> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.connie.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Approvals

> Where to approve or reject actions that workflows, agents and scheduled tasks are waiting on, who gets asked, and how long requests wait.

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

| Source | Where to answer | Who is notified | Who can decide | How long it waits |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| A workflow step with **Require approval** | Bell → **Approval required**, or the step's **Needs approval** cell in the workflow's run results | Everyone in the workspace | Anyone in the workspace; the first decision counts | 3 days, then treated as rejected |
| An [Agent](/automations/agents) run started by a trigger or **Run now** | The agent's **Action required** list, the run itself, or the bell | Every workspace member except guests | The agent's approval owners, plus workspace owners and admins | 24 hours by default; the card shows the time left |
| An Agent run you started by chatting with it | The card in that conversation | — (you're there) | The agent's approval owners, plus workspace owners and admins | No deadline |
| A [scheduled task](/automations/scheduled-tasks) run | The card in the task's chat | Only the task's owner | The task's owner | 24 hours by default; the card shows the time left |
| A normal [chat](/chat/approvals) | The card in the chat | — (you're there) | You | No deadline |
| An AI app connected over [MCP](/mcp/overview), such as Claude or ChatGPT | The approval page the app links to | — | Workspace owners, admins and members | 15 minutes |

## Make a workflow step wait for approval

<Steps>
  <Step title="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.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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](https://connie.ai/settings/notifications) under **Workflow approvals** → **Email reviewers about approval requests**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

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**.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the request">
    Click the bell, then the **Approval required** tab. Or open the workflow's run results and click the **Needs approval** cell.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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).
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>
</Steps>

* 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

<Steps>
  <Step title="Find the request">
    Click the bell notification "\[agent name] needs approval", or open the agent and look at **Action required** on its home page.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>
</Steps>

* 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.

<Note>
  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.
</Note>

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](https://connie.ai/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](/notifications/overview) 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](/tools/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

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="This approval has expired: the workflow stopped waiting for a decision, so yours was not recorded.">
    **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.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="This request has expired. Please try again.">
    **Why:** an unattended Agent or scheduled-task approval passed its deadline. **Fix:** start the run again, or use **Run now**.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The approve button is greyed out on an Agent's request">
    **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**.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Only a configured agent owner or workspace owner/admin can resolve this confirmation.">
    **Why:** same as above: you're not allowed to decide for this agent. **Fix:** ask an approval owner, owner or admin.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="You are not authorized to approve this task">
    **Why:** the task on the Approval Tasks page is limited to specific members. **Fix:** ask one of the listed approvers.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="My approval isn't on the Approval Tasks page">
    **Why:** that page only lists the older Human Approval step. **Fix:** open the bell → **Approval required**, or the agent's **Action required** list.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="This action has already been completed.">
    **Why:** someone else already decided. **Fix:** nothing to do. Check the request's status in the bell.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="This approval no longer matches the request that created it.">
    **Why:** the action changed after the card was shown. **Fix:** start the run again so the new action can be reviewed.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Reviewers aren't getting approval emails">
    **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](https://connie.ai/settings/notifications), and check each person's **Approval tasks** row.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="An unattended Agent run ended with 'Nobody approved this action in time'">
    **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](/tools/permissions) if that's safe.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A workflow is stuck on 'Needs approval'">
    **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.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Related

* [Approvals in chat](/chat/approvals): approval cards, Allow in this chat, Always allow
* [Agents](/automations/agents): approval owners and Action required
* [Logic](/automations/workflows/logic): Require approval among other workflow controls
* [Tool permissions](/tools/permissions): which actions ask first
* [Notifications](/notifications/overview): the bell and notification settings


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