approve

name	approve
description	Human-in-the-loop approval gates. Creates approval requests for high-stakes actions like hiring agents, strategy proposals, or budget overrides. Tracks states from pending through approved/rejected/revision_requested. Blocks execution until resolved. Triggers on: "approve", "approval", "review request", "sign off"

/approve

Human-in-the-loop approval gates for high-stakes decisions.

Purpose

Some actions should not execute without human review. The approve skill creates structured approval requests, tracks their lifecycle, and blocks execution until a human makes a decision. Three approval types by default: hire_agent (adding compute cost), strategy_proposal (changing direction), budget_override (exceeding limits). Custom types supported.

Usage

# Create an approval request
/approve --type hire_agent --summary "Spawn a deep researcher for patent analysis" --cost "~50K tokens"

# List pending approvals
/approve list

# Approve a request
/approve ok req-a1b2

# Reject with reason
/approve reject req-a1b2 --reason "Budget too tight this week"

# Request revision
/approve revise req-a1b2 --note "Reduce scope to 20K tokens"

# View approval history
/approve history --last 20

# Auto-approve low-risk actions
/approve policy set hire_agent --auto-approve-under 10000

Arguments

Subcommand	Description
(default)	Create a new approval request
list	Show all pending approvals
ok <req-id>	Approve a request
reject <req-id>	Reject a request
revise <req-id>	Request revision
history	View past approvals
policy	Configure auto-approval rules

Flag	Type	Default	Description
--type	enum	required	hire_agent, strategy_proposal, budget_override, or custom
--summary	string	required	Human-readable description of what needs approval
--cost	string	—	Estimated cost (tokens, dollars, or time)
--reason	string	—	Rejection reason or revision note
--note	string	—	Additional context for revision request
--last	int	10	Number of history entries to show
--auto-approve-under	int	—	Auto-approve if cost below this threshold
--urgency	enum	normal	critical, high, normal, low
--deadline	duration	—	Approval needed by this time
--requestor	string	auto	Agent or person requesting approval

Workflow

Creating a request

1. Compose — Build approval request: type, summary, cost estimate, requestor, urgency, deadline.
2. Check policy — If auto-approval rules exist for this type and cost is under threshold, auto-approve and log.
3. Store — Write request to approvals/pending/{req-id}.json.
4. Notify — Send to human's attention via highest-priority channel (terminal alert, inbox).
5. Block — Return request ID. The requesting agent/process must wait for resolution.

Resolving

1. Human decides — Reviews request via /approve list, then runs ok, reject, or revise.
2. Update state — Move from pending/ to resolved/. Record: decision, decider, timestamp, reason.
3. Notify requestor — Send resolution to the requesting agent's inbox.
4. Unblock — Requesting process resumes with the decision.

Output

Pending approvals

## Pending Approvals (2)

### req-a1b2 | hire_agent | high urgency
**Summary:** Spawn a deep researcher for patent analysis
**Requestor:** orchestrator
**Cost:** ~50,000 tokens ($5.00)
**Submitted:** 2026-03-20 14:30
**Deadline:** 2026-03-20 16:00
**Blocking:** task-d4e5

→ `/approve ok req-a1b2` or `/approve reject req-a1b2 --reason "..."`

### req-c3d4 | budget_override | normal
**Summary:** Analyst agent requests 20K additional tokens for deep revenue analysis
**Requestor:** analyst (agent-e5f6)
**Cost:** 20,000 tokens ($2.00)
**Submitted:** 2026-03-20 14:35
**Deadline:** none

→ `/approve ok req-c3d4` or `/approve reject req-c3d4 --reason "..."`

Dependencies

• File system for approval store (approvals/pending/, approvals/resolved/)
• /inbox — Notification delivery
• /budget — Cost estimation and budget checks
• Human operator availability