Open any document at /doc/<id> and use the "Check out for edit" panel to claim a soft edit-lock. While the lock is held by someone other than you, new-version uploads from other workspace members are refused with a clear "Held by alice@…" message. The lock holder can always upload a new version (which atomically clears the lock as part of the commit).
Three ways the lock comes off:
- The lock holder uploads a new version (most common — you check out, edit, upload, the lock clears). - The lock holder clicks "Check in (no version change)" — useful if you started editing then decided no changes were needed. - A workspace owner / admin force-releases via the "Force release" button on the document page. Captured on the audit log as a force-release for accountability.
The agent can drive both flows from natural language: "lock this for me, I'm about to edit it" calls checkOutDocument; "I'm done with this, release it" calls releaseDocumentCheckOut. The audit log records every check-out / check-in so a stuck-lock incident is traceable.
This is intentionally a SOFT lock — it doesn't prevent reads, doesn't apply to the agent's own metadata mutations (rename, sensitivity, tags), and doesn't replace legal-hold deny-wins. Its single purpose is preventing two editors from uploading conflicting new versions in the same window.