Everything that stands or needs you is one action item, in one of four states: Proposed, Running, Needs you or Done.
A question from an agent, an approval, a to-do in a document, a plan to reconnect and a finished task are all action items. Each has one thing to do, and it shows the same state wherever you see it.
An item that sends something or spends money always waits for you, even when an agent reached it first.
Agents can do the same through the API (GET /v1/action-items, POST /v1/action-items/{id}/act, POST /v1/action-items), the MCP tools list_action_items, act_on_action_item and propose_action_item, and sky items.
Related: To-dos in your documents, Find chats that need you.