How Async Callbacks Work in AI Agents

Async callbacks are the cleanest way to connect AI agents with long-running tasks such as video rendering, payments, crawling, moderation, or human approval.

Recommended design

1. Create a callback session per job.
2. Generate a unique callback URL or wait token.
3. Store enough state to resume deterministically.
4. Validate and persist the callback event.
5. Notify the waiting agent or client.

Example use cases

• AI image or video generation
• External scraping jobs
• Payment confirmation
• HITL approval flows

Common mistakes

• Keeping all wait state only in memory
• Not associating the callback with a specific session
• Treating any callback as trusted without verification

FAQ

Why does session tracking matter?

Because the agent needs to know which step to resume and which job produced the callback.

What transport should I use for updates?

SSE is a good first version. WebSockets can come later if you need more interactivity.

WebhookPilot already exposes callback session APIs for this pattern.