Overview
How might we let people stop a wrong turn without throwing away what already happened?
When to use
- Long chat replies where the model may head in the wrong direction before finishing.
- Voice assistants and speech UIs where barge-in is faster than waiting for the end.
- Agent runs that take seconds or minutes and may need a course correction.
- Any surface where stop should preserve context, not reset the whole thread.
When to skip
- Atomic transactions that cannot partially complete (prefer full cancel + undo).
- Tiny answers that finish before an interrupt control is usable.
- Batch jobs better served by pause/checkpoint than conversational interrupt.
States
Design the pause and resume path, not only the stop button.
- 01
Generating
Tokens stream in place. Stop is visible while the answer is still growing.
- 02
Interrupted
Stop cancels further tokens. Partial text stays on screen and in context.
- 03
Resuming
Continue appends from the interruption point. Prior turns and partial output stay linked.
- 04
Redirecting
The person edits or sends a new prompt from the paused state without losing the thread.
- 05
Complete
Generation finished. Live controls clear; the final answer is copyable and actionable.
Key UX elements
The parts that must be present for stop and continue to feel safe.
Stop
Offer a clear cancel while streaming.
Stop must be reachable before the answer finishes. Hiding it until the end defeats the pattern.
Partial
Keep what already arrived.
Do not wipe partial text on stop. People should be able to read, copy, or edit what is already there.
Continue
Resume from the cut point.
Continue should pick up where generation stopped, not restart the whole reply from scratch.
Context
Show that the thread is intact.
A short paused cue or status line confirms prior turns and partial output are still in context.
Composer
Allow redirect without reset.
When paused, the input should accept a follow-up or edit so people can steer without a new session.
Complete
Clear live chrome at the end.
Remove Stop, Continue, and the caret once the answer is final so the result reads as settled.
Rules
Stop that discards the partial answer with no way to keep or edit it.
Resume that invents continuity the model no longer has in context.
No visible interrupted state. UI looks idle while a job still runs.
Voice interrupt that leaves the mic hot without a clear listening indicator.
Evidence
| Product | Implementation |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Stop generating; edit or regenerate; voice mode barge-in. |
| Claude | Interrupt streaming replies and retry or continue the thread. |
| Voice assistants (Siri / Google / Alexa) | Barge-in to halt speech and issue a new or continued request. |
| Coding agents | Cancel a run and resume from a checkpoint or revised instruction. |