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Approval Workflow

When the policy engine returns ESCALATE, an approval task is created for human review. Operators can approve or deny the action via the dashboard or API.

Workflow Overview​

Approval States​

StatusDescription
pendingAwaiting operator review
approvedOperator approved, action executed
deniedOperator denied
expiredNo decision before expiry (default: 24h)

Creating Approvals​

Approvals are created automatically when policy returns ESCALATE:

{
  "interaction_id": "int-abc123",
  "decision": "ESCALATE",
  "reasons": [
    {
      "code": "REQUIRES_APPROVAL",
      "message": "Action 'kubernetes:deploy' requires human approval"
    }
  ],
  "approval_id": "appr-xyz789",
  "executed": false,
  "timestamp": "2024-12-14T10:00:00Z"
}

The agent should store the approval_id to poll for status or receive callbacks.

Viewing Approvals​

Dashboard​

Navigate to Approvals in the sidebar to see pending tasks:

  • Filter by status (pending, approved, denied, expired)
  • Click a task to see full details
  • Approve or deny with optional notes

API​

# List pending approvals
curl http://localhost:8000/api/v1/orgs/$ORG_ID/approvals?status=pending \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Response:

{
  "items": [
    {
      "approval_id": "appr-xyz789",
      "uapk_id": "deployment-bot",
      "agent_id": "deployment-bot",
      "action": {
        "type": "kubernetes",
        "tool": "deploy",
        "params": {
          "namespace": "production",
          "image": "app:v2.0.0"
        }
      },
      "reason_codes": ["REQUIRES_APPROVAL"],
      "status": "pending",
      "created_at": "2024-12-14T10:00:00Z",
      "expires_at": "2024-12-15T10:00:00Z"
    }
  ],
  "total": 1
}

Approving Requests​

  1. Navigate to Approvals
  2. Click the pending approval
  3. Review the action details
  4. Click Approve (optionally add notes)

Response after approval:

{
  "approval_id": "appr-xyz789",
  "status": "approved",
  "approved_by": "[email protected]",
  "approved_at": "2024-12-14T10:15:00Z",
  "notes": "Reviewed deployment plan, approved for production",
  "execution_result": {
    "success": true,
    "data": {"deployment_id": "deploy-abc"}
  }
}

Denying Requests​

  1. Navigate to Approvals
  2. Click the pending approval
  3. Review the action details
  4. Click Deny and provide a reason

Response:

{
  "approval_id": "appr-xyz789",
  "status": "denied",
  "denied_by": "[email protected]",
  "denied_at": "2024-12-14T10:15:00Z",
  "reason": "Not approved for production deployment during freeze",
  "notes": "Code freeze in effect until Dec 20"
}

Polling for Status​

Agents can poll for approval status:

curl http://localhost:8000/api/v1/orgs/$ORG_ID/approvals/appr-xyz789 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN"

Expiry​

Approvals expire after a configurable period (default: 24 hours). Expired approvals:

  • Are marked as expired status
  • Do not execute the action
  • Are logged in the audit trail

Configure expiry in environment:

GATEWAY_APPROVAL_EXPIRY_HOURS=24

Notifications​

Coming Soon

Webhook notifications for approval events are planned for v0.2.

Audit Trail​

All approval actions are logged:

{
  "record_id": "int-abc123",
  "decision": "pending",
  "approval_id": "appr-xyz789",
  "approval_status": "approved",
  "approved_by": "[email protected]",
  "approved_at": "2024-12-14T10:15:00Z"
}

Best Practices​

Review Before Production

Always require approval for production deployments.

Set Reasonable Expiry

Balance responsiveness with security. 24 hours is typical.

Add Context in Notes

Document why you approved or denied for audit purposes.

Don't Auto-Approve

Never create automation that auto-approves escalated requests.