Keep agent automations draft-only: inbox triage, invoice extract, support handoffs
At a glance
In r/AI_Agents, builders say the lasting 2026 pattern is collect→draft→show evidence→wait for approval: inbox triage, GitHub/release monitoring, support handoff drafts, and invoice extraction that formats billing payloads without silent sends. This workflow is listed under Approvals, Inbox, Invoices, Support, Reliability.
An Ask HN on controlling agents that take real actions converges on: LLM proposes → deterministic validator (rules, spend ceilings, replay checks) → human approve—especially for refunds, payments, and database writes where prompt 'never do X' fails.
Official n8n AI example: a chat agent answers with GPT-4; if unsure it calls a sub-workflow that asks for the user's email and posts the unanswered question to a Slack support channel.
A Reddit X20 user runs nine scheduled ChatGPT agents across a repo—PR bugs, perf sweeps, docs clarity, unfinished features—each posting to its own GitHub issue as a message board, with human approval before merges.
An Indie Hackers builder runs event-driven agents: when backend changes land, webhooks update TypeScript/Python SDKs, run tests, draft changelogs/PRs, and only deploy if checks pass—plus a morning schedule that drafts Agent Store listings for review.