---
name: Type to confirm
slug: type-to-confirm
category: pattern
status: published
created: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
modified: 2026-08-21T00:00:00.000Z
definition: Guarding a destructive action by making the reader type the name of
  the thing being destroyed before the confirm button becomes usable.
aliases:
  - name: type the name to confirm
    source: community
  - name: confirmation by typing
    source: community
  - name: delete confirmation input
    source: community
  - name: friction dialog
    source: community
tags:
  - auth
  - errors
relations:
  contrastWith:
    - confirmation-dialog
    - soft-delete
    - hold-to-confirm
    - slide-to-confirm
  variantOf:
    - microinteraction
  partOf: []
  seeAlso: []
implementations: []
sources:
  - title: "Cloudscape: Delete patterns"
    url: https://cloudscape.design/patterns/
demo: inline
exhibit: false
useWhen: you must type the repo name to delete it
---

An ordinary confirmation dialog can be cleared by a reflex. Two clicks in the same
place, muscle memory, a half-read sentence, and the repository is gone. Typing its
name defeats the reflex, because it cannot be done without reading what is being
destroyed and matching it character by character. The friction is the feature, and
it is aimed precisely at the moment where speed is the enemy.

The cost is real, so spend it rarely. Reserve it for actions that are permanent,
wide in blast radius, and not covered by undo: deleting a project, transferring
ownership, dropping a production database. Everywhere else, an undo window is a
better guard, since it costs nothing on the way in and still saves the mistake on
the way out. A product that asks people to type names all day trains them to copy
and paste without reading, which is exactly the reflex the pattern existed to
break.

Implementation details decide whether it helps or just annoys. Show the name to be
typed as selectable text, and expect people to copy it: they will, and it is still
better than a reflex click. Compare exactly, but say what is wrong rather than
just staying disabled, because a dead button with no explanation reads as a broken
form. Keep the confirm control present and explain why it cannot be used yet, and
let Escape and the cancel button out of the dialog at any time.

The name matters too. Ask for the thing's own identifier, not a word like DELETE:
a typed name proves the reader knows which of their forty projects they are
looking at, and a typed keyword proves only that they can type.