# Approvals

> Risky steps wait for your Approve. See what asks, how to approve or reject on the Approvals screen, and how auto-approve works.

Your assistants ask before they do anything that is hard to undo or that people outside your company can see. You answer with **Approve** or **Reject**. Nothing in this category runs until you decide, unless you have turned on auto-approve for that kind of step.

## What asks and what does not

| Step | Asks you? |
| --- | --- |
| Opening a pull request | Yes |
| Pushing a branch or changing code on your repository | Yes |
| Opening an issue | Yes |
| Sending mail | Yes |
| Creating a calendar event | Yes |
| Charging a customer | Yes |
| Deploying to production | Yes, unless you turn on auto-approve for production actions |
| Deleting, closing, or removing something in a connected service | Yes, unless you turn on auto-approve for deletions |
| Reading, searching, or listing | No |
| Reviewing a pull request or checking CI | No |
| Drafts that are not sent | No |
| The Coder editing files in its own workspace | No |

> [!NOTE]
> Mail, calendar, and payment steps depend on integrations that are Coming soon. The rule is the same for them: sends, deploys, charges, publishes, and creates always wait for you.

## Where you answer

1. Open [Approvals](https://stellarfirm.ai/app/approvals). It lists everything waiting, across all your chats.
2. You can also answer in the chat where the request came from. Steps that wait sit under the messages with **Approve** and **Reject**.
3. Read what the request says, then choose one.

| Choice | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| **Approve** | The assistant carries out that step, and only that step. |
| **Reject** | The step is cancelled and nothing is sent, pushed, or created. |

The job stays open while it waits. You do not have to answer right away.

## What a request shows

Each request says what the assistant wants to do and where. For a pull request, that is the repository and the work it is about to publish. You can also open the job in [Jobs](https://stellarfirm.ai/app/jobs) to read the Coder's changes before you decide.

## Auto-approve

Auto-approve is your switch, and only you can turn it on. Every category starts off.

1. Open [Settings](https://stellarfirm.ai/app/settings) and go to **Auto-approve**. The same switches sit at the bottom of the Approvals screen.
2. Turn on a category. StellarFirm asks you to confirm, in plain words, and warns that the assistant may do something unexpected.
3. Choose the **Yes** answer to turn it on, or **No, keep asking me** to leave it off.

With a category on, the assistant does that kind of step without asking and tells you afterwards in the same chat. Turning it off takes effect straight away.

| Category | What it covers |
| --- | --- |
| Production actions | Shipping to production. |
| Deletions | Deleting or closing things in a connected service. |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> Steps that reach other people, such as pull requests, issues, mail, events, and charges, always ask today. There is no switch for them.

Auto-approve also never covers a step that needs your Approve for some other reason.

## Auto-approve and house rules

Auto-approve is the "what you allow without asking" half of your [house rules](/docs/ceo/house-rules). The other half is the rules you write in your company brief. Together they decide what the assistants do after the work.

## Prompts to try

```prompt title="See what is waiting"
CEO, list everything waiting for my approval, with one line on what each step will do.
```

```prompt title="Explain a request"
CEO, explain the approval request for [job] in plain words: what will happen if I approve it, and what happens if I reject it?
```

```prompt title="Check what asks"
CEO, remind me which kinds of steps ask for my approval and which ones do not, given my current settings.
```

## Next

- [House rules](/docs/ceo/house-rules)
- [Approvals and control](/docs/trust/approvals-and-control)
- [Your first goal](/docs/getting-started/first-goal)

---

Source: https://stellarfirm.ai/docs/ceo/approvals