# 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 |
| Registering a domain | Yes |
| Changing DNS records or nameservers | 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, payment, and domain steps depend on integrations that are Coming soon. The rule is the same for them: sends, deploys, charges, publishes, creates, and domain registrations 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.

A request to register a domain names the registrar, what it charges now and for each renewal year, and the registrant contact that will be used. To use other registrant details for that one domain, reply with them before you approve; the assistant posts a new request. A request to change DNS lists every record or nameserver it will set.

## 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, and so do registering a domain and changing its DNS. 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