Approvals

Decide how much a bot can do without asking you first.

Choose a mode

Open Settings → Approvals and pick a Mode:

• Ask: the bot asks before any action that changes something, such as sending an email or editing a document. Reading usually doesn’t ask.
• Auto: an approval model checks each action against what you asked for. Actions that fit go ahead; the bot asks when one is off-task, or can’t be undone and you didn’t ask for it.
• Never ask: every action runs without waiting.

Auto needs an Approval model, set in Settings → Models. See Models.

Approval cards

When a bot needs a yes, it posts a card in the chat showing exactly what it wants to do:

• Allow once: just this time.
• Always allow this tool, or Always allow a site: stop asking for it.
• Deny: the bot doesn’t do it and carries on.

Cards never block the chat. Keep talking to the bot, and answer the card whenever you’re ready. You get a notification when a bot is waiting on you, if notifications are on in the bot’s settings.

Allow and Block lists

Every Always allow choice is saved in Settings → Approvals. Switch any entry between Allow and Block, or Remove it. A blocked action is refused without a card, in every mode. Preview shows what would happen for a given tool before you change anything.

To stop one bot from ever using a tool, open the bot’s settings, expand Advanced, and use Disable a tool under Tools.

What always asks

• Changing a bot’s instructions, creating a space, and the actions in Bots that manage bots always show a card. Auto and Always allow don’t skip it.
• Actions that text you didn’t write could be steering, such as changes in a run started by a webhook, ask in Auto and Ask, and are refused in Never ask.

Per space

Approval settings are account defaults that every space follows. To give one space different rules, open its settings and choose Customize next to Approvals.