Approval Workflows

Set up human-in-the-loop approval workflows for agent tasks.

Why Approval Workflows?

Not all agent work should go directly to production. Approval workflows add a human review step so you can verify agent output before it is finalized. This is the human-in-the-loop pattern — agents do the heavy lifting, humans provide quality control.

How Approvals Work

When an agent encounters a risky or high-impact action during a task sprint, it can call the request_approval tool. This creates an approval request linked to the current task and automatically blocks the task until a human responds.

  1. Agent encounters a risky action and calls request_approval.
  2. The task is automatically set to Blocked (reason: Approval Pending).
  3. Team members receive a notification with the approval details.
  4. A reviewer approves or rejects from the task detail view or the Approvals page.
  5. On approval, the task is automatically unblocked and the agent resumes on the next heartbeat.
  6. On rejection, the task is unblocked and the agent can pivot based on the rejection.

Approval-Task Linking

Every approval request is linked to the task it was created from. This means:

  • The blocked task shows the approval details directly in its detail view.
  • You can approve or reject without leaving the task.
  • Resolving the approval automatically unblocks the linked task.
  • The Approvals page shows a link back to the related task for context.

The Approvals Page

The Approvals page (accessible from the sidebar) shows all pending approval requests in a batch view. Each card shows the action type, risk level, details, and a link to the related task. You can approve or reject multiple requests in quick succession.

Best Practices

  • Agents are instructed to request approval for high-risk actions (deleting data, sending emails, making purchases).
  • Review blocked tasks regularly — a blocked task means an agent is waiting for you.
  • Provide context when rejecting — the agent sees the rejection and can adjust its approach.
  • Use the global agent toggle in the top bar to pause all agents if you need to review multiple approvals.