> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://resources.athenaintel.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Automation approvals > Choose reviewers, collect decisions, and require review before an Automation continues An approval step pauses an Automation for a decision. Use it when someone needs to review a proposed action or output before the next steps run. ![Approval flow: approval step, approvers resolved with the publisher left out when self-approval is off, request sent through inbox, email, mobile, Slack and Teams, votes counted, then approved or not approved.](https://mintcdn.com/athenaintelligence-e46bc9d3/6ueVSVCwufwDQRFe/images/diagrams/automation-approval.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=6ueVSVCwufwDQRFe\&q=85\&s=5c8571b80f487c7ca92deb6db238d772) An approval step resolves its approvers, sends the request, and counts votes before the run continues. ## Choose approvers You need edit access to configure the draft. In **Definition**, select an **Approval** step and configure its approvers. The people field lets you pick workspace members and groups or enter a supported selector. | Approver | Who receives the request | | - | - | | Named member, `user_…` | That active workspace member. | | `owner` | The person who published this Automation version. | | `group:` | Active workspace members in that workspace group. | | `role:owner` | Members whose workspace role is owner. | | `role:manager` | Members whose workspace role is manager. | | `owner_of:` | The owner of the named asset in this workspace. | `owner` and `role:owner` choose different people. The first names the publisher; the second names members with the workspace owner role. Athena resolves selectors when the request opens. A selector that cannot resolve, or resolves to no active member, prevents the request from opening. It never opens the request to everyone. Athena checks the deciding person's active workspace membership and current eligibility again when they vote. Leaving a group or losing the required role can remove their ability to decide an existing request. Agent approvers are off by default; an admin must enable them in the workspace approval policy and the organization's decision-authority policy, with an approval limit and rubric, before an eligible agent can decide an authored approval step. ## Set the voting rule Configure the step's `mode` and, for `n_of_m`, its `n` value. | Mode | Required approving votes | | - | - | | `any` | One eligible approver. | | `all` | All resolved eligible approvers. | | `n_of_m` | The configured number of eligible approvers. | Self-approval is off by default (`allow_self_approval: false`). With it off, the person who published the Automation version cannot decide that version's approval steps, even when a selector names them. If removing the publisher leaves no approver, the request does not open. > [!WARNING] > > Athena excludes the publisher. It does not exclude the person who starts a manual run. If the people who start runs must not approve them, keep them out of the approver group. ## Choose delivery channels The default channels are the Athena inbox and email. Configure the step's `channels` to request other supported channels. | Channel | How you review it | | - | - | | Athena inbox (`web`) | Open the request and decide in Athena. | | Email (`email`) | Follow the link to the signed-in Athena inbox. Notification email must be enabled. | | Mobile (`mobile`) | Open the request on your phone. Supported notifications offer **Approve** and **Reject** when decision capabilities are configured. You need a registered device. | | Slack (`slack`) | Decide from the direct message when Athena for Slack is configured, your workspace has connected it, and you have linked your Slack account. | | Teams (`teams`) | Follow **Open in Athena** from a personal bot chat linked to your account. Teams does not offer an in-message decision. | Selecting a channel does not configure its integration. Missing configuration or a missing linked account can make a delivery unavailable or undeliverable. ## Decide in the Athena inbox 1. Open **Inbox**, then **Approvals**. 2. Under **Waiting on you**, open the request. 3. Read the request, payload, approvers, and any recorded decisions. 4. If the request provides editable fields, review any changes before approving. 5. Select **Approve** or **Reject** for the default options, or the custom option the step offers. Review the confirmation and complete any required passkey check. 6. Check the recorded decision. Your vote may leave the request waiting for other approvers under `all` or `n_of_m`. An Automation's **Approvals** tab also shows its approval history. Run history links the decision to the step that requested it. ## Configure waits and repeated approvals A step can set `timeout` and `on_timeout`. The supported timeout actions are `fail`, `skip`, `proceed`, and `escalate`. Escalation adds the configured approvers and waits for one more timeout period before failing. Reminders use offsets from the time the request opens. `proceed` records that nobody approved. It does not authorize a tool that requires approval. For a required second-person checkpoint, keep timeout behavior at `fail` or use escalation that ends in failure. For eligible tool approval gates, **Standing approval** lets you choose **Just this once** or an offered duration when the definition and policy allow it. A standing grant can cover later matching calls until it expires or is revoked. Authored approval steps do not issue standing grants. An admin can change an Automation's trust level under **Overview**, **Details**, **Trust**. Trust can reduce eligible tool approval prompts. Explicit approval steps and tools that require human review still ask at every trust level. | Trust level | Effect on eligible tool approval gates | | - | - | | `supervised` | Ask unless an allowed standing grant covers the call. This is the default. | | `trusted` | Ask for new call shapes and remember approved shapes through standing grants. | | `autonomous` | Use the admin's trust grant for eligible gates. | Promotion is an explicit admin action after the required clean runs. Trust grants expire; a lapsed grant makes gates ask again until an admin renews it. ## Require approval before publishing An admin can change the workspace's publication rule in **Environment**, **Automations admin**, **Policies**. The default requires no publish approval. | Policy value | When publication needs approval | | - | - | | `never` | No publication requires a separate approval. | | `always` | Every publication requires approval. | | `sensitive` | The compiled plan contains an implicit tool approval gate, including an out-of-policy SQL write. | Publish approval is separate from approval steps inside a run. When publication is held for approval, the requested version does not become published until that approval completes. ## Require a second person before an application release You can use an Automation approval as a review checkpoint before a release owner deploys an application version. 1. Configure an **Approval** step naming a workspace approver group. Include the version to review in the request. 2. Keep `allow_self_approval` off and use a timeout that cannot proceed without approval. 3. Have an eligible second person decide the request. 4. After approval, have the release owner deploy the reviewed version from the application's **Deployment** tab. An Automation cannot deploy or promote an application version itself today. This pattern records the review and who approved it. It does not stop someone with edit access from deploying from the **Deployment** tab without running the Automation. ## Related * [Automations](https://resources.athenaintel.com/docs/pillars/applications/automations.md) * [Automation run history](https://resources.athenaintel.com/docs/pillars/applications/automation-run-history.md) * [Manage application releases](https://resources.athenaintel.com/docs/pillars/applications/manage-application-releases.md) * [Session approvals](https://resources.athenaintel.com/docs/pillars/applications/session-approvals.md) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.