2.7
The AI assistant, €80, holding the team lead’s approvalStill handed to the team lead2.7
A team member, the same €35Allowed2.4
A team member, €80, not yet approvedNeeds the team lead’s approval2.5
€45 back on a €40 orderNot allowed2.1
Damaged item, no photo yetNot allowed until a photo is on the case2.3
Damaged item, photo not statedMissing: whether the photo arrivednone
No delivery date givenMissing: the delivery datenone
45 days after deliveryThe team lead decides if it’s exceptional2.2
The AI assistant, a replacementNot covered: a person settles itnone
Twelve cases run against the policy above on 20 October 2026, with each answer as the rules engine returned it; the box below says which engine. The assistant’s €25 and €30 cite 2.4, the clause that allows any refund up to €50; 2.7 adds a hand-over only above €30. “None” means no clause was cited.

Change a rule without touching the agent

Limits change. Keep rules where their owner can change them, outside the agent’s prompt and code, with a version and a start date for each change. The tool reads the rule in force before each action, so nothing is redeployed, and each answer names its version.

Version 1, from 1 Januarythe AI assistant: up to €30 Version 2, from 1 Novemberup to €40 the owner confirms the change 31 October: €35to the team lead, citingversion 1 2 November: €35allowed, citingversion 2

Version 1, from 1 January

The AI assistant: up to €30.

31 October: a €35 refund goes to the team lead, citing version 1.

↓ the owner confirms the change

Version 2, from 1 November

Up to €40.

2 November: the same €35 is allowed, citing version 2.

A change to the limit, as an example. Nobody redeployed the agent, and each answer names the version it used.

That version is what lets you explain, months later, why the agent refunded a case. Part 14 covers the record.

Next in this series

Part 9: the hand-over, when the agent passes a customer to a person. See all 14 parts.

Where Himmel fits

The twelve answers above come from Himmel’s engine, checked against the policy as written. With Himmel, your team confirms each rule in plain words, and the agent’s tool asks before it acts.

Sources

  1. Intercom, “Human in the Loop approvals for Fin Procedures”, read on 20 October 2026.
  2. OpenAI Agents SDK, “Human-in-the-loop”, read on 20 October 2026.
  3. LangGraph, “Interrupts”, read on 20 October 2026.

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