Ship Many Orders (Interactive Batch)
Ship a batch from the work queue as a human operator, with the checks that keep a batch honest.
When several independent orders need the same multi-step treatment, you can use natural language and parallel batch (parallel_map) from a terminal. This page is for interactive operators. For headless unattended runs, use Batches and Unattended Runs.
In this article, we will find a list of work, understand batch authorization, rehearse safely, and run a multi-order ship with eyes on the batch gate.
Real-World Example
Twelve orders went ready overnight. We want one command to rate, create, and label all twelve, with a single explicit batch approval before any carrier account is charged.
Before We Begin
This article assumes that:
- You can ship a single order end-to-end (Ship One Order)
- You understand Safety Model: parent
--yesis not batch approval - You have read [Batch Work in Parallel](../features/parallel batch.md)
1. Find the work
postsale run "what should I ship? explain the applied filters and exclusions"Or search and list ids. Prefer the work queue over inventing statuses.
2. Know the batch gate
When the agent fans out with parallel_map for money-shaped work (or money-adjacent wording):
- You must approve the batch before subagents start
- Parent
--yesonly covers the parent loop - Caps: 50 items, concurrency 10, 12 turns per subagent (8 by default)
- Subagents can never run destructive tools (deletes, manifest close); only the parent can
3. Dry-run first
postsale run --dry-run "ship the work-queue orders with the cheapest carrier"Note
Batch authorization applies under dry-run too. Non-money writes (order edits, tags) may execute for real.
4. Live interactive batch
postsale run "ship today's pending orders with the cheapest carrier" --yesExpect a batch authorization prompt even with --yes. Approve only if the item list and risk are what you intend.
5. Read-only multi-item checks
Avoid money keywords in templates when you only want reads:
postsale run "Look up ord_a, ord_b and ord_c; report id, number and status only"See [read-only parallel batch recipe](../recipes/read-only-parallel batch.md).
Good to Know
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
swarm_authorization_required | Batch gate or keywords | Approve, reword, or see parallel batch feature |
| Partial failures | Subagent errors / max turns | Inspect failed items; verify with search |
| Need unattended runs | Non-TTY | Batches and Unattended Runs + AUTOAUTH only if pre-authorized |
Additional Reading
- [Batch Work in Parallel](../features/parallel batch.md)
- Batches and Unattended Runs
- Preview Work with Dry-Run
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