Approval Gates

Every mutating tool call pauses for explicit human approval before execution. Approval enforcement is implemented in the Engine runtime and cannot be disabled through configuration.

How It Works

Agent proposes: The agent analyzes your intent, discovers resources, and generates tool calls. Read operations (list, get, describe, logs) execute immediately. Mutating operations (apply, scale, delete, promote) are queued.
UI shows pending approval: The Command Center displays each pending operation: tool name, parameters, and context. You see what will happen before it happens.
Human approves or denies: You approve to proceed or deny to stop. No silent execution. No autonomous mutations.
Execution proceeds or stops: On approval, the tool runs. On denial, the operation is cancelled. The agent can propose alternatives or stop the workflow.

Read vs Mutate

Type	Behavior
Read	Auto-execute. No approval. List, get, describe, logs, search, template.
Exec	Auto-execute by default. Behavior depends on the command executed.
Mutate	Pause for approval. Apply, scale, delete, promote, trigger, stop, uninstall, abort.

The distinction is driven by MCP tool annotations. See Tool Annotations for how tools are tagged.

Bulk Approval

When multiple operations are pending, you can approve or deny them individually or in bulk. Useful for "apply these 3 manifests" or "scale these 2 deployments." Each operation remains auditable.

Why It Matters

The agent can plan complex multi-step workflows, but it cannot execute mutations without explicit operator consent. You decide whether to scale, rollback, or delete.

Flow Diagram

User request → Plan (agent) → Tool calls generated
                                    ↓
                    ┌───────────────────────────────┐
                    │  readOnlyHint: true?          │
                    └───────────────────────────────┘
                         │                    │
                        Yes                   No
                         │                    │
                         ▼                    ▼
                   Execute immediately    Pause for approval
                                              │
                                    ┌─────────┴─────────┐
                                    │                   │
                               Approved              Denied
                                    │                   │
                                    ▼                   ▼
                              Execute              Cancel, optionally
                                                   propose alternative