HIL Inbox Overview

Three Task Types

Task Lifecycle

Tasks can also transition to Expired if the dueAt timestamp passes without action. The workflow designer configures whether expired tasks trigger a timeout branch or cancel the workflow.

Badge Count System

The inbox section link in the WorkDesk sidebar shows a live badge count. The count is maintained by a Zustand store that updates via EdgeStream subscription — no manual refresh needed.

Real-Time Updates

WorkDesk subscribes to tasks.{userId} on EdgeStream. When a new HIL task is routed to the actor, the backend publishes an event to this topic. The WorkDesk inbox store receives the event and immediately adds the task to the list — the employee sees it appear in real time without refreshing the page.

// Inbox store — EdgeStream subscription
import { useSubscription } from '@bizfirstai/edge-stream-react';
import { useInboxStore } from '../stores/inboxStore';

function useInboxRealtime(userId: string) {
  const { addTask, incrementCount } = useInboxStore();

  useSubscription(`tasks.${userId}`, (event) => {
    if (event.type === 'task_assigned') {
      addTask(event.payload.task);
      incrementCount();
    }
    if (event.type === 'task_completed_by_other') {
      // Remove task if a colleague acted on it (multi-actor scenario)
      removeTask(event.payload.taskId);
    }
  });
}

API Overview