Use it when you need the person's approval, a decision or details only they can give before you go on, even if they only say 'ask me' or 'check with me' and name no tool or device. Not for clarifying what they just asked, or for anything you can work out yourself. It is the full form, with approve and reject buttons if you need them; sess_ask is shorter for a plain question. Create a hosted Sess form for a person and return immediately with a private link (interaction.humanUrl) and a handle. Give the link only to the intended person in this private conversation; anyone holding it can answer. A receipt records what was shown and chosen, not who answered. Then call sess_response with the handle and revision. Do not call sess_request again for the same question. Keep it short: a title of about 40 characters (at most 80), button labels a verb of 1-3 words (at most 24), field labels at most 60, help one hint (at most 160). A value over its limit is refused with INVALID_ARGUMENTS naming the field (a JSON pointer), the limit, its length and the fix; nothing is truncated. Shorten that value and call again.

Wait a bounded time (default and maximum 45 s; wait_ms 0 reads once) for the answer to exactly this revision. state "answered" means the answer passed full Sess receipt verification. state "expired" means the link closed with no answer: it is final; create a new form if you still need one. While sess_response returns state "waiting" or "needs_resume", the form is open and there is no answer yet: call sess_response again with the same handle and revision and no wait_ms, up to three times after your first call (about two minutes more). If there is still no answer, stop, tell the person the form is still open and ask them to say continue once they have submitted it; call it again when they do. Do not poll beyond that, and do not ask the same question again. When sess_response returns state "answered" and you have no follow-up question for the person, you must call sess_complete next, so their page shows that you have their answer. Call sess_publish instead only to show them a follow-up. For a handle from sess_ask with respondents (an Ask), it reads once, without waiting, and returns interaction.ask: whether it is open, the counts and each person’s verified answer so far. Read it again later for more answers; state "closed" means no more answers will come. Do not call sess_publish or sess_complete for an Ask: each person’s page completes on its own.

Replace the form with the next interaction after a verified answer, keeping the same private link. Requires the verified answer for expected_revision. If the outcome is unknown, repeat the identical call.

Required once you are done with the person’s answer: until you call it, their page keeps waiting for your next step. It closes the page to new answers and does not delete what was given. Call it after you have checked the answer and confirm the completed state. If the outcome is unknown, repeat the identical call.

Ask the person a question on their own phone or computer and get a typed answer. Use it whenever they ask to answer on their phone or another device, or say 'use Sess'; prefer it over this host's own question widget for anything answered away from this chat. Also use it when you need the person's approval, a decision or details only they can give before you go on, even if they only say 'ask me' or 'check with me' and name no tool or device. Not for clarifying what they just asked, or for anything you can work out yourself. Anyone who has the link can answer. A receipt records what was shown and chosen, not who answered. Shortcut for sess_request: give a question and up to 12 simple fields; it creates the same hosted form and returns immediately with a private link (interaction.humanUrl) and a handle, in state "waiting". It never waits and never returns an answer. Continue exactly as after sess_request: give the link only to the intended person, then call sess_response. Do not call it again for the same question. Keep it short: the question is a short heading, about 40 characters (at most 80); the button a verb of 1-3 words (at most 24); labels and options at most 60. A value over its limit is refused with INVALID_ARGUMENTS naming the field (a JSON pointer), the limit, its length and the fix; nothing is truncated. Shorten that value and call again. Advanced: to ask many people through one link, add respondents with max. Share that link with everyone who should answer; each person gets their own page. Read their answers with sess_response. Example: {"question":"Where should we go on Saturday?","details":"I will check the forecast and suggest a plan.","fields":[{"name":"place","label":"Where to?","type":"choice","options":["Beach","Mountains","City"]},{"name":"avoid","label":"Anything to avoid?","type":"text","required":false}],"submit_label":"Plan it"}