Skip to main content
An approval is a pause before Connie does something, so a person can say yes or no first. For example, a workflow can stop before sending each email so you can check it, or an Agent can ask before it updates a deal. Until someone decides, that step waits. If nobody decides before the deadline, the action is not carried out. Where: the bell icon at the top of the sidebar → Approval required tab. Agent approvals also appear on the agent’s page under Action required.

​
Where approvals come from

​
Make a workflow step wait for approval

1

Open the workflow

Open the workflow on Automations. If it’s live, structure changes are locked, but you can still turn approval on or off.
2

Turn on Require approval

Click the ⋯ menu on the step (for example Send Email) and choose Require approval. The step shows an amber Approval badge.
3

Choose whether reviewers get emails

The first time, Connie asks Email reviewers about approvals? Reviewers always get an in-app notification. Click In-app only, or Also send email to email them too. This applies to everyone in the workspace, and you can change it later in Settings → Notifications under Workflow approvals → Email reviewers about approval requests.
To turn it off, choose Remove approval from the same menu. You can require approval on action steps and Formula steps. Triggers, Router, AI Analyzer, For each, Delay and other branching steps can’t require approval (“This node type cannot require approval.”).

​
Approve or reject a workflow step

When a run reaches a step that requires approval, it stops there. The step’s cell in the run results shows Needs approval, and everyone in the workspace gets a bell notification titled Approval required.
1

Open the request

Click the bell, then the Approval required tab. Or open the workflow’s run results and click the Needs approval cell.
2

Check what will happen

Click the notification to open the run, the row and the step’s side panel. It shows the exact values the step will use, with variables already filled in (for example the real recipient and email text).
3

Decide

Click Approve to run the step and continue, or Reject (Decline in the bell) to stop. On reject, that step and everything after it are skipped for that row.
  • The first decision counts. Once someone approves or rejects, the request shows Approved or Declined for everyone.
  • Inside a For each loop, each item waits for its own decision. Other items keep going.
  • After 3 days without a decision, the request expires and counts as rejected. The bell shows Expired. To try again, run the workflow (or that row) again.

​
Approve or reject an Agent’s action

1

Find the request

Click the bell notification “[agent name] needs approval”, or open the agent and look at Action required on its home page.
2

Decide

In Action required, click ✓ to approve or ✗ to reject. Or open the run to see the full card and use Allow / Approve or Reject. Questions and connection requests open the run so you can answer there.
  • Approving lets the same run carry on. Rejecting tells the agent the action was declined.
  • Only the people in the agent’s Who answers this agent’s requests setting (or everyone, if it’s Everyone in workspace) can decide, plus workspace owners and admins. Guests never can. Other members see the request, but the approve button is greyed out.
  • Runs started by a trigger or Run now expire after the deadline (24 hours by default; the card shows “expires in …”). The run then ends without doing that action: “Nobody approved this action in time, so it was not carried out.”
  • Runs you start by chatting with the agent don’t expire, but you can’t send a new message in that run until you answer.

​
The Approval Tasks page

https://connie.ai/<workspace-id>/approve-task shows Approval Tasks (“Review and approve flow tasks”), with Pending, For You and Total counts, a status filter, a My Tasks Only switch, and Approve / Reject on each card.
This page lists approvals from the older Human Approval workflow step only. Steps that use Require approval, Agent approvals and scheduled-task approvals are not listed here. Use the bell’s Approval required tab or the agent’s Action required list instead.
Each card shows who can decide: Anyone can approve, All members must approve, or Specific members must approve.

​
Get notified about approvals

  • In-app: approval requests always appear in the bell. The Approval required tab shows only items waiting on a decision; All activity and Completed show the rest.
  • Email for workflow approvals: a workspace-wide switch. Go to Settings → Notifications → Workflow approvals → Email reviewers about approval requests.
  • Your own preferences: in the same page, the Approval tasks row (“Remind me when I have tasks to approve”) under Workflows sets in-app and email for you.
See Notifications for the full list.

​
Good to know

  • Deadlines: workflow approvals wait 3 days. Unattended Agent and scheduled-task approvals wait 24 hours by default. Approvals in a live chat, or in an Agent run you started by chatting, have no deadline. External AI app approvals wait 15 minutes.
  • Expired means no: nothing is carried out when a request expires.
  • What needs approval in Agents and chat depends on your workspace’s tool permissions (Always allow, Ask before running, Disabled) and Connie’s built-in checks for sends, deletes, paid tools and large runs. An Agent’s When should the agent ask for approval? rule can make it ask more often.
  • Credits: an approved action is charged like any other action when it runs. A rejected or expired action isn’t run.

​
Troubleshooting

Why: the 3-day wait ended before you decided, so the step and everything after it didn’t run. Fix: run the workflow (or that row) again to request a new approval.
Why: an unattended Agent or scheduled-task approval passed its deadline. Fix: start the run again, or use Run now.
Why: you aren’t one of the agent’s approval owners, you’re a guest or have view-only access, or the agent is archived. Fix: ask an approval owner or a workspace owner or admin to decide, or to add you under Who answers this agent’s requests.
Why: same as above: you’re not allowed to decide for this agent. Fix: ask an approval owner, owner or admin.
Why: the task on the Approval Tasks page is limited to specific members. Fix: ask one of the listed approvers.
Why: that page only lists the older Human Approval step. Fix: open the bell → Approval required, or the agent’s Action required list.
Why: someone else already decided. Fix: nothing to do. Check the request’s status in the bell.
Why: the action changed after the card was shown. Fix: start the run again so the new action can be reviewed.
Why: email for workflow approvals is off for the workspace, or the person turned off email for Approval tasks. Fix: turn on Email reviewers about approval requests under Workflow approvals in Settings → Notifications, and check each person’s Approval tasks row.
Why: the approval passed its deadline. Fix: start the run again. To avoid this, make sure approval owners watch the bell, or let the tool run without asking in Tool permissions if that’s safe.
Why: a step with Require approval is waiting. Fix: approve or reject it from the bell or the cell. If you don’t want to approve each time, choose Remove approval on the step.