Approvals Page

Overview

The Approvals Page is your inbox for reviewing and approving sensitive agent actions. Agents request approval when attempting high-risk operations, and humans make the final decision.

Layout

The page has two main tabs:

1. Pending Actions - Approval requests awaiting decision
2. Decision History - All past approvals with outcomes

Dashboard stats

At the top, 6 metrics show approval workflow health:

Pending actions tab

Approval cards

Each pending approval shows:

• Action Name (large, prominent)
• Description - What the action will do
• Priority Badge - Critical (red), High (orange), Medium (yellow), Low (green)
• Risk Level Badge - Critical, High, Medium, Low, Minimal
• Expiration Countdown - Time remaining
• Estimated Cost - USD cost if approved
• Agent ID - Which agent is requesting
• Created - How long ago requested

Visual cues:

• 🔴 Expired/expiring soon - Red countdown (< 1 min)
• 🟠 Expiring - Orange countdown (< 5 min)
• 🟢 Plenty of time - Green countdown (> 5 min)
• ⏰ Expired - Gray with “EXPIRED” badge

Sorting and filtering

Filter by status:

• Pending
• Approved
• Rejected
• Expired
• Cancelled
• Info Requested

Filter by priority:

• Critical
• High
• Medium
• Low

Filter by risk level:

• Critical
• High
• Medium
• Low
• Minimal

Sort by:

• Newest first (default)
• Expiring soonest
• Highest priority
• Highest cost

Review modal

Click Review to open the detail modal with 4 sections:

Action Details

• Full description - Detailed explanation of what action will do
• Action inputs - JSON view of parameters
  {
    "from_account": "acct_123",
    "to_account": "acct_456",
    "amount_usd": 10000.0
  }
  
• Context - Additional metadata agent provided
• Estimated cost - What this will cost if approved

Agent Information

• Agent ID - Which agent is requesting (link to agent page)
• Run ID - Current run (link to run details)
• Agent intent - Why agent wants to do this
• Recent history - Past actions by this agent

Risk Assessment

• Risk level - Why this is risky
• Potential impact - What could go wrong
• Blast radius - Scope of impact if misused
• Compliance notes - Regulatory considerations

Decision Actions

Three buttons:

1. Approve (green) - Allow action to proceed
   • Opens approval form:
     • Your email (pre-filled)
     • Notes (optional)
     • Confirm button
2. Reject (red) - Block action
   • Opens rejection form:
     • Your email (pre-filled)
     • Reason (required)
     • Confirm button
3. Request Info (blue) - Ask agent for more context
   • Opens info request form:
     • Your email (pre-filled)
     • Message to agent (required)
     • Send button
   • Status changes to “info_requested”
   • Agent receives message and can respond
   • Returns to “pending” after agent responds

Quick actions

From the card (without opening modal):

• Quick Approve - One-click approval (no notes)
• Quick Reject - One-click rejection (generic reason)

Decision history tab

Shows all past approvals with:

• Timestamp - When decided
• Action - What was requested
• Decision - Approved/Rejected/Expired badge
• Decider - Who made the decision
• Notes - Approver’s notes or rejection reason
• Decision time - How long it took to decide
• Cost impact - Cost incurred (approved) or saved (rejected)

Filters:

• Time range (24h, 7d, 30d, all time)
• Decision type (approved, rejected, expired)
• Decider (filter by approver email)
• Agent ID

Export:

• Download decision history as CSV/JSON
• Includes all fields for compliance reporting

Real-time behavior

Live updates

When a new approval is created:

1. Appears at top of list with slide-in animation
2. Browser notification (if enabled): “New approval required”
3. Sound alert for critical priority (optional)

When an approval is decided elsewhere:

1. Card updates in real-time
2. Moves from “Pending” to “Decision History”
3. Stats refresh

When approaching expiration:

1. Countdown changes color
2. Critical priority items flash (< 1 min remaining)

Expiration handling

When an approval expires:

1. Status changes to “EXPIRED”
2. Card grays out
3. Moves to “Decision History” tab
4. Agent receives TimeoutError
5. Intervention created with type “APPROVAL_REQUIRED”, outcome “BLOCKED”

Common workflows

Daily approval triage

1. Navigate to Approvals page
2. Sort by “Expiring soonest”
3. Review all critical/high priority first
4. For each:
   • Read description and context
   • Check risk level
   • Verify agent intent
   • Approve or reject with notes
5. Check “Info Requested” for agent responses

Handle critical approvals

1. Filter by priority=“Critical”
2. Open review modal
3. Read full context and inputs
4. Verify this is legitimate and necessary
5. If unclear, click “Request Info”
6. Once satisfied, approve with detailed notes
7. Monitor in Decision History to ensure action succeeds

Review approval patterns

1. Go to “Decision History” tab
2. Filter by time range (e.g., last 30 days)
3. Identify patterns:
   • Which actions are frequently requested?
   • Which agent requests most approvals?
   • What’s your approval rate?
4. If approval rate is low (< 70%), investigate:
   • Are agents attempting inappropriate actions?
   • Should policies be adjusted?

Respond to info requests

1. Filter by status=“Info Requested”
2. See agent’s response to your question
3. Review additional context provided
4. Return to approval review
5. Make decision now that you have more info

Keyboard shortcuts

• a - Approve (when modal open)
• r - Reject (when modal open)
• i - Request info (when modal open)
• Esc - Close modal
• / - Focus search/filter

Best practices

Notifications

Configure approval notifications in Settings → Notifications:

• Email: Get email for critical/high priority approvals
• Slack: Approval requests posted to #approvals channel
• Webhook: POST to custom URL for integration with your tools
• Browser: Push notifications (requires permission)

Troubleshooting

”Approval disappeared”

• Check “Decision History” tab - may have been decided
• Check for expired approvals
• Verify not filtered out by current filters

”Can’t approve - button disabled”

• Check if approval already expired
• Verify you have permission (correct organization)
• Refresh page - may be stale data

”Agent says approval pending, but I don’t see it”

• Check organization selector - may be in wrong org
• Verify agent’s agent_id matches your filters
• Check “Info Requested” status
• Look in “Decision History” - may have auto-expired

”Countdown not updating”

• Check WebSocket connection (should show “REALTIME”)
• Refresh page to reset connection
• Browser tab may be inactive - revisit tab

See also

• Platform Approvals API - API documentation
• SDK Approvals - SDK-side approval client
• Settings - Configure approval notifications