sift workflow stuck on decision pending: how to fix

TL;DR

Pending means no route matched or the workflow version was never published. Publish the current workflow version first, then add a default catch-all route so every event gets a decision. Check that the event actually carries the fields your route conditions test, since a missing field means the condition never matches.

sift workflow stuck on decision pending: how to fix

Use this when

• Workflow decisions stay in pending indefinitely.
• New routes never seem to take effect.
• Some events decide fine while others hang.

Not for this skill when

• Decisions return but look wrong. That is route logic, not a stuck state.
• The Score API itself is slow. Fix scoring latency instead.
• The workflow is disabled. Enable it first.

Steps

1. Open the workflow in the Sift console and confirm the latest version is published. Verify: the published version matches the version you edited.
2. Add a default route at the end that catches everything, routing to review. Verify: the route list ends with the catch-all.
3. Publish the workflow version again. Verify: the console shows the new version as live.
4. Send a test event and confirm it now receives a decision instead of pending. Verify: the decision log shows a routed outcome.
5. For events that still hang, compare the event fields against the route conditions. Verify: the fields the conditions test are present in the event.

Variant phrasings

sift decision pending never resolves

Symptom phrasing.

sift workflow no route matched

Route-focused phrasing.

sift workflow version not published

Publish-focused phrasing.

Compatibility: Sift Workflows in the Sift console. Route evaluation follows the published workflow version.

Why it happens

Workflows evaluate routes top-down against the published version, and an event that matches nothing gets no decision. Draft edits do nothing until published, so the most common cause is simply an unpublished version, followed by a missing default route.

Edge cases / pitfalls

• Pending decisions do not retry themselves. Events stuck before the fix stay stuck; reprocess them after publishing.
• Route conditions on absent fields silently fail to match. Log the event shape when debugging.
• A catch-all that auto-allows is a bypass. Route the default to review, not allow.
• If multiple teams edit workflows, coordinate publishes. One team's draft can overwrite another's published routes.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_zOf0FkI8galJcLo2bNu-1w

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_zOf0FkI8galJcLo2bNu-1w

Thread query: sift workflow stuck on decision pending: how to fix

TL;DR: Pending means no route matched or the workflow version was never published. Publish the current workflow version first, then add a default catch-all route so every event gets a decision. Check that the event actually carries the fields your route conditions test, since a missing field means the condition never matches.