Approvals
Approvals is the queue where high-risk agent actions wait until you say yes or no. It is also where you pick how closely to watch agents (Comfort profiles) and whether to get an email when something is waiting.
Approving an item runs that action once. Rejecting cancels it. Either way it is logged. Medium-risk “proposed changes” are confirmed in Agent Chat, not here — this page is the high-risk queue.
Overview
Open Agent Builder → Approvals. The heading is Approvals, with: “When an agent wants to change something important, it waits here until you approve or reject it.”
The card is titled Things waiting for your OK.
At the top right, a Basic / Advanced pair applies to this page only (tooltip: “Only changes this screen. Other screens and your site-wide default (Settings → Interface) are unaffected.”). That is separate from the Site-wide switch in the admin header.
- Basic: “Simple view for non-technical admins.”
- Advanced: “Advanced view shows technical detail.” — the only extra on each request is the raw tool id next to the title
A pending count can appear on the Approvals menu item. The same queue is summarized on Safety Center and the Dashboard.
Approvals sections
Preferences
“Choose how closely you want to watch agents, and whether we should email you when something is waiting.”
Three Comfort cards. Clicking Always ask me or Auto-approve low risk saves immediately. Trust more does not — you must tick the risk box and click Save “Trust more” preference.
The active card shows a Current badge.
| Card | Summary | What it sets |
|---|---|---|
| Always ask me 🛡️ | Safest default | Supervised mode. “Important or writing actions wait for you. Best when you want full control.” Risk note: “No automatic approvals beyond the safest reads.” |
| Auto-approve low risk ⚖️ | Recommended for most sites | Supervised mode. “Simple look-ups run freely. Drafts and bigger changes still pause for confirmation or this queue.” |
| Trust more (higher risk) ⚡ | Faster — use with care | Autonomous mode. “Agents work with less interruption (autonomous mode). You can still review history. Extreme tools stay blocked.” |
Picking a profile is what actually sets Mode (Supervised / Autonomous). Safety Center shows both values; this page is where you change Comfort.
Trust more acknowledgement
When Trust more is selected, a checkbox appears:
I understand agents may change my site with less waiting, and I accept that increased risk.
Save “Trust more” preference stays disabled until the box is checked. Saving without it: “Check the box to accept the increased risk before choosing “Trust more”.”
Extreme-risk tools stay blocked on every profile.
Email alerts
- Checkbox: Email me when an action is waiting for approval
- When checked, Send alerts to (email field, placeholder
[email protected]). Default is your WordPress admin email if you have not set one - Save email preferences
Emails are rate-limited (at most one every five minutes; the next mail can mention how many extra requests arrived while paused). Subject: [{site name}] Agent action waiting for your approval. The body lists Action, Agent, Risk, and Why, with a Review approvals in WordPress admin link. Alerts never include passwords.
Invalid address: “Enter a valid email address.” Success: “Preferences saved.”
Waiting for you
Heading Waiting for you with a count when the queue is not empty, for example Waiting for you (1).
Empty state
You’re all caught up
“Approvals pause any action an agent rates as risky until you say yes — nothing waiting here means nothing is on hold right now.”
“When an agent needs permission for a bigger change, it will show up here.” If email alerts are on, that sentence ends ” — and we’ll email you.”
A pending item
Each card shows:
- Title — the tool name with underscores turned into spaces (for example
manage skill) - In Advanced only: the raw tool id in a code style (for example
manage_skill) - A ? tip: “An agent tried to run this specific action and paused here first. Nothing happens until you decide — approve to let it run once, or reject to cancel it.”
- A risk badge (
highon typical queue items) and a second ? explaining that tier (high: “A significant or bulk change — waits in the Approvals queue for you to allow it.”) - Agent id and the time it was created
- A short summary (the agent’s reasoning, or a file path / title, truncated at 200 characters)
Buttons: Approve and Reject. While a request is in flight they read Working… and other buttons on the page disable.
There is no extra confirm dialog on a single Approve / Reject.
Progress
Approving opens a status block:
- Recording your approval…
- Running the approved action…
- Confirming result…
Headings: Working…, then Complete or Needs attention, plus the action title. Dismiss hides it when finished.
Typical outcomes:
- “Approved and completed.” / “Action completed successfully.” / “Done — agent task finished”
- “Approved, but the action could not be started.”
- “Action ran but reported a problem.” / “Finished with errors — check detail below”
- Reject: “Rejected — the action will not run.”
Errors: “Could not update that item.” (or the server message).
Groups (Approve all / Reject all)
Items from the same agent created within two minutes of each other are grouped. When a group has more than one action, a header appears:
{agent} · {n} actions · {time} ago
- Approve all — confirm: “Approve all {n} actions in this group? They will run in order.” Scaffold-style steps (creating plugin/agent files) are run before later edits. If one step fails, the rest of the group is not approved (“Stopped after X of Y — …”).
- Reject all — confirm: “Reject all {n} actions in this group?” Every item is attempted even if one fails.
Success toasts: “Approved {n} actions.” / “Rejected {n} actions.” Mixed: “{n} succeeded, {n} failed.”
View backups and restore
Under the queue:
“Agents back up files and database tables automatically before changing them.” View backups and restore opens the Backups view of this same admin page (tab=backups).
That view is a separate classic screen (not the React card above). It has Approvals / Backups section nav.
- Intro: “Automatic backups created before AI agents modify files or database tables. Restore with one click.” plus Learn more →
- Empty: No backups yet — “When agents modify files or database tables, backups are created automatically and will appear here.”
When backups exist:
Database Tables — “Full table snapshots taken before write operations. Up to 3 copies kept per table.” Columns: Table, Type (Full or Partial), Backed Up, Rows, Size, Actions (Restore, trash). Restore confirms: “Restore this table? The current table will be backed up first, then replaced with this snapshot.”
Files — “File snapshots taken before write operations.” Columns: Original File, Backed Up, Size, Status (File exists or Deleted), Actions (Restore, trash). Restore confirms: “Restore this file? The current version will be backed up first.”
Trash confirms: “Delete this backup permanently?” / “Delete this table backup permanently?”
Footer note: stored in wp-content/agentic-backups/. Database tables keep up to 3 snapshots each; file backups stay until you delete them.
The Backups view requires the administrator capability (manage_options). If you can open Approvals but not Backups, you will see “You do not have permission to access this page.”
Rules and grants
The Rules tab lets you tell agents, in plain English, what they must always ask about. Examples are “Ask me first before publishing anything” and “Never delete users”. A rule can apply to every agent or to one. Rules only ever make approvals stricter. When a rule says ask first, the agent asks, even if you allowed that tool earlier.
When an agent asks for approval you can choose Allow once, Allow for this task, Allow this session or Always allow. The Grants tab lists the permissions you have saved and lets you revoke any of them.
Common tasks
Approving a waiting action
- Open Approvals
- Read the title, risk badge, agent, and summary
- Click Approve
- Watch the progress list until it says Complete (or Needs attention if the action failed after you approved)
The item leaves the queue. Check Activity if you need the log line.
Rejecting an action
- Open Approvals
- Click Reject on that card
- Status: “Rejected — the action will not run.”
Nothing on the site is changed.
Approving a whole burst from one agent
- If you see a group header with Approve all, click it
- Confirm that they will run in order
- If a step fails, fix that problem before approving the rest — later steps may depend on earlier ones
Getting an email when something is waiting
- Tick Email me when an action is waiting for approval
- Check Send alerts to
- Click Save email preferences
Turn the checkbox off and save again to stop the mail.
Switching from “always ask” to auto-approve low risk
- Click the Auto-approve low risk card
- It saves on click (no extra button)
- Low-risk look-ups can run without this queue; high-risk items still land here; medium-risk still pauses in Chat
Restoring a file an agent changed
- Click View backups and restore
- Find the file or table
- Click Restore and confirm
FAQ
What’s the difference between Approve here and Allow Once in Chat?
Approve / Reject on this page are for high-risk tools — the same “Needs Your Approval” cards in Chat. Medium-risk Proposed Change cards in Chat use Allow Once / Allow this Session / Always Allow / Deny and never appear in this queue.
Why is the queue empty if agents are working?
Nothing high-risk is on hold. Reads and other tools at or under your Comfort ceiling run without this page. Medium-risk waits in the chat thread. Extreme-risk never runs.
What does Advanced add?
The raw tool identifier next to the friendly title, and the “Advanced view shows technical detail.” line. Preferences, email, Approve / Reject, and groups are the same in both modes.
I picked Trust more and still see items here.
Trust more auto-approves up to medium-risk and switches Mode to Autonomous. High-risk actions still wait in this queue. Extreme stays blocked.
Does Approve all run steps in a safe order?
Yes. The server puts scaffold/create-file steps first, then the rest by id, and stops at the first failed approve so a later edit is not applied on a missing file. Reject all does not stop early.
Where did the Approvals / Backups tabs go?
The main Approvals screen does not show those tabs at the top. Use View backups and restore at the bottom. Once you are on Backups, Approvals | Backups nav is there to jump back.
Who can open this page?
Anyone granted the agent-management permission (and administrators). The Backups view is administrators only.
Can I undo an approval?
Not as a second button on the card — the action has already run. Use View backups and restore if a file or table snapshot exists, or fix the content in WordPress.