Understand background processing
Distinguish request acceptance, processing, and result delivery.
In this article
- Request accepted
- The system received the instruction, without guaranteeing that work is complete.
- Processing
- A background operation continues while you can use another view.
- Notification
- Indicates a state change or result; it is not always the file or content itself.
- Failure
- Processing did not produce the expected result and must be diagnosed before retrying.
Follow the work through to delivery
Check three things separately: the request was accepted, the work reached a final state, and the expected result can be opened. An activity panel can show elapsed time and observed tool calls. These details help diagnose progress but are not a quality score. If processing asks for input, supply it in the owning conversation.
Advanced tips
- For several deliverables, keep a checklist: requested, created, downloadable, reviewed. One available file does not imply that the other deliverables are complete.
- Treat partial or estimated cost information as provisional. A status notification, a source preview and a generated file are different artifacts with different purposes.
Was this article helpful?