Backstep sits between an agent and its tools. Each tool action carries a class: reversible (undo is exact), compensable (another action can cancel its effect, like voiding an invoice) or one-way (an email already read cannot be unsent). Before a step runs, Backstep writes its compensating action to a journal. A whole run can then be rolled back in reverse order, and the agent only stops for a human at one-way steps instead of asking about everything.
Example data only. The run below is a simulation; no tools are called and nothing is sent.
Agent run · example
Onboard a new customer: Harbor Lane Bakery
reversiblecompensableone-way
Compensation journal
Written before each step executes, newest last.
What to try
Press Run to next stop: the agent moves through reversible and compensable steps and stops at the first one-way step, the welcome email.
At a stop, choose Skip and keep going, then Roll back run to watch the journal undo every completed step in reverse.
Switch the pause policy to every step to feel how blanket approval slows a run, or to compensable and one-way for a stricter middle ground.
Run past the card charge, then roll back: it is undone as a refund, which is a compensation, not a perfect undo.