Human approval
Human approval puts you in control of AI-generated drafts. When a workflow reaches an approval step, it pauses until someone reviews the output and chooses to continue or stop. Nothing is finalised or sent automatically.
Use this pattern whenever a mistake would be hard to undo — publishing a document, emailing a client, or updating an external system.
What happens when a workflow pauses
At an approval step:
- The workflow execution moves to Paused.
- The approval step shows Awaiting approval.
- The reviewer sees the message and instructions you configured for that step.
- The run stays paused until someone approves or rejects from the execution detail page.
After a decision:
- Approve — the step completes successfully and the workflow resumes with the next step.
- Reject — the workflow is cancelled. Any steps that had not run yet are skipped. The rejection reason (if provided) is recorded on the execution.
When to use human approval
Good places for an approval gate:
- Before a draft proposal or SOW is saved as a final document
- Before an MCP tool sends an email or posts to an external system
- Before publishing content that clients or auditors might see
- After an agent step produces a summary or recommendation you want a teammate to verify
A common workflow shape is: gather → shape (agent steps) → confirm (human approval) → record (save or send). See Workflow authoring for the full pattern.
Adding an approval step
You can add human approval in two ways:
- From a template — in the workflow editor, choose From Template and pick Human Approval Gate (category: Approval). Fill in the message and optional instructions.
- Manually — add a step and set its kind to Human approval.
Human approval steps do not support custom inputs or outputs in the editor. The platform provides a fixed set of outputs (see below) so later steps and conditions can read the reviewer’s decision.
Configuring the step
Each approval step has two text fields:
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Message | Short prompt shown to the reviewer when the workflow pauses — for example, “Review the draft proposal before it is saved.” |
| Instructions | Optional longer guidance — for example, check fee tables, confirm client name, or verify citations. |
Write these for the person who will open the execution, not for the AI. Be specific about what they should check before approving.
Reviewing a paused run
- Open Workflows and find the run (status Paused, or a step in Awaiting approval).
- Open the execution detail page for that run.
- Expand the approval step. You will see the message and instructions.
- Choose one:
- Approve — optional comment for the audit trail; the workflow continues.
- Reject — optional reason; the workflow is cancelled and remaining steps do not run.
Anyone with access to the workflow execution can approve or reject while the step is awaiting approval.
Outputs for later steps
The approval step exposes outputs that downstream steps can reference in formulas (for example in a Condition step):
| Output | When it is set | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
message | While awaiting approval | Echo of the message shown to the reviewer |
instructions | While awaiting approval | Echo of the instructions shown to the reviewer |
approved | After decision | true when the reviewer approved |
rejected | After decision | true when the reviewer rejected |
decision | After decision | "approved" or "rejected" |
comment | After approve | Reviewer’s optional comment (omitted if empty) |
reason | After reject | Reviewer’s optional rejection reason (omitted if empty) |
decided_at | After decision | Timestamp when the decision was recorded |
Example — only run a publish step if the gate was approved:
{{ steps.publish_gate.outputs.approved }}Use that in a condition step, or reference {{ steps.publish_gate.outputs.decision }} when you need the string value.
While the step is still awaiting approval, only message and instructions are populated. Decision fields appear after the reviewer acts.
Worked example: draft → review → save
| # | Step name | Kind | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | draft | Agent | Produce a client-ready draft from search results |
| 2 | review_gate | Human approval | Pause for a teammate to read the draft |
| 3 | save_doc | Tool (document) | Save the draft only after approval |
Place the approval step after the agent produces the draft and before any irreversible tool step. If the reviewer rejects, the save step never runs.
Related guides
- Workflow authoring — chaining steps, formulas, and conditions
- Workflows overview — triggers, execution history, and error handling