Approval gate

An approval gate is a checkpoint where an agent prepares an action, then pauses and waits for a person to approve or reject it before the action runs. Risky or irreversible steps stay behind the gate.

An approval gate is a checkpoint where an agent prepares an action, then pauses and waits for a person to approve or reject it before the action runs. The agent does all the upstream work on its own, presents what it intends to do, and holds there until you say yes. Say you ask an assistant to clean up your inbox. It can read, sort, and label every message freely, but the moment it wants to permanently delete a thread, it stops and shows you the list first. You approve the three you agree with, reject the rest, and only then does the deletion run. You decide which actions sit behind the gate by how costly a mistake would be.

Builder example

An approval gate is how you give an agent room to work without handing it the power to cause harm you cannot undo. A scheduling assistant can draft every reply on its own, but sending to a client, canceling a booking, or moving money should surface for your yes first. Tell the assistant which action types require approval, have it present a clear summary of what it plans to do, and keep the side effect paused until you confirm. The cost of a wrong send is what decides where the gate goes.

Common confusion: An approval gate pauses for a human and waits, so the action only runs once you say yes. A guardrail is an automatic rule that blocks a forbidden action outright with no person in the loop. The gate asks permission; the guardrail refuses on its own.