Iterations & Versioning

Overview

Placet’s iteration system turns one-shot reviews into multi-round revision workflows. An agent sends content, a human provides feedback, the agent revises, and the human reviews again — as many rounds as needed. All iterations of the same task are linked into an iteration chain, enabling diff views, feedback history, and progress tracking across revisions.

When to Use Iterations

Scenario	Without iterations	With iterations
Content generation	Agent sends once, human approves or rejects	Human requests specific changes, agent revises
Report review	Binary approve/reject, agent starts over	Feedback loop until quality met
Code review	Human re-explains issues each time	Previous feedback visible in context
Image generation	No connection between attempts	Side-by-side comparison with previous version

How It Works

Data Model

Iterations are tracked with two fields on the Message model — no new tables:

Field	Type	Description
`iterationGroupId`	`string?`	Points to the root message ID of the chain. `null` for standalone messages.
`iteration`	`int?`	Counter within the group. `1` = root, `2`+ = revisions. `null` for standalone.

A unique constraint on (iterationGroupId, iteration) prevents race conditions.

Review Statuses

Status	Meaning	Wait endpoint behavior
`pending`	Awaiting human response	Continues polling
`completed`	Human responded	Returns immediately
`expired`	Timed out (default 24h)	Returns immediately

Every review response is completed. The agent interprets the response content (e.g. selected option, feedback text) and decides whether to send a new iteration. Placet is a transport layer — it does not encode business logic about what constitutes “approval” vs “rejection”.

Sending Iterations

Step 1: Send the initial message

Send a message with a review as usual. No special parameters needed — the first message becomes the chain root automatically when an iteration references it.

POST /api/v1/messages
{
  "channelId": "agent-123",
  "text": "Here is the Q1 report draft.\n\n- Revenue: $1.2M\n- Growth: 15%",
  "status": "warning",
  "metadata": { "runId": "run-001", "model": "gpt-4" },
  "review": {
    "type": "approval",
    "payload": {
      "options": [
        { "id": "approve", "label": "Approve", "style": "primary" },
        { "id": "reject", "label": "Reject", "style": "danger" }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Step 2: Wait for the response

Use the wait endpoint to poll for the human’s decision:

GET /api/v1/reviews/{messageId}/wait?channel=agent-123&timeout=120000

The response includes the review status and human feedback:

{
  "status": "completed",
  "message": {
    "id": "msg-1",
    "review": {
      "status": "completed",
      "feedback": "Please add Q2 projections and fix the growth calculation.",
      "response": { "selectedOption": "reject" }
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Send a revised iteration

Reference the previous message via iterationOf to create an iteration chain:

POST /api/v1/messages
{
  "channelId": "agent-123",
  "text": "Revised Q1 report with Q2 projections.\n\n- Revenue: $1.2M\n- Growth: 18% (corrected)\n- Q2 Projection: $1.4M",
  "status": "warning",
  "metadata": { "runId": "run-002", "model": "gpt-4" },
  "iterationOf": "msg-1",
  "review": {
    "type": "approval",
    "payload": {
      "options": [
        { "id": "approve", "label": "Approve", "style": "primary" },
        { "id": "reject", "label": "Reject", "style": "danger" }
      ]
    }
  }
}

The response includes the iteration metadata:

{
  "id": "msg-2",
  "iterationGroupId": "msg-1",
  "iteration": 2,
  "text": "Revised Q1 report with Q2 projections...",
  ...
}

Step 4: Repeat until approved

Continue the loop — check the wait endpoint, and based on the response content, decide whether to send another iteration:

Interpreting Responses (Agent Side)

Placet delivers the human’s response as-is. The agent (or workflow) decides what constitutes “approval” vs “rejection”:

Approval reviews — check response.selectedOption (e.g. "approve" vs "reject")
Form reviews — inspect submitted field values
Text input — read the text response and optionally the feedback field
Selection — check response.selectedItems

The feedback field on the review response contains optional human-provided text explaining their decision. Use it to guide the next iteration.

Define your review options to make agent-side interpretation simple. For example, use { id: "approve", label: "Approve" } and { id: "revise", label: "Request Changes" } — then check response.selectedOption === "revise" in your agent loop.

Retrieving Iteration Chains

Agent API

GET /api/v1/messages/iterations/{messageId}?channel={channelId}

Response

{
  "groupId": "msg-1",
  "iterations": [
    {
      "id": "msg-1",
      "iteration": 1,
      "text": "Draft report v1...",
      "review": {
        "status": "completed",
        "feedback": "Add Q2 data",
        "response": { "selectedOption": "reject" }
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "msg-2",
      "iteration": 2,
      "text": "Revised report with Q2...",
      "review": { "status": "completed", "response": { "selectedOption": "approve" } }
    }
  ]
}

You can pass any message ID from the chain — the API returns the complete chain sorted by iteration number.

Validation Rules

The iterationOf parameter is validated by the backend:

Rule	Error
Target message must exist	`400 Bad Request`
Target must be in the same channel	`400 Bad Request`
Target review must be `completed` or `expired`	`400 Bad Request` — cannot iterate on a pending review

Messages in an iteration chain cannot be deleted while other messages reference the same group. This protects the integrity of the chain.

Diff & Comparison Views

When iterations exist, the web app automatically shows what changed between versions:

Text diff — inline additions (green) and deletions (red) between iterations
Image comparison — side-by-side view of previous and current image attachments
Iteration breadcrumbs — clickable ① → ② → ③ navigation with status indicators
Previous feedback — the feedback from the last iteration is displayed for context

These views appear in the chat detail view, file preview modal, and the inbox detail.

Inbox Integration

The inbox is iteration-aware:

Re-Review badge — messages that are iteration #2+ show a “Re-Review” tag
Iteration breadcrumbs — navigate between iterations directly from the inbox detail
Diff toggle — compare the current iteration with the previous one
Pending reviews bar — floating bar at the top of chat showing open reviews, with iteration chains grouped

Webhook Events

When a human responds to a review, a webhook is delivered with:

{
  "event": "review:responded",
  "messageId": "msg-1",
  "channelId": "agent-123",
  "iteration": 1,
  "iterationGroupId": "msg-1",
  "feedback": "Please add Q2 projections.",
  "response": { "selectedOption": "reject" },
  "review": { ... }
}

The agent inspects the response and feedback fields to decide whether to iterate.

MCP Server Tools

The MCP server exposes iteration support through enhanced tools:

Tool	Iteration support
`send_message`	`iterationOf` parameter to chain messages
`send_review_message`	`iterationOf` parameter to chain review messages
`wait_for_review`	Returns `completed` with response and feedback
`get_iteration_chain`	New tool — fetch all iterations for a message

Agent Loop Pattern

A typical agent implementation handles iterations with a simple loop:

import requests, time

def run_agent(channel, api_key):
session = requests.Session()
session.headers["x-api-key"] = api_key
base = "http://localhost:3001"

    iteration_of = None
    content = generate_initial_content()

    while True:
        body = {
            "channelId": channel,
            "text": content,
            "metadata": {"generatedAt": time.time()},
            "review": {
                "type": "approval",
                "payload": {"options": [
                    {"id": "approve", "label": "Approve"},
                    {"id": "reject", "label": "Reject"},
                ]},
            },
        }
        if iteration_of:
            body["iterationOf"] = iteration_of

        msg = session.post(f"{base}/api/v1/messages", json=body).json()

        result = session.get(
            f"{base}/api/v1/reviews/{msg['id']}/wait",
            params={"channel": channel, "timeout": "120000"},
        ).json()

        # Agent interprets the response — Placet just delivers it
        response = result["message"]["review"].get("response", {})
        if response.get("selectedOption") == "reject":
            feedback = result["message"]["review"].get("feedback", "")
            content = revise_content(content, feedback)
            iteration_of = msg["id"]
            continue  # next iteration

        break  # approved, expired, or timed out

Using Metadata for Agent Context

The metadata field on messages is a free-form JSON object that the agent controls. Placet stores it unchanged and returns it in all API responses. Use it to track agent-specific context across iterations:

{
  "metadata": {
    "runId": "run-abc-123",
    "model": "gpt-4",
    "promptVersion": "v2.1",
    "tokensUsed": 1847,
    "previousFeedback": ["Add Q2 data", "Fix growth %"]
  }
}

Store your agent’s run context in metadata so you can reconstruct state across iterations. Placet never reads or modifies this field.

n8n / Automation Workflow Pattern

For workflow automation tools like n8n, implement the iteration loop using a Switch node after the wait step: The key is the loop back from the Switch node to the Send node, passing the previous message ID as iterationOf and incorporating the feedback from the response. The Switch node inspects the response content (e.g. selectedOption) to determine the next step.

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Connections

Examples

Plugins

Iterations & Versioning

Overview

When to Use Iterations

How It Works

Data Model

Review Statuses

Sending Iterations

Step 1: Send the initial message

Step 2: Wait for the response

Step 3: Send a revised iteration

Step 4: Repeat until approved

Interpreting Responses (Agent Side)

Retrieving Iteration Chains

Agent API

Response

Validation Rules

Diff & Comparison Views

Inbox Integration

Webhook Events

MCP Server Tools

Agent Loop Pattern

Using Metadata for Agent Context

n8n / Automation Workflow Pattern

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Connections

Examples

Plugins

Documentation Index

​Overview

​When to Use Iterations

​How It Works

​Data Model

​Review Statuses

​Sending Iterations

​Step 1: Send the initial message

​Step 2: Wait for the response

​Step 3: Send a revised iteration

​Step 4: Repeat until approved

​Interpreting Responses (Agent Side)

​Retrieving Iteration Chains

​Agent API

​Response

​Validation Rules

​Diff & Comparison Views

​Inbox Integration

​Webhook Events

​MCP Server Tools

​Agent Loop Pattern

​Using Metadata for Agent Context

​n8n / Automation Workflow Pattern

Overview

When to Use Iterations

How It Works

Data Model

Review Statuses

Sending Iterations

Step 1: Send the initial message

Step 2: Wait for the response

Step 3: Send a revised iteration

Step 4: Repeat until approved

Interpreting Responses (Agent Side)

Retrieving Iteration Chains

Agent API

Response

Validation Rules

Diff & Comparison Views

Inbox Integration

Webhook Events

MCP Server Tools

Agent Loop Pattern

Using Metadata for Agent Context

n8n / Automation Workflow Pattern